BOARD GOVERNANCE: DOES OWNERSHIP MATTER?

Good governance is crucial to achieving an organization's mission. Nevertheless, little is known about how the structure of governance is influenced by the nonprofit (NPO) or for‐profit ownership (FPO) structure of an organization, partly because they tend to be active in different sectors. In this paper we overcome this challenge by using data from a global sample of 392 microfinance institutions. The results show that the average NPO has a larger board, more female directors, and a higher number of board meetings than the average FPO. Moreover, where there are larger boards and more frequent board meetings, this has a positive effect on the financial performance of NPOs. It is thus confirmed that ownership structures influence boards’ characteristics and that some board mechanisms are more efficient in some ownership structures than in others. An effective board design should thus be based on a firm's ownership structure.     

FARMERS’ WILLINGNESS TO COOPERATE IN ECOSYSTEM SERVICE PROVISION: DOES TRUST MATTER?

Ecosystem service provision in agriculture may require cooperation between farmers. Trust fosters cooperation in many economic and social interactions and is important to the success of traditional agricultural cooperatives. Little is known about how trust affects farmers’ willingness to cooperate to provide an ecosystem service, what types of trust are most important, and under what conditions trust may matter. In this study, we present results of a survey of Missouri crop farmers exploring the role trust plays in farmers’ stated willingness to cooperate to control pests. We find that most farmers say they are willing to cooperate, and most farmers are willing to trust others. However, we find little evidence that trust positively influences farmers’ willingness to cooperate to control pests. Instead, we find that trust may only matter under certain conditions, such as when participants’ farms are dissimilar, and that other determinants, such as the perceived benefit of cooperation and environmental concern, are more important than trust to farmers who are contemplating cooperation to control pests.     

DOES APPRECIATION OF THE RENMINBI DECREASE IMPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES FROM CHINA?

In 2005, China abated its fixed exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and began to appreciate the Renminbi (RMB). In this paper, I explore the effect of the appreciation of the RMB on imports to the United States from China by augmenting the gravity model with the exchange rate. Using an industrial panel data set during the period 2002–2008 and controlling for the endogeneity of the bilateral exchange rate, this extensive empirical analysis suggests that the appreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar significantly reduced imports to the United States from China. This finding is robust to a variety of econometric methods and to coverage in different periods. (JEL F1, F2)     

ON THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC DEBT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH: DOES COUNTRY RISK MATTER?

This study examines the nonlinear impacts of four country risk indices on the debt‐growth nexus for 61 countries in a panel data framework. Our results show evidence of the different debt‐growth nexus under the different degrees of country risk. Under a high‐risk environment, a country's economic growth is harmed by raising its public debt. The negative effects public debt has on economic growth become weak under low political and financial‐risk environments, while an increase in public debt could help to stimulate economic growth under low composite and economic risk environments. In addition, the differences of countries' income and debt levels also lead country risks to have different effects on the debt‐growth nexus, suggesting that a country should borrow appropriately based on its current risk environments while improving economic performance. (JEL C33, E02, H63, O43)     

SOCIAL COMPARISON AND SUBJECTIVE WELL‐BEING: DOES THE HEALTH OF OTHERS MATTER?

The importance of social comparison in shaping individual utility has been widely documented by subjective well‐being literature. So far, income and unemployment have been the main dimensions considered in social comparison. This paper aims to investigate whether subjective well‐being is influenced by inter‐personal comparison with respect to health. Thus, we study the effects of the health of others and relative health hypotheses on two measures of subjective well‐being: happiness and subjective health. Using data from the Italian Health Conditions survey, we show that a high incidence of chronic conditions and disability among reference groups negatively affects both happiness and subjective health. Such effects are stronger among people in the same condition. These results, robust to different econometric specifications and estimation techniques, suggest the presence of some sympathy in individual preferences with respect to health and reveal that other people's health status serves as a benchmark to assess one's own health condition.     

DOES SIZE MATTER? THE IMPACT OF CHANGES IN HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE ON INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN GERMANY

Income inequality in Germany has been continually increasing during the past 20 years. One cause of this development, among others, could be structural shifts in household formation due to long‐term societal trends. These affect per capita incomes, which has repercussions for the income distribution even if wages remain constant. The aim of this paper is to quantify the proportion of changing household structures in the increase in inequality. We find that the growth of the income gap in Germany (for both East and West from 1991 to 2007) is indeed strongly related to changes in household structure and employment behavior, and a large part of this increase is compensated by the welfare state.     

