Identity and social exclusion: an experiment with Hispanic immigrants in the U.S.

In this study we conduct a lab-in-the-field experiment with low-income Hispanics in three neighborhoods in a large city in the U.S. to investigate how identity and social exclusion influences individual contributions to fund local public goods. We find that while the strength of identity has a significant and positive impact on individual contributions to local public goods, the perception of social exclusion significantly decreases contributions. Our findings thus suggest factors that may impede full civic participation, and shed important light on potential policies to increase integration of immigrants and ethnic minorities into mainstream society.     

Bolivia’s Institutional Transformation: Contact Zones,Social Movements,and the Emergence of an Ethnic Class Consciousness

Over the past two decades, development economics has experienced a shift in focus from standard neoclassical analysis to institutions. While studying economic institutions is indeed important, evaluating their transformation and embeddedness is equally crucial for understanding and improving human wellbeing, especially in countries where market institutions are not fully developed. With that perspective in mind, we consider the importance of culture in the evolution of institutions in Bolivia by combining the concept of contact zones with old institutional economics (OIE). Contact zones refer to daily interactions in social spaces where culture and class meet and negotiate with each other. The contact zone between Bolivians and post-WWII development policies surfaced as an Andean collective memory, allowing for a possibility of social and political autonomy through the creation of an alternative to development, El Buen Vivir.     

Ownership structure and investment finance in transition economiesA survey of evidence from large firms in Hungary and Poland1

Using survey data on 157 large private Hungarian and Polish companies this paper investigates links between ownership structures and CEOs’ expectations with regard to sources of finance for investment. The Bayesian estimation is used to deal with the small sample restrictions, while classical methods provide robustness checks. We found a hump‐shaped relationship between ownership concentration and expectations of relying on public equity. The latter is most likely for firms where the largest investor owns between 25 percent and 49 percent of shares, just below the legal control threshold. More profitable firms rely on retained earnings for their investment finance, consistent with the ‘pecking order’ theory of financing. Finally, firms for which the largest shareholder is a domestic institutional investor are more likely to borrow from domestic banks.     

Integrated variance forecasting: Model based vs. reduced form

This paper compares model-based and reduced-form forecasts of financial volatility when high-frequency return data are available. We derived exact formulas for the forecast errors and analyzed the contribution of the “wrong” data modeling and errors in forecast inputs. The comparison is made for “feasible” forecasts, i.e., we assumed that the true data generating process, latent states and parameters are unknown. As an illustration, the same comparison is carried out empirically for spot 5 min returns of DM/USD exchange rates.It is shown that the comparison between feasible reduced-form and model-based forecasts is not always in favor of the latter in contrast to their infeasible versions. The reduced-form approach is generally better for long-horizon forecasting and for short-horizon forecasting in the presence of microstructure noise.     

The Impact of Competition and Trade Unions on Workplace Reform and Organisational and Technological Change

This article addresses two research questions, firstly to test the hypothesis that organisational and technological changes are more likely to occur in the traded goods sector, in the private sector relative to the public sector and in more competitive product markets. Secondly, to examine whether trade unions have a positive or negative effect on the implementation of different types of workplace reforms, and organisational and technological changes. The analysis supports the hypothesis that workplaces in the traded goods sector are more likely to implement organisational and technological changes. It also indicates that workplaces in the private sector are more likely to implement certain types of reforms, whereas workplaces in the public sector are more likely to implement others. However, this study does not provide conclusive evidence that competitive pressure in product markets increases the probability that a firm will implement each workplace reform mentioned in this study. The evidence on unions provides tentative support to the view that more unionised workplaces are less likely to implement the reforms in question.     

Does the version of the Penn World Tables matter? An analysis of the relationship between growth and volatility

Abstract .  The Penn World Tables (PWT) are an important data source for cross-country comparisons in economics. The PWT have undergone several revisions over time. This paper documents how countries' output growth rates change across four publicly available versions of the PWT. We show that for some countries the magnitude of the differences is significant and/or the sign of the growth rates changes across versions. Using as an example Ramey and Ramey (1995) , who found growth volatility has a significant negative effect on growth, we demonstrate that conclusions based on one version of the PWT may not hold under another version.     

Ethnic-specific infant care practices and infant mortality in late Imperial Russia

The Russian Empire had the highest infant mortality rate in Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century. Using a variety of official statistical sources and qualitative evidence, this paper documents uniquely high infant mortality among ethnic Russians. In contrast, among other ethnic groups of the empire, infant mortality rates did not exceed those of the European countries by much. The evidence suggests that the explanation for the Russian infant mortality pattern was ethnic-specific infant care practices, such as the early introduction of solid food, which increased the incidence of lethal gastrointestinal diseases. Our findings highlight the importance of traditional infant feeding practices in mortality in pre-industrial societies.     

Worthiness versus Self‐Interest in Charitable Giving: Evidence from a Low‐Income,Minority Neighborhood

We examine the impact of perceived worthiness and financial self‐interest on charitable giving. Both participants and recipients come from a low‐income, predominantly African‐American community in the United States. To examine this issue, we introduce a “Comparative Dictator Game,” where participants make dictator allocations for four possible recipients, each with different characteristics. We find higher charitable giving toward more “worthy” (i.e., disabled, females who are head of household, and individuals with more children) recipients when individuals donate money to different recipients. Additionally, subjects then select their preferred recipient/allocation. When only one recipient must be selected for a donation, individuals select recipients to whom they provided smaller donations and recipients with children. The results highlight the trade‐off between a desire to engage in philanthropy, supporting those who are deserving, and financial self‐interest.     

Relationships between hospital-centered and multihospital-centered factors and perceived effectiveness: a canonical study of nonprofit hospitals

This article reports on the results of a survey which investigated the nature of relationships between hospital and multihospital organization-centered factors and background characteristics, and multihospital organization effectiveness. Canonical correlation is employed in analyzing the data. Results and their implications are discussed.     

Micro and macro socioeconomic changes in the USSR

The vast changes in the Soviet economic structure did not begin with the recent failed coup; they have been progressing for several years. Despite the fact that everyone agrees on the importance of economic reform, it has been a slow struggle—partly because of individual expectations.