A Bayesian analysis of payday loans and their regulation

Payday loans are small short-term loans that a borrower must repay or renew on his/her next payday. In states where payday lending is legal, many terms of these loans are regulated, ostensibly to protect the consumer from excessively burdensome lending practices.     

Does the new protectionsm really harm all trading countries?

The following article considers the effects triggered by exporting countries' reactions to the new protectionism. It demonstrates that if the analysis is broadened to take account of macro-economic interdependence the assessment of the trade interests, for instance, of “new” exporting countries such as the NICs must be revised     

Bargaining (De)centralization, Macroeconomic Performance and Control over the Employment Relationship

Based on data for 20 OECD countries, this paper analyses the effect of bargaining centralization on performance and control over the employment relationship. Rejecting both the corporatist thesis and the hump–shape thesis, the paper finds that performance either increases or decreases with centralization, depending on the ability of the higher level to bind lower levels. There is a clear effect on control in that bargaining coverage significantly declines with decentralization. Employers can therefore expect to extend management prerogatives, rather than improve performance, when enforcing decentralization. Hence the literature on bargaining structures when focusing on performance has lost sight of their contested nature.     

ESTIMATES OF THE HIDDEN ECONOMY IN AUSTRIA ON THE BASIS OF OFFICIAL STATISTICS

By definition, the hidden economy eludes straight observation by means of official statistics. Nevertheless, attempts to quantify these phenomena usually make reference to official materials in various respects, e.g. as regards definition, or when evaluating the relative importance or some indirect reflections of such activities. In this context, official statistics may serve as a particularly useful reference when those sections of the economy are concerned which are hardly or not at all susceptible to hidden activities. Such sections can be identified in terms of industry and in terms of occupation.
In the present investigation such techniques have been used to a large extent and only official statistics have been drawn upon as a data source. Accordingly, the outcome matches closely with national accounts concepts and existing national classifications of various socio-economic statistics. The estimates refer to the hidden ("off the records") activities of the self-employed as well as to similar activities of employees, the unemployed etc. ("moonlighting"). Per se criminal activities have not been included, however. As regards the self-employed the estimates basically rely on income differentials observed between small scale entrepreneurs and their employees. As regards employees numbers employed of various preselected occupational categories and of some additional groups of non-employed have been processed successively, matching them e.g. with comparable data on time budgets and regional frequency.
The outcome largely confirms common experience or expectations as regards the fields where hidden activities assume significant relative importance whereas the overall size of the hidden economy turned out fairly small as compared with official GDP.     

The choice of technique in simple linear models with resource constraints

Zusammenfassung Die Wahl der Produktionstechnik in einfachen linearen Modellen mit einer Beschr?nkung der Ressourcen. — Im Rahmen eines einfachen Problems der linearen Programmierung mit nur zwei Faktoren, zwei Gütern und zwei alternativen Techniken wird gezeigt, da der Kapitalstock eindeutig gemessen werden kann, gleichgültig, ob nur eine der Techniken angewandt wird oder beide gleichzeitig benutzt werden. Es werden Wechsel in der Kombination von Kapital und Arbeit sowohl für den Fall von Preis?nderungen bei gegebener Faktorausstattung als auch für den Fall der Akkumulation durch Sparen untersucht. In beiden F?llen bewegen sich die Faktorertr?ge in eine Richtung, und es ist nicht m?glich, zu einer bereits aufgegebenen Technik wieder zurückzukehren, wenn die Kapitalrendite sinkt und der Lohnsatz steigt. Inwieweit dieses Ergebnis auch für kompliziertere Modelle mit vielen Faktoren, vielen Gütern und nichtkonstanten Skalenertr?gen gilt, mu\ durch weitere Forschungen gekl?rt werden.

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Résumé Le choix de technique dans des modèles linéaires simples sous des restrictions de ressource. — Dans le cadre d’un simple modèle de programmation linéaire à seulement deux facteurs, deux biens et deux techniques alternatives il est démontré qu’il n’y a pas une ambigu?té en mesurant le capital si seulement une technique est appliquée ou si les deux sont appliquées ensemble. L’auteur analyse des renversements dans la combinaison du capital et de la main-d’oeuvre pour le cas des variations de prix à l’équipement donné aussi bien que pour le cas d’une accumulation par l’épargne. Dans les deux cas, la rente des facteurs de production suit une direction et il n’y a pas une possibilité de retourner à une technique déjà abandonnée si le taux d’intérêt est réduit et si les rémunérations augmentent. Dans quelle mesure ce résultat soit valide pour des modèles plus compliqués à beaucoup de facteurs et produits aussi bien qu’aux rendements d’échelle non-constants, pourrait être un sujet pour des recherches à venir.

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Resumen La selección de técnica en modelos lineares simples con restriccionesde recursos. — Dentro del marco de un problema de programación linear simple con solo dos factores, dos bienes y dos técnicas alternativas se muestra que no hay ambigüedad en la medición del capital, igual si se usa solo una técnica o ambas a la vez. Los cambios se examinan tanto para el caso de variaciones de precios con dotaciones dadas como para el caso de acumulación a través del ahorro. En ambos casos ocurre un movimiento unidireccional de rentabilidades de factores y no hay posibilidad de un cambio hacia atrás hacia una técnica ya abandonada en la medida que la tasa de interés cae y los salarios aumentan. En qué medida este resultado es válido para modelos más complicados con muchos factores, muchos bienes y retornos de escala no constantes, es un tema de investigación adicional.

     

Market Frictions, Price Delay, and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns

We parsimoniously characterize the severity of market frictionsaffecting a stock using the delay with which its price respondsto information. The most delayed firms command a large returnpremium not explained by size, liquidity, or microstructureeffects. Moreover, delay captures part of the size effect, idiosyncraticrisk is priced only among the most delayed firms, and earningsdrift is monotonically increasing in delay. Frictions associatedwith investor recognition appear most responsible for the delayeffect. The very small segment of delayed firms, comprisingonly 0.02% of the market, generates substantial variation inaverage returns, highlighting the importance of frictions.     

Informal Financial Networks: Theory and Evidence

We develop a model of informal financial networks and presentcorroborating evidence by studying the role of property brokersin the U.S. commercial real estate market. Our model demonstratesthat service intermediaries, who do not themselves supply loans,can facilitate their clients' access to finance through informalrelationships with lenders. Empirically we find that, controllingfor endogenous broker selection, hiring a broker strikinglyincreases the probability of obtaining bank finance. Our resultsdemonstrate that even in the United States, with its well-developedcapital markets, informal networks play an important role incontrolling access to finance.     

Economic Effects of Taxing Different Organizational Forms under the Nordic Dual Income Tax

This paper analyzes the economic effects of income splitting rules for closely held corporations and sole proprietorships/partnerships under the Nordic dual income tax. Income is split by imputing a return to capital, but the methods used for this differ between the Nordic countries. With a few notable exceptions, income splitting does well in the sense that the cost of capital is approximately the same in closely and widely held corporations. The special tax rules for sole proprietorships/partnerships manage to neutralize the impact of the high labor income tax on the cost of capital.     

Green Noise or Green Value? Measuring the Effects of Environmental Certification on Office Values

This study investigates the price effects of environmental certification on commercial real estate assets. It is argued that there are likely to be three main drivers of price differences between certified and noncertified buildings. These are additional occupier benefits, lower holding costs for investors and a lower risk premium. Drawing upon the CoStar database of U.S. commercial real estate assets, hedonic regression analysis is used to measure the effect of certification on both rent and price. The results suggest that, compared to buildings in the same submarkets, eco‐certified buildings have both a rental and sale price premium.