Pay for play: the financial value of NCAA football players

We explore the financial value of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football recruits and establish a wage schedule based on the star ratings assigned to high school athletes by an independent talent evaluation agency. Evidence suggests that the contribution of higher-ranking recruits to team wins significantly increases revenues. While the NCAA currently prohibits universities from paying student-athletes, we estimate that if amateurism rules were rescinded and college football players were compensated according to their revenue-generating abilities then five-, four-, three-, and low-star players would be entitled to annual salaries of $799,000, $361,000, $29,000, and $21,000, respectively, in addition to athletic scholarships covering tuition, books, and room and board.     

Platform strategies: how the position in the network drives success

Scholars have focused on platform strategies for a long time, moving from a product perspective to an industry-wide one. In particular, the decision to open the platform to external complementors has been studied through the perspective of platform leadership. The digital age is now moving from a closed approach versus an open approach. Is being a platform leader still imperative or is participating in a network of existing platforms still a suitable strategy as well? What kind of collaborations within an ecosystem leads to better performances? Leveraging social network analysis is performed within the network formed by mobile apps in the Health and Fitness category; this research shows how the decision of being (or not) a platform provider has an impact on the performances, but the position within the network mediates this impact. Based on the results obtained, research and managerial implications can be established.     

Making a play in the policy and politics arena: nursing and the national election

With health care surfacing in political campaigns across the country and referencing virtually every one of the policy topics discussed here, nurses have an important opportunity to share their views regarding both policy substance as well as engage in the political arena. For those nurses not yet ready to run for elective office, participating in grassroots efforts of campaigns, on advisory panels, and making financial contributions to preferred candidates are important opportunities not to be missed. Given the interest in and challenges ahead associated with health care broadly and nursing specifically, there is a great deal at stake.     

One for all or all for one: Does the category captain play favourites

In the consumer packaged goods industry, category captain is the company (e.g., Pepsi) that retailers (e.g., Kroger) designate as the leader of an entire product category (e.g., carbonated beverages) and collaborate with to manage the product category through the process of category management. Much uncertainty exists about the consequences of category management. We use a unique data set on the ready-to-eat cereals category in which the retailer designated a category captain. In this paper, we find that category captain does not have more to gain in terms of market shares than other products within the ready-to-eat cereals category, alleviating antitrust concerns related to category management. In addition, we find that category captain increases the market share of products that are more price competitive, not necessarily that of its own products, which points to a category captain focusing on growing the category's market as it is incentivized to do so.     

Currency unions and trade: how large is the treatment effect?

The impact of a common currency on trade can be grossly mismeasured if countries that belong to currency unions are systematically different from those that do not, and if the relationship between trade and its observable determinants is complex. I argue that such complications are plausible and likely to distort the empirical results of a recent Economic Policy paper by Andrew Rose (Issue 30, 2000: pp. 7–45). Using techniques designed to be robust in this situation, I find that the effects of common currency on international trade are considerably less dramatic and much less precisely estimated.
I have always maintained that the measured effect of a single currency on trade appears implausibly large, but I am not convinced by Torsten Persson's diagnosis and proposed solution. I apply a variety of estimation techniques to a new larger data set, where many more instances of currency union creation and abandonment make it possible to rely on time–series as well as cross–sectional evidence. The results are similar to my earlier ones: the effect of a single currency on trade is large.     

Identity and learning: A study on the effect of student-teacher gender matching on learning outcomes

In this paper we examine the gender matching effects in learning outcomes by studying the sorting behaviour of teachers and students by gender across private and public schools.We develop a theoretical framework behind the selection mechanism process which is grounded in the economic framework of systematic gender norms. Using contextual gender norms that are relevant to a developing country context, our theoretical model of matching behaviour predicts that the relative gain in learning outcomes is higher for female students under female teachers. We find support for our theoretical predictions when we test them using Young Lives Survey (YLS) data collected from Andhra Pradesh.     

Trade in the Triad: how easy is the access to large markets?

Abstract. In this paper, we measure market access between the United States, the EU, and Japan (the Triad), using the effect of national borders on trade patterns. We investigate overall and industry‐level trends of bilateral trade openness and provide explanations for those using proxies for bilateral observed protection (tariffs and NTBs), home bias of consumers, product differentiation, and levels of FDI. The explanations related to actual protection, home bias and substitutability of goods put together explain a large part of the border effect between blocs of the Triad, although they do not explain the whole of the border effect puzzle. JEL classification: F12, F15     

No smoking at the slot machines: the effect of a smoke-free law on Delaware gaming revenues

As communities around the nation consider laws restricting smoking in public places, a key political and economic issue that often arises is the effect that such laws have on the sales and profits of particular sectors. The gaming industry has been active in opposition to such ordinances, citing large prospective losses. This article analyses the revenues of three gaming facilities in Delaware following the implementation of a smoke-free law in December 2002. Revenues are found to have declined significantly at each of the three facilities, with relative magnitudes of losses corresponding to the availability of alternative gaming venues in the region.     