DOES ADVERTISING MATTER? ESTIMATING THE IMPACT OF CIGARETTE ADVERTISING ON SMOKING AMONG YOUTH IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The goal of this paper is to evaluate the impact of cigarette advertising on smoking among youth in developing countries. Using micro‐level data from 19 developing countries, we examine the structural relationship between smoking behavior and advertising exposure and the reduced‐form relationship between smoking and advertising bans. Instrumental variables are used to address the endogeneity of advertising exposure. Country‐specific unobserved heterogeneity is further reduced by controlling for measures of antismoking sentiment and cigarette prices. After accounting for the endogeneity of advertising, we find that the positive correlation between smoking and advertising exposure in our sample can be largely explained by the disproportionately higher propensity of smokers to observe advertising rather than a direct causal effect of advertising on smoking. (JEL I12, I18)     

HOW CONSERVATIVE DOES THE CENTRAL BANKER HAVE TO BE? ON THE TREATMENT OF EXPECTATIONS UNDER DISCRETIONARY POLICYMAKING

This paper explores an issue that arises in the delegation process. The paper shows that a myopic central banker, one who treats expectations as constant in setting discretionary policy, can replicate the behaviour of output and inflation under policy from a timeless perspective. For that to happen, society must delegate a price level target or a speed limit policy to a central banker who is more weight-conservative than society.     

DOES SIZE MATTER? THE INFLUENCE OF FIRM SIZE ON WORKING CONDITIONS,JOB SATISFACTION AND QUIT INTENTIONS

Using a detailed survey on Spanish workers, this paper investigates the relationship between firm size and working conditions, the extent to which firm size differences in workers' job satisfaction can be accounted for by differences in their work environment and the impact of firm size on workers' quit intentions. The results indicate that: (1) employees in larger firms face a worse work environment; (2) working in large firms significantly reduces job satisfaction when no controls for working conditions are included, but taking them into account makes differentials across size categories statistically insignificant; and (3) no systematic differences exist in intentions to quit across firm size categories, irrespective of conditioning on wages.     

POLLUTION PERMIT SYSTEMS AND FIRM DYNAMICS: HOW DOES THE ALLOCATION SCHEME MATTER?*

I use a firm dynamics model to compare two permit allocation schemes commonly used in pollution permit systems. In the first, closing plants keep their permits, and new entrants do not get them, whereas in the second, closing plants lose their permits, and new entrants get free allowances. Calibrating the model with data from power plants participating in the U.S. program, I find that, compared to the first scheme, in the second arrangement, (i) plants stay, on average, 3.6 years longer and (ii) although the aggregate emission rate is lower, the plant distribution displays more dirty and low‐productivity plants.     

DOES RELIGIOSITY AFFECT SUPPORT FOR POLITICAL COMPROMISE?

Does religiosity affect adherents' attitude toward political compromise? To address this question and overcome the potential simultaneity of religious activity and political attitudes, we exploit exogenous variation in the start date of the Selichot (“Forgiveness”), a period in which many Jews, including nonadherents, take part in an intense prayer schedule. Using a two‐wave survey, we find that an increase in the salience of religiosity leads to the adoption of more hard‐line positions against a land‐for‐peace compromise. Examining several potential mechanisms for this attitudinal shift, our evidence points to the impact of the intensified prayer period on adherents' tolerance for risk.     

DOES EXPERIENCE MATTER? SALARY DISPERSION,COACHING, AND TEAM PERFORMANCE

Using Major League Soccer as a unique dataset, this study examines the direct and indirect role of coaches' experience in determining team performance. Inspired by labor market studies, we applied traditional indicators of team salary structure and, unlike previous studies, empirically test the hypothesis that coach experience affects the way in which team salary distribution influences performance. Our results suggest that coaches with experience as professional soccer players improve team performance directly but worsen the negative effect of a skewed salary distribution. Moreover, experience as a player is more important than coaching experience. (JEL D3, J3, M5)     

