Vintage capital,market structure and productivity in an evolutionary model of industry growth

This paper examines the effects of inter-firm variation in vintage equipment replacement policies on industry productivity and structure using an evolutionary model based on Nelson-Winter. Traditional industry productivity measures assume a graduated replacement policy with low variation across firms in the average age of the capital stock. This approach allows for inter-firm policy variation. The first part reviews the neoclassical treatment of vintage capital investment; the second part outlines an evolutionary model of vintage replacement in the context of industry growth; and the third part presents results of simulation experiments focused on the relationship between vintage replacement patterns and industry productivity growth. Findings suggest that inter-firm differences in vintage capital investment policies may account for significant shifts in the rates of industry productivity growth and changes in market structure.     

Inclusionary Housing Policies,Stigma Effects and Strategic Production Decisions

Inclusionary housing policies enacted by municipal governments rely on a combination of legal mandates and economic incentives to encourage residential real estate developers to include affordable units in otherwise market-rate projects. These regulations provide a means of stimulating the production of mixed-income housing at a minimal cost to the public sector, but have been hypothesized to slow development and put upward pressure on housing prices. The results of the theoretical models presented in this paper suggest that inclusionary housing policies need not increase housing prices in all situations. However, any observed impact on housing prices may be mitigated by density effects and stigma effects that decrease demand for market-rate units. The results additionally suggest real estate developers are likely to respond to inclusionary housing policies by strategically altering production decisions.     

MARCH MADNESS: NCAA TOURNAMENT PARTICIPATION AND COLLEGE ALCOHOL USE

While athletic success may improve the visibility of a university to prospective students and thereby benefit the school, it may also increase risky behavior in the current student body. Using the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, we find that a school's participation in the NCAA Basketball Tournament is associated with a 47% increase in binge drinking by male students at that school. Additionally, we find evidence that drunk driving increases by 5% among all students during the tournament. (JEL I12, I23, Z28)     

Neglected Risk in Financial Innovation: Evidence from Structured Product Counterparty Exposure

We investigate the compensation of counterparty exposure in the prices of structured products. Our analysis reveals that product issuers did not compensate retail investors for counterparty exposure before the Lehman default. Post-Lehman, retail prices have no longer neglected this risk. We also measure retail investor attention towards issuer credit risk. For a given level of issuer credit risk, counterparty exposure is compensated more when attention is higher. Furthermore, issuers tend to construct products with larger counterparty exposure. Overall, our results shed light on the conditions under which financial engineering generates neglected risk.     

Improved grade outcomes with an e-mailed “grade nudge”

Information provided at the moment a person makes a decision can influence behavior in predictable ways. The United Kingdom's Behavioural Insights Team have used this idea to help improve the insulation of lofts, collect taxes, and even reduce litter. The authors of this article developed software that appends a personalized message to each assignment in the class regarding the student's current grade. This “grade nudge” explains precisely how the assignment will impact the student's final grade given their current standing in the class. Through a randomized trial, the authors show that the nudge improves student homework performance by about four percentage points.     

An investigation of coworker relationships and psychological collectivism on employee propensity to take charge

This study examines how coworker interactions and psychological collectivism impact an employee's likelihood of engaging in taking charge behavior. Work group contextual factors examined include team–member exchange (TMX), coworker support and psychological collectivism. Results show that TMX and psychological collectivism were significantly related to an individual's propensity to engage in taking charge behavior. This study highlights the importance that one's interactions with coworkers can have on an employee's willingness to engage in taking charge behavior, contributing an important new perspective to the literature on the contextual antecedents that drive an individual's behavioral efforts to bring about innovation and change. Implications for research and practitioners are discussed.     

CULTURE AND GROWTH: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

Using Hofstede's cultural data set, this paper examines the impact of cultural characteristics on a nation's economic performance. Using a two‐step estimation procedure, we first estimate a panel growth regression and obtain estimates of each nation's fixed effects, which reflect idiosyncratic differences in growth performance. In the second step, we regress the fixed effects on invariant cultural and institutional variables. Our estimation results suggest that individuality and tolerance for uncertainty are the most important cultural factors in explaining nation‐specific growth performance. Furthermore, our findings suggest that political and property rights play a major role in determining idiosyncratic growth.