Fiscal tensions and risk premium

Empirica - The main goal of the paper is to analyse one-dimensional, isolated impact of particular variables which are used in the literature as explanatory variables for risk premium following...     

Attitudes toward protecting endangered species: The impact of perceived physical attractiveness of animals and political ideology

The current research examined how the perceived physical attractiveness (by humans) of an endangered species, the Dead Leaf Butterfly (Kallima inachus), political orientation, and political ideology impacted participants' attitudes toward supporting and protecting a species. Three experiments were conducted where the physical attractiveness of the Dead Leaf Butterfly was manipulated. Two of the experiments used a representative American sample, while one of the experiments used a Polish sample. In all three studies: (1) Participants rated the Dead Leaf Butterfly as more physically attractive when its wings were open and displayed a black apex, an orange discal band, and a deep blue base than when its wings were closed and resembled a dried leaf with dark veins; and (2) those who scored high in humanitarianism-egalitarianism provided more support for protection from harm for the Dead Leaf Butterfly compared to those who scored low in humanitarianism-egalitarianism. Only in the studies where Americans participated did we find (1) those who were politically liberal indicated more support for the Dead Leaf Butterfly regardless of physical attractiveness as compared to those who were politically conservative, and (2) those who scored low in right-wing authoritarianism provided more support for protection from harm for the Dead Leaf Butterfly compared to those who scored high in right-wing authoritarianism. The differences observed between the American and Polish samples suggest that environmental attitudes are more polarized in the United States compared to Poland. These studies advance our knowledge of how attitudes toward animals are affected by the polarization of political attitudes toward the environment and provide insight for marketers when creating marketing strategies and designing appropriate messaging.     

The heterogeneous regional effects of minimum wages in Poland

We evaluate the impact of large minimum wage hikes on employment and wage growth in Poland between 2004 and 2018. We estimate panel data models utilizing the considerable variation in wage levels, and in minimum wage bites, across 73 Polish NUTS 3 regions. We find that minimum wage hikes had a significant positive effect on wage growth and a significant negative effect on employment growth only in regions of Poland that were in the first tercile of the regional wage distribution in 2007. These effects were moderate in size, and appear to be more relevant for wages. Specifically, if the ratio of minimum wage to average wage had remained constant after 2007, by 2018, the average wages in these regions would have been 3.2% lower, while employment would have been 1.2% higher. In the remaining two-thirds of Polish regions, we find no significant effects of minimum wage hikes on average wages or on employment.     

Higher-order learning

Experimental Economics - We design a novel experiment to study how subjects update their beliefs about the beliefs of others. Three players receive sequential signals about an unknown state of the...