DOES THE MISSION OF PROVIDERS MATTER ON A QUASI‐MARKET? THE CASE OF THE BELGIAN ‘SERVICE VOUCHER’ SCHEME

ABSTRACT 1 : In 2001, the Belgian government introduced a ‘service voucher’ scheme in the field of domestic (housework) services, following a quasi‐market mechanism which fosters competition between providers of different types as regards sector (for‐profit, public, third sector) and mission (seeking profits, home care provision to vulnerable groups and work integration of the unemployed). Empirical evidence suggests that third sector organizations focusing on a social mission recognized by a tutelary regulation are the best performing with regards to the quality of jobs and service organization, leading to a better ‘triangulation’ of the service relationship. On the other hand, for‐profit providers, especially temporary work agencies, seem to favour their capacity of adaptation to the desiderata of their clients and costs’ minimization to the detriment of the quality of jobs which are made as flexible as possible.     

ISLAMISTIC TERROR AND THE LABOUR MARKET PROSPECTS OF ARAB MEN IN ENGLAND: DOES A COUNTRY'S DIRECT INVOLVEMENT MATTER?

This paper considers two questions on the labour market discrimination against Arab or Muslim men after the recent terrorist attacks. First, I consider for the first time the impact of the September 11 attacks on the wages and working hours of Arabs in Europe. Second, I test whether the fact that a country was the direct target of terrorist attacks influences discrimination using the Madrid train bombings on 11 March 2004 and the London bombings on 7 July 2005 as quasi‐experimental events. The results indicate that the wages, hours worked and employment probabilities of Arab men were unchanged by the attacks.     

DOES TIME TO WORK LIMIT TIME TO PLAY?: ESTIMATING A TIME ALLOCATION MODEL FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BY HOUSEHOLD SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS

We use data from the 2003 to 2014 American Time Use Survey to estimate substitution between working and extracurricular time for high school students, which may have long‐run educational and labor market consequences. We find that working students are 5 percentage points less likely to participate in extracurricular activities and spend 40 minutes less on extracurriculars per day. We estimate heterogeneous effects by socioeconomic indicators to test whether disadvantaged students are more or less likely to substitute time away from extracurriculars. We find the largest interaction effects by paternal education, where working students with low paternal education are 0.5 percentage points more likely to engage in extracurriculars and increase extracurriculars by 15 minutes per day. (JEL I2, J22, J24)     

MASS LAYOFFS,MANUFACTURING AND STATE BUSINESS CLIMATES: DOES STATE POLICY MATTER?

This study provides the first estimates on the relationship between state public policies and job losses in the manufacturing sector. In addition, spatial model estimation is adopted to identify any effect that state policies may have on the adopting state as well as upon neighboring states. We find evidence that favorable ratings regarding some elements of a state's business climate coincide with a lower incidence of job loss. This relationship holds beyond the adopting state and is correlated with lower job losses in contiguous states. (JEL J50, J60, M50)     

DOES NEOCLASSICAL THEORY ACCOUNT FOR THE EFFECTS OF BIG FISCAL SHOCKS? EVIDENCE FROM WORLD WAR II*

Much debate surrounds the usefulness of the neoclassical growth model for assessing the macroeconomic impact of fiscal shocks. We test the theory using data from World War II, which is by far the largest fiscal shock in the history of the United States. We take observed changes in fiscal policy during the war as inputs into a parameterized, dynamic general equilibrium model and compare the values of all variables in the model to the actual values of these variables in the data. Our main finding is that the theory quantitatively accounts for macroeconomic activity during this big fiscal shock.     

DO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS MATTER TO TAIWAN'S EXPORTS? A DYNAMIC PANEL APPROACH

This article analyses whether and how Taiwan's exports are sensitive to national differences in intellectual property right (IPR) protection, as well as the degree of imitation threat. Applying a longitudinal IPR index developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and using the generalized method of moments dynamic panel data modelling technique to control for endogeneity and panel unit root problems, the empirical results show that the strength of importing countries' IPR protection has a positive impact on Taiwan's exports, supporting the standpoint of market expansion that stronger IPR protection will induce more trade. Under various classification systems to differentiate the degree of threat of imitation across countries, both positive and negative export effects of IPR are found in Taiwan's case. However, the pattern of threat of imitation–trade nexus seems to contradict theory predictions. Moreover, high‐tech exports are found be more IPR sensitive than non‐high‐tech exports.