The Quest for Economic Stability: Roosevelt to Reagan

We investigate whether positional concerns (Veblen [1899] 1970; Hirsch, 1976) vary along several dimensions and domains, namely goods vs. bads, private vs. public, oneself vs. oneself s children, socially visible vs. nonsocially visible. Using a hypothetical survey in France, we replicate the empirical strategy of Solnick and Hemenway (1998; 2005) and test a larger set of socio-demographic variables that can be related to positional concerns. Despite some differences, our results are mostly consistent with those of Solnick and Hemenway (1998; 2005). We emphasize some policy implications.     

人力资源与中国长期经济增长

异常丰富的人力资本是中国经济持续增长的最重要的驱动力,这些人力资本大多积累于1949年之前。1978年后中国经济高速增长,人力资本的效应在其开始阶段尤其明显;在这段时间里,贫困的农村乡镇实现了井喷式增长,虽然它们鲜有外部援助,而这被视为消除绝对贫困必不可少的条件。在研究了人力资本在历史和当今的发展后,通过重点关注海外华侨的财富积累、转型经济体的商业形成以及中国内部的区域差异,本文利用跨国、跨区域的比较,突出了中国尤其是沿海地区的人力资本的不同寻常的深度。     

Corporate sustainability in asset pricing models and mutual funds performance measurement

This study explores whether corporate sustainability is a relevant factor in multifactor asset pricing models. It contributes to the literature on asset pricing, as well as to the literature that examines how sustainability impacts capital markets, by constructing a new factor that captures differences in the returns of sustainable and non-sustainable firms. Specifically, it examines whether an additional sustainability factor has explanatory power in asset pricing models that include size, book-to-market equity, and momentum factors. This research has practical implications for the performance measurement of portfolios and mutual funds that are managed in accordance with sustainability criteria in that it disentangles general stock-picking skills from the differences in returns between sustainable and non-sustainable stocks.     

The Adjusted Big Mac Methodology: A Clarification

The Economist's adjusted Big Mac index takes GDP into account in currency valuation, but the methodology is not explained. We show that the key to understanding the methodology is to distinguish between a currency's bilateral valuation (versus a specific currency) and the currency's overall valuation (versus a “basket” of a large number of currencies). Also, the adjusted Big Mac estimates of intrinsic foreign exchange (FX) rates have been better forecasts of actual FX changes than those of the original “raw” Big Mac index.     

Where Should the Elderly Live and Who Should Pay for Their Care?*

We consider a model with a population consisting of earners and retired persons; elderly care is publicly provided. There is one big city, where congestion effects and agglomeration forces are at work, and a number of small villages. We show how the externalities related to population mobility lead to an inefficient spatial distribution of earners and retirees, and we characterize the second‐best solution. Decentralization of this solution in a fiscal federalism structure requires the use of taxes and subsidies proportional to the number of earners and retired persons living in the city and the villages.     

Innovation and diffusion of environmental technology: Industrial NOx abatement in Sweden under refunded emission payments

We study the actual process of technical change in the case of NOx abatement from large stationary sources that have been regulated by very forceful policies in Sweden. Considerable progress has been made in lowering aggregate emissions and this paper seeks to disaggregate average industry improvements to study how much of it is due to innovations by first movers, and how much is achieved by adoption and diffusion of technology. We find both factors very important. Innovation has been rapid: the best firms have cut emissions on the order of 70%. In spite of this, reductions have actually been even more rapid for the majority of firms so that the median firms have caught up with best practice. We analyze various characteristics of the technological change observed.     

The causes of government expenditure growth: A survey of the U.S. evidence

The growth of government budgets can be broken down into a-institutional and institutional components. The former component — the familiar substitution, income, and population/public goods-tax sharing effects — is estimated to contribute about two-fifths of the growth of U.S. government spending. The latter component — rent-seeking political redistributions, bureaucracy and perceptual/informational impedimentia — is important, too, but an exact imputation cannot be asserted given the state of the art in empirical public choice theory. The cross-effects on spending of the growth of regulation and tax preferences or tax expenditures, though interesting, is not pursued.     

Arbitrator Decision-Making in the Transfer Market: an Empirical Analysis

This paper analyses data generated by the annual round of arbitrated settlements of disputed transfer fees for end-of-contract players in the English Football League. Using information on final-offers of the disputant clubs and data on a variety of player and club characteristics we analyse arbitrated fees and final-offers, and the relative importance of final-offers and case facts in fashioning outcomes. Our analysis suggests that a large proportion of the variation in settlements can be accounted for by certain case facts rather than a mechanical compromise of final-offers, with the latter receiving a relatively low weight. In general, our findings are consistent with the view that conventional arbitration systems generate little useful information in terms of final-offers from the disputant parties.