Genetic distance and intra-national variation in preferences and behaviours

This paper investigates the relationship between genetic distance and intra-national variation in preferences and behaviours in the Chinese context. We focus on three categories of representative and fundamental preferences—risk, time, and social preferences—and related behaviours. The results suggest that genetic distance is positively related to the differences in risk, time, and social preferences. Furthermore, genetic distance is positively related to the differences in associated economic behaviours, including the differences in entrepreneurship, saving behaviour, cooperative behaviour, and prosocial behaviour. In general, an increase in one standard deviation of genetic distance is associated with an increase in differences in preferences and behaviours by 3–18 % of a standard deviation.     

Agricultural Productivity,Business Services,and Comparative Advantage

By explicitly incorporating both the intermediate business service sector and non-homothetic preferences, this study develops a two-good (the agricultural good and the manufactured good) model of trade that captures the role of agricultural productivity, which deepens the division of labor in the manufactured good sector. The level of agricultural productivity is found to determine the structure of comparative advantage: the country that has an absolute advantage in the agricultural sector also has a comparative advantage in the manufactured good sector.     

Occupational assignment,hiring discrimination,and the gender pay gap

An identified, structural demand-wage equation is estimated using endogenous indicators for working part-time and occupational assignment. The wage equation is estimated by two-stage and ordinary least squares, and the pay gap is decomposed into explained and residual parts. Measures of gender-based wage discrimination are estimated after making adjustments to account for hiring discrimination and occupational preferences. The evidence indicates that gender differences in preferences for occupation explain much of the gap, yet there is still evidence of hiring discrimination. As a percentage of male wages, the discriminatory gap adjusted for hiring discrimination lies between 10.5 and 13.5 percent when estimated by ordinary least squares, and between 2.2 and 5.4 percent when estimated by two-stage least squares.     

Genetic distance,cultural differences,and the formation of regional trade agreements

Review of World Economics - Genetic distance between countries’ populations has been shown to proxy cross-country differences in cultures and preferences. In an unbalanced panel of 133...     

社会认同、偏好和经济行为——基于行为和实验经济学研究成果的讨论

社会认同理论的引入为实验经济学相关研究开拓了一个新的分支。通过假设个体间相互关联,社会认同因素直接作用于个体的偏好,进而改变经济决策,是对传统经济学理论的突破。总体来说,社会认同对偏好的塑造体现在两个方面：首先,社会认同会提升个体对内群的社会偏好,导致内群偏见,并使个体做出更加有利于内群的行为;其次,社会认同会改变个体对内群规则的偏好,进而导致不同维度的群体分类在经济决策上的差异。     

Are You Risk Averse over Other People's Money?

Decisions with uncertain outcomes are often made by one party in settings where another party bears the consequences. Whenever an individual is delegated to make decisions that affect others, such as in the typical corporate structure, does the individual make decisions that reflect the risk preferences of the party bearing the consequences? We examine this question in two simple settings, lottery choices and sealed‐bid auctions, using controlled laboratory experiments. We find that when an individual makes a decision for an anonymous stranger, there is a tendency to exhibit less risk aversion. This reduction in risk aversion is relative to his or her own preferences, and it is also relative to his or her belief about the preferences of others. This result has significant implications for the design of contracts between principals and agents.     

Clothes without an Emperor: Analysis of the preferential tariffs in ASEAN

This paper examines the current state of intra-ASEAN trade under the preferential regime of the AFTA. It partly addresses some data problems and employs a gravity model to arrive at alternative ways of gauging the importance of preferences in the absence of data on the actual utilisation of AFTA preferential tariffs. Our results show that although the range of products where AFTA might have an influence is limited, preferences seem to matter when the differential margin between the MFN and preferential tariff rates reaches a critical amount, allowing regional exporters to cover the costs of requesting preferences. However, at very high differential margins, the significance of AFTA preferences seems to wane. This indicates either the presence of non-tariff measures which prevent traders from exploiting the huge tariff discounts offered by the AFTA, and or, the propensity of ASEAN to extend high preferences on products where little or no intra-ASEAN trade takes place.     

Ambition, discrimination, and occupational attainment: a study of a British cohort

Examining British cohort data we find significant differencesin the occupational aspirations of boys and girls at age 16that appear to follow a traditional pattern. To isolate theeffect of gender hiring bias on occupational attainment a conditionalhiring model is estimated. This separates the occupational preferencesof workers to join a pool of job applicants from the hiringdecision of employers. Conditional on occupational preferences,we find, in general, no evidence of hiring bias against womenexcept in manual/craft occupations. Failure to control for differencesin career aspirations, in this study, produces an overestimateof the extent of occupational sex discrimination of around 60%.     

