PROLIFERATION OF ACADEMIC JOURNALS: EFFECTS ON RESEARCH QUANTITY AND QUALITY

There have been significant structural changes in research markets in recent years reflected in the increase in the number of academic journals. This paper uses a differential game model of authors and journal editors to examine the effects of an increase in competition among academic journals. Does an increase in the number of academic journals lead to an increase in scholarly articles published? Will an increase in publishing outlets adversely affect research quality? The results show greater competition does not affect research output and in fact enhances research quality. The number of journals and the relative discount rates of authors and editors are crucial determinants of the effects of competition.     

Multidimensional scaling of consumer preferences for a public transportation system: An application of two approaches

Consumer attitudes toward a proposed new public transportation system were assessed through the application of two multidimensional scaling models to data on preference choices for system attributes. Carroll's vector model and Kruskal and Carmone's nonmetric unfolding model were compared on theoretical and empirical levels to determine their utility for exposing the latent structure of attitudes for a public project. While the unfolding model was attractive because of a theoretical property, the vector model was able to uncover latent dimensions for the attitudes which could be related via discriminant analysis to socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the respondents. The vector model also produced an outcome which was more closely related to a unidimensional analysis of these data. Therefore, even though both the vector and unfolding models produced plausible geometric representations of the attitudes which arc expected to aid urban transportation planners in designing systems, the vector model produced the more acceptable outcome.     

From unemployed to entrepreneur: The role of the absolute bequest motive

Using the British Household Panel Survey, this paper finds that inheritance has a concave effect on the hours worked by male entrepreneurs. Receiving an inheritance increases the labor supply of unemployed male entrepreneurs; however this effect becomes smaller for higher inheritances.     

How do central banks react to wealth composition and asset prices?

We assess the response of monetary policy to developments in asset markets in the euro area, the US and the UK. We estimate the reaction of monetary policy to wealth composition and asset prices using: (i) a linear framework based on a fully simultaneous system approach in a Bayesian environment; and (ii) a nonlinear specification that relies on a smooth transition regression model.     

Imperfect credibility and the zero lower bound

As the nominal interest rate cannot fall below zero, a central bank with imperfect credibility faces a significant challenge to stabilize the economy in a New Keynesian model during a large recession. We characterize the optimal monetary policy at the zero lower bound for the nominal interest rate if credibility is imperfect. Confronting monetary policy communication of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Swedish Riksbank with such a framework, the credibility of both institutions is shown to have been low in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis.     

A systematic mapping study on enterprise architecture mining

Enterprise architecture allows companies to deal with digital transformation through the proactive presentation and alignment of business and IT in a holistic manner. One important challenge is EA modelling since it is time-consuming (thus expensive), error-prone, and biased owing to experts’ subjective opinions. This challenge might consequently be addressed through automatic EA modelling. We conducted a systematic mapping study to classify and evaluate the research concerning EA mining proposals developed specifically for TOGAF and Archimate. After analysing results, we concluded that the research field is not sufficiently mature and further research on EA mining is necessary.     

Can unpredictable risk exposure be priced?

We study the link between beta predictability and the price of risk. An investor who desires exposure to a certain risk factor needs to predict what next period’s beta will be. We use a simple model to show that an ambiguity averse agent’s demand is lower when betas are hard to predict, leading to a reduction in risk premiums. We test the implications for downside betas and VIX betas. We find that they have economically and statistically small prices of risk once we account for the fact that an investor cannot observe ex-post realized betas when determining asset demand.