Non-myopic learning in differential information economies: the core

Summary. We study the process of learning in a differential information economy, with a continuum of states of nature that follow a Markov process. The economy extends over an infinite number of periods and we assume that the agents behave non-myopically, i.e., they discount the future. We adopt a new equilibrium concept, the non-myopic core. A realized agreement in each period generates information that changes the underlying structure in the economy. The results we obtain serve as an extension to the results in Koutsougeras and Yannelis (1999) in a setting where agents behave non-myopically. In particular, we examine the following two questions: 1) If we have a sequence of allocations that are in an approximate non-myopic core (we allow for bounded rationality), is it possible to find a subsequence that converges to a non-myopic core allocation in a limit full information economy? 2) Given a non-myopic core allocation in a limit full information economy can we find a sequence of approximate non-myopic core allocations that converges to that allocation? Received: May 25, 1999; revised version: August 9, 1999     

With and without the tracks: how railroad access impacts gas price elasticity

Since 2011, gas prices have fallen 43%, raising the question of how different communities adjust their vehicle miles travelled. Data from the National Household Travel Survey’s EPA fuel economy database and the Energy Information Administration database are used to measure consumers’ elasticity to changes in gas prices. We find no significant difference between the price elasticity of individuals in cities with rail access and those without. Furthermore, we are able to rule out an elasticity in those with rail that is greater than 0.61, suggesting that rail access does not make consumer demand elastic.     

Economic modeling using evolutionary algorithms: the effect of a binary encoding of strategies

We are concerned with evolutionary algorithms that are employed for economic modeling purposes. We focus in particular on evolutionary algorithms that use a binary encoding of strategies. These algorithms, commonly referred to as genetic algorithms, are popular in agent-based computational economics research. In many studies, however, there is no clear reason for the use of a binary encoding of strategies. We therefore examine to what extent the use of such an encoding may influence the results produced by an evolutionary algorithm. It turns out that the use of a binary encoding can have quite significant effects. Since these effects do not have a meaningful economic interpretation, they should be regarded as artifacts. Our findings indicate that in general the use of a binary encoding is undesirable. They also highlight the importance of employing evolutionary algorithms with a sensible economic interpretation.     

Confronting the risk of asset loss: What role do livestock transfers in northern Kenya play?

In many low-income, high-risk environments households participate in informal risk sharing institutions involving inter-household transfers. This study focuses on: asset transfers and asset risk; the influence of past behavior on access to transfers; and wealth-differentiated transfer behavior. Panel data on livestock transfers in northern Kenya are analyzed. Three explanations of livestock transfers are investigated: ex post insurance; ex ante precautionary savings; and redistribution. Findings indicate that livestock transfers are of limited effectiveness in addressing asset risk and avoiding poverty. The findings have implications for both research on risk sharing institutions and for the design of development policies in pastoral areas.     

Interfirm learning in environmental safety: evidence from the bakken

This paper examines whether firm learning economies lead to reduced environmental incidents in Bakken unconventional oil drilling. We model the relationship between environmental safety and learning in preventing environmental incidents. We do not find evidence that firm or interfirm learning leads to increased environmental safety. We do find evidence that idiosyncratic quality of matches between firms and subcontractors is associated with improved environmental safety.     

Australian beer wars and pub demand: how vertical restraints improved the drinking experience

Recently, Australia's two largest brewers, Carlton and United Breweries and Lion Nathan, have been aggressively competing for market share in the state of Victoria. Among other strategies, the two breweries have implemented vertical restraints in the form of?‘extensive’?agreements with retailers and the outright purchase of pubs. A key outcome of these purchases and agreements is the renovation of many pubs as brewers attempt to attract increasingly sophisticated drinkers. This paper attempts to quantify the value of these renovations and measure their associated impact on consumers, relying on insights from the hedonic literature. A simple, but novel approach, is used to estimate the implicit price of the pub environment and the effects of renovations on that price.     

Prospect theory in the wild: how good is the nonexperimental evidence for prospect theory?

ABSTRACT

Prospect theory is widely thought to be one of the best-confirmed accounts of human decision-making under risk. There are numerous claims in the literature that various kinds of nonexperimental, observational evidence provide strong support for prospect theory. We investigate the veracity of these claims using a set of philosophy of science morals and a careful delineation of models of choice under risk, focussing on the extant versions of prospect theory and their various components. We challenge the claim that prospect theory is well supported because it explains the equity premium puzzle. In addition, we analyse a major international survey thought to support prospect theory and argue that the support is questionable, both for statistical reasons and because the evidence itself is mixed. Our analyses highlight some important ideas in the philosophy of science and caution against strong claims about support for prospect theory that rely on nonexperimental, observational evidence.     

Privatization, ownership structure and transparency: how to measure the true involvement of the state

The paper proposes a methodology for evaluation of direct and indirect property distribution and transparency of the property structure in an economy. The methodology is applied to the analysis of property structure of the banking sector in the Czech Republic.