Bimodal issues,the median voter model,Legislator's ideology,and abortion

The median voter model is widely used in the public choice literature to explain legislator's behavior. According to the model, if voter preferences are unimodal, a vote-maximizing legislator should mirror the position of the median voter. However, the median voter model has not been tested on bimodal issues. This paper fills this critical void by empirically testing the applicability of the median voter model on an issue which clearly meets the criteria for being bimodal: abortion. Using a variety of attitudinal measures from large sample public opinion polls and constituency demographics, this study finds that Senate voting on the 1994 Freedom of Abortion Access bill was highly related to the senator's personal characteristics—especially ideology—and not to constituent opinion or demographics.     

Banker preferences,interbank connections,and the enduring structure of the Federal Reserve System

Established by a three person committee in 1914, the structure of the Federal Reserve System has remained essentially unchanged ever since, despite criticism at the time and over ensuing decades. This paper examines the original selection of cities for Reserve Banks and branches, and placement of district boundaries. We show that each aspect of the Fed's structure reflected the preferences of national banks, including adjustments to district boundaries after 1914. Further, using newly-collected data on interbank connections, we find that banker preferences mirrored established correspondent relationships. The Federal Reserve was thus formed on top of the structure that it was largely meant to replace.     

Selecting public goods institutions: Who likes to punish and reward?

We study the link between individual attitudes toward uncertainty on the one hand, and preferences over, as well as behavior within, various public goods institutions on the other hand. We incentive‐compatibly elicit preferences over voluntary contribution mechanisms with and without reward and punishment options and then randomly assign subjects to play in one of the four institutions. We find that payoffs are significantly greater when punishment is allowed but that only a small minority of participants prefers such an environment. Somewhat surprisingly, preferences over institutions are generally independent of individual characteristics. Conversely, individual characteristics, including institutional preferences, are significantly predictive of behavior in the public goods game. For instance, risk‐averse individuals preemptively punish more often. This suggests that when studying sanctions and rewards, it is important to consider individual attitudes toward risk and uncertainty—although they may not affect the original selection into institutions.     

Nash equilibria of games when players’ preferences are quasi‐transitive

Much of game theory is founded on the assumption that individual players are endowed with preferences that can be represented by a real‐valued utility function. However, in reality human preferences are often not transitive. This is especially true for the indifference relation, which can lead an individual to make a series of choices which in their totality would be viewed by the same individual as erroneous. There is a substantial literature that raises intricate questions about individual liberty and the role of government intervention in such contexts. The aim of this paper is not to go into these ethical matters but to provide a formal structure for such analysis by characterizing games where individual preferences are quasi‐transitive. The paper identifies a set of axioms which are sufficient for the existence of Nash equilibria in such “games.”     

公共品的起源、论题与逻辑

文章的目的是对公共品研究中的理解分歧作出一些澄清。笔者的分析是基于思想史和历史。通过对公共品理论的思想史梳理,笔者认为公共品的实质是一种兼具外部性与"搭便车"难题的物品或服务。而萨缪尔森式的研究由于将制度因素从公共品现象中剥离,致使公共品认知出现诸多混乱。针对实验经济学中兴起的公共品博弈,笔者以《大宪章》为例作了历史考察,发现从成本角度而言,公共品供给的行动逻辑是个体为减少外部成本或者为获取外部收益,通过承担私人成本的方式,提供具有外部性的物品或服务。但这一逻辑无法验证社会偏好理论的有效性,因为该理论更多地反映出一种价值判断而非事实陈述。     

Job Search Behaviour and Time Preferences: Testing Exponential Versus Hyperbolic Discounting

This article examines the effects of time preferences on job search behaviour and tests the exponential versus the hyperbolic discounting model. Theoretically, the relations between time preferences and job search intensity, reservation wages and the exit rate depend on whether exponential or hyperbolic discounting is assumed. By analysing these relations empirically we test which model of intertemporal choice better explains the results. Using the DNB Household Survey, a Dutch longitudinal survey, we capture variation in time preferences by a psychological construct that measures an individual’s future orientation. The empirical results are consistent with the hyperbolic discounting model.     

