Broadcasting and Sport

The broadcasting of sport is heavily regulated. Our main findingis that common trends, and differences, in the quality, quantity,and price of televised sport across Europe and USA cannot beadequately explained without reference to policy interventionsby national and supranational government, and by competitionand regulatory authorities. These interventions have a significantimpact on the organization and governance of sports, as wellas the structure of broadcasting markets and the conduct ofbroadcasting companies. Foreclosure of broadcasting marketsthrough exclusive, long-term contracts, bundling and verticalintegration, access of viewers to major sporting events, andcollective selling stand out as the most significant policyissues. We conclude by noting a number of policy implications.     

On Labour Market Policies and Aggregate Unemployment Outflows

This paper is interested in the modelling of the relationship between active and passive labour market policies and the aggregate unemployment outflow rate. Our model is based on a matching function and includes a simple representation of the competition between various groups of job searchers. The empirical analysis uses Belgian data. Faced with variables that are often integrated of order 1 according to the usual tests but which cannot strictly speaking be integrated, we contribute to an important methodological debate by comparing the conclusions of a classical econometric analysis and a cointegration approach.     

The Recognition and Timing of Deferred Tax Liabilities

Abstract:   This paper examines the characteristics of firms that account for deferred tax liabilities related to government investment grants under an extended adoption timing period. Not only the recognition but also the timing decision is associated with changes in future performance and changes in the debt structure. Recognisers outperform non‐recognisers in the future, while early recognition is related to post recognition performance but only for those firms that currently perform well. Changes in the balance sheet structure are also related to both decisions. Firms with recent increases in the debt level tend to postpone recognition, while currently well‐performing firms that increase their future debt level are less likely to recognise deferred taxes.     

Trade uncertainty and the two-step procedure: The choice of numeraire and exact indexation

Summary In a small open economy it is optimal to first maximize national income and second choose the best consumption point.The same two-step procedure under (quantitative) uncertainty is suboptimal if one of the goods is used as numéraire. Optimality is restored however, if nominal prices are deflated by the exact price index. Hence there is equivalence between the appropriate two-step procedure and the introduction of a stock market under uncertainty (Diamond 1967) under ideal circumstances.I would like to thank, without implicating, Peter van Bergeijk, Steven Brakman, Willem Buiter, Richard Gigengack, Jean-Marie, Viaene, Casper de Vries and an anonymous referee for useful comments and Angelique van Haasteren and Martijn Herrmann for graphical assistance.     

How a Reduction of Standard Working Hours Affects Employment Dynamics

December 1, 1996 a new law was implemented in Portugal to gradually reduce the standard workweek from 44 to 40 h. We study how this mandatory reduction affected employment through job creation and job destruction. There was considerable regional, sectoral and firm-size variation in the share of workers who were affected by the working hours reduction. We exploit this variation to assess the impact of the workweek reduction. We find evidence that the working hours reduction had a positive effect on employment through a fall in job destruction.     

HYBRID INNOVATION IN MEIJI,JAPAN*

Japan’s hybrid innovation system during the Meiji era provides a useful laboratory for examining the effectiveness of complementary incentives to patents. Patents were introduced in 1885, and by 1911 1.2 million mostly nonpecuniary prizes were awarded at 8,503 competitions. Prizes provided a strong boost to patents, especially in less developed prefectures, and they also induced large spillovers of technical knowledge in prefectures adjacent to those with prizes, relative to distant control prefectures without prizes. Linking competition expenditures with the expected market value of patents induced by the prizes permits a cost–benefit assessment of the prize competitions to be made.     

Unemployment durations and local labour market conditions

ABSTRACT

Unemployment durations vary across local authority districts in the UK. We explore the extent to which this variation is explained by differences in local labour demand as opposed to composition, business cycle and regional effects. We use seventeen waves of the British Household Panel Survey to identify the determinants of the duration of unemployment spells. Once we adjust for individual-level, business cycle and regional controls, we do not find evidence that living in a local authority district with relatively high unemployment is associated with longer spells of unemployment. This indicates that differences in labour demand operate at larger geographic scales, such as between large regions. Our findings have implications for the design of policies to help high unemployment districts.     

The EU ETS and corporate environmental abatement

This article studies the relationship between firm-level emissions-to-cap ratio (ETC) and environmental abatement, by using a unique and extensive data set of 10 762 installations covered by the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) matched to 5931 firms. We find that a shortage of emissions allowances is related to more abatement in later years while a surplus of emissions allowances results in worse subsequent environmental performance. This finding underscores the importance of reducing the global amount of allowances in the ETS system. Our results also suggest that stakeholder pressure and the creation of transparency concerning corporate environmental performance are likely to support the effectiveness of the system.     

Sharing Common Resources in Patriarchal and Status-Based Societies: Evidence from Tanzania

ABSTRACT

In rural African societies, socioeconomic differentiation linked to gender and social status exerts an important influence on the distribution of common-pool resources. Through a behavioral experiment conducted in 2008 in rural Tanzania, this contribution examines the influence of gender and social status on distribution behavior of users of self-governed common watersheds. It finds that men and women with low social status distribute water equally when water is abundant but keep larger shares when water is scarce, although low-status women try to be as fair as possible at the expense of their returns from irrigated agriculture. Men of high social status keep more than half of the available water for themselves, both in abundance and scarcity, and deprive others from sizeable returns from irrigated agriculture. Women of high social status share altruistically when water is abundant and equally when water is scarce, giving up on returns from irrigated agriculture.