Who has terror angst? Perceptions of the effects of terror on the world economy

We examine sources of biased terror perceptions. In particular, we investigate how international experts of the IFO World Economic Survey assess the effect of terror on the world economy and the economy of their own country. The results show that respondents from terror-stricken countries have more favourable views on the effect of terror on the word economy (but not on their own countries). Male respondents and those from democratic and richer countries are likewise more optimistic.     

Who Pays a Price on Carbon?

We use the 2003 Consumer Expenditure Survey and emissions estimates from an input-output model based on the 1997 US economy to estimate the incidence of a price on carbon induced by a cap-and-trade program or carbon tax in the context of the US. We present results on how much different income deciles pay for a carbon tax as well as which industries see the largest increase in costs due to a carbon tax. We illustrate the main determinant of the regressivity: consumption patterns for energy-intensive goods. Furthermore, on a per-capita basis a carbon price is much more regressive than calculations at the household level. We discuss policy options to offset the adverse distributional effects of a carbon emissions policy.     

Do national soccer results really impact on the stock market?

This study is a response to Klein et al. (2008), which was highly critical of earlier work by Ashton et al. (2003). This work considering the link between international soccer results and stock market returns was challenged by Klein et al. (2008), who reject the presence and importance of this link. In response, this work provides a reassessment of the link between international soccer results and stock market returns within Ashton et al. (2003). This new analysis extends the original work by using a larger dataset, employing an extended range of tests and allowing for outliers. It is reported that, contrary to the findings of Klein et al. (2008), the link between international soccer results and stock market prices does indeed exist particularly within the sample period 1984–2002 used by Ashton et al. (2003). After extending the dataset to include observations from 2002 until 2009, it is reported that the effect on stock market returns has declined in importance over this period, particularly the impact of wins.     

Who never tells a lie?

I experimentally investigate the hypothesis that many people avoid lying even in a situation where doing so would result in a Pareto improvement. Replicating (Erat and Gneezy, Management Science 58, 723–733, 2012), I find that a significant fraction of subjects tell the truth in a sender-receiver game where both subjects earn a higher payoff when the partner makes an incorrect guess regarding the roll of a die. However, a non-incentivized questionnaire indicates that the vast majority of these subjects expected their partner not to follow their message. I conduct two new experiments explicitly designed to test for a ‘pure’ aversion to lying, and find no evidence for the existence of such a motivation. I discuss the implications of the findings for moral behavior and rule following more generally.     

Who Can Have a Piece of the Auto Credit Pie?

Buying cars on credit is nothing new in the rest of the world since it has had a history of 80 years internationally. In China, however, it is just starting. As the Chinese government is loosening up controls in this field, foreign financial institutions are busy making preparation to win a piece of the auto credit pie in China. Not to be left behind, domestic financial institutions are gearing up for a battle on the marketplace. The auto credit market in China is fast entering a Warring States period.According to a forecast, demand for motor vehices in China     

Who is ruling Europe? Empirical evidence on the German Dominance Hypothesis

The aim of this paper is to analyze the hypothesis of German dominance in the European Monetary System (EMS). For this purpose, we use monthly interest rates for nine European countries from January 1979 to the second half of 1997. In particular, we test the stability of the implied long-run relationships to assess whether there has been a significant change in the EMS performance. The econometric methodology is based on Johansen's maximum likelihood procedure and several tests for parameter instability. The most important finding is that, although Germany has a significant influence on the monetary policy of the other European countries, it is not possible to accept the existence of dominance. First version received: May 1999/Final version received: November 2000     

Where has all the gender gone?

What questions should economists be asking when looking at how markets affect women? This comment expands on a debate begun on Femecon-l and continued in the “Debating Markets” article.     

Are distance effects really a puzzle?

Given the distance proxies for trade costs, the onset of globalization implies that geographical distance would matter less for trade. However, year-on-year regressions of a log-linearized gravity model estimated by the ordinary least squares (OLS) method usually suggest that the negative impact of distance on trade is rising since the 1950s during the late 20th century. These seemingly counter-intuitive results may occur due to the omission of the extensive margin as well as the neglect of the Jensen's inequality. This paper investigates these two potential solutions but that only the second seems to work. After considering Jensen's inequality, the distance effects declined over the period 1950–1999. In addition, this paper proposes a simple theoretical model to identify trade costs. The empirical results also show a declining trend of trade costs over the same time period.     

Who Secures Job Opportunities in the Chinese Government? Evidence Based on the First Jobs of Graduates from a Chinese College

Using a unique data set obtained from a Chinese college, the present paper investigates the determinants of obtaining a job in the Chinese Government. Despite the significant amount of attention paid to this issue by the media, academic study on this subject has been limited. We find that the parents' social capital, membership to the Communist Party, gender and personal ability significantly affect the possibility of a graduate obtaining a job in the public sector. Moreover, although acquiring a job in the government is difficult, no significant wage premium exists for graduates working in this sector. Finally, these results still hold after conducting the Heckman tests to validate the self‐selection bias. This study identifies the determinants of young Chinese people's aspirations to be civil servants, which raises significant policy implications for the government.     

Cellular phones in Mozambique: Who has them and who doesn't?

Cellular phones are considered one of the success stories of contemporary technology diffusion: there are three billion cellular telephones globally, and just over six billion people. This article describes the distributional boundary of the cellular telephone enterprise, as we see it in data from Mozambique. A telephone survey of mobile phone users there revealed that men outnumbered women, especially at higher levels of service and that most were urban, with a particular concentration in the capital city. Thus while pre-paid telephone plans have made basic cellular service affordable to many Mozambicans, the lack of rural infrastructure stills puts access out of the reach of a majority. In addition, pre-paid users pay more per minute for their service—probably not a fair situation for the poor families that tend to take this route to telecommunications.     

Is the effect really so large? Firm‐level evidence on the role of FDI in a transition economy1

Foreign subsidiaries usually perform better than domestic enterprises, but selection effects have been acknowledged in the literature. This article contributes by quantitatively evaluating the size of the selection effects and direct effects of FDI entry. We use a large panel of firm‐level data from Poland and match foreign‐owned firms to a control group of non‐foreign‐owned companies and analyse various performance indicators. In terms of efficiency measures, between 50 and 70 percent of the foreign affiliates advantage may be attributed to direct ownership effects. However, in the case of export intensity, the majority of the differential between the domestic companies and foreign subsidiaries is attributable to selection effects: MNEs choose export‐oriented companies and sectors.