具有缺货厌恶决策偏好的供应链收益共享契约模型研究

收益共享契约是实现供应链系统绩效改善或完美协调的一种机制。考虑了销售商与供应商分别具有缺货厌恶决策偏好情况下,建立了随机需求下由单供应商和单销售商组成的二级供应链的收益共享契约模型,并对模型进行了分析,揭示了供应商和销售商的缺货厌恶决策偏好对最优订购量、收益分享比例及供应链协作的影响。结果表明:在销售商具有缺货厌恶决策偏好时,供应商所提供的批发价格、所获得的收益份额都将随着销售商缺货厌恶增加而增加;在供应商具有缺货厌恶决策偏好时,供应商所提供的批发价格、所获得的收益份额都将随着自己的缺货厌恶增加而减小。     

公共物品偏好显示机制综述

由于公共物品具有较强的外部性,不同消费者支付不同的价格可获得相同数量的公共物品,消费者的"理想行为"是隐瞒自己的真实偏好,企图做免费搭车者。设计良好的机制有利于公共物品偏好的真实显示,从而实现公共物品的有效供给,在对前人研究思想脉络进行梳理、对研究成果进行总结的基础上提出自己的观点。     

International Trade Policy Preferences: The Impact of Patriotism and Nationalism Pre- and Post-9/11

This paper provides new evidence supporting the hypothesis that patriotism and nationalism influence personal trade policy preferences in addition to the typical economic determinants. It also examines the interaction of the 9/11 terrorist attacks along with patriotism and nationalism on policy preferences. Using the Heckscher-Ohlin model as a theoretical framework, ordered probit estimations were applied to survey responses from an International Social Survey Program survey question about preferences towards limiting imports. Extensions of the model were sequentially estimated to investigate the impact of national identity on policy preferences. The model was augmented to test how feelings of nationalism and patriotism influenced personal trade policy preferences. Data from the International Social Survey Program surveys administered in 1995/1996 and 2003/2004 also allowed us to reflect on the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on trade preferences in the U.S. We found that prior to the 9/11 attacks, nationalism was associated with increased inclinations towards limiting imports while patriotism had no statistically significant impact on trade preferences. The 9/11 attacks made U.S. survey respondents less open to imports. Further, the 9/11 attacks served to reduce the impact of nationalism on the tendency to limit imports while it enhanced the desire to do so through patriotism.

     

Taste-based discrimination evidence from a shift in ethnic preferences after WWI

This paper uses program notes from the Metropolitan opera to quantify changes in ethnic preferences as a result of news of German atrocities during World War I; these data indicate that the War created a persistent shift in ethnic preferences, which effectively switched the status of German Americans from a mainstream ethnicity to an ethnic minority until the late 1920s. Difference-in-difference analyses investigate whether this shift in preferences triggered taste-based discrimination in one of the world's most elite professional settings: applications to trade at the NYSE. This analysis indicates that changes in preferences more than doubled the probability that applicants with German-sounding names would be rejected. Placebo regressions for other non-German minorities yield no evidence of taste effects. Equivalent regressions that distinguish German Jewish from other Jewish applicants, however, indicate that German Jewish applicants were similarly affected as were other Germans.     

Preference erosion and the developing countries exports to the EU: a dynamic panel gravity approach

The erosion of preferences due to multilateral tariff reductions is a long-standing concern for many developing countries. This paper focuses on the erosion of the preferences granted by the EU in the rice industry. Since 2004 there has been a sharp decrease in border protection for the EU rice industry. Because the EU grants trade preferences to a considerable number of rice exporting developing countries, the reform implied preference erosion as well. By addressing the impact of preference erosion on developing countries rice exports to the EU, this paper contributes two original insights to the literature: first, by proposing a new empirical approach to compute the preference margin when tariff rate quotas are in force which is based on the assumption of the existence of fixed costs and economies of scale in international trade; second, by estimating the trade elasticities of preferences by means of a dynamic panel gravity equation to deal with the issues of endogeneity of preferences and persistency in bilateral trade flows. The results show that the way preference margins are calculated matters significantly when assessing the existence and extent of their erosion and the values of trade elasticities. Finally, the estimations highlight the fact that the impact of preferences is still very strong for some of the countries concerned.     

Do trade agreements increase Vietnam's exports to RCEP markets?

The paper reviews recent developments in trade relations between Vietnam and members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, and analyses the impacts on Vietnam's exports of tariff reductions in RCEP trading partners. The margin of tariff preferences is adopted as a proxy for the degree of trade liberalisation and a gravity model is used to assess the impacts of the tariff preferences under the AFTA and ASEAN+1 FTAs on Vietnam's major exports. The results show that the effects of tariff preferences differ between the types of preferences and products. The FTA tariff preferences do not exert a stimulating effect on the export of agricultural products but they have positive effects on several manufacturing exports such as garments and footwear.