A general equilibrium investigation of handguns,cops and robbers

We study a general equilibrium environment in which the only activity of interest is armed robbery. Agents choose to be citizens or robbers, and to purchase handguns or not. By arming, citizens can protect themselves from robbery. The government chooses the intensity of police efforts to arrest would-be robbers and to arrest citizens who arm for self-defense. Properties of an equilibrium are characterized and comparative statics results are obtained. We then show why empirical work that examines variations in “shall issue” laws could lead to wrong conclusions. Our analysis produces counterexamples to the following propositions: raising the arrest rate of robbers reduces crime; increasing the arrest rate of armed citizens reduces the number of armed citizens (crime rate, gun death rate). We thank V. V. Chari, John Kareken, Ross Levine, Andy McLennan, Raj Singh, David Smith, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments.     

A new measure of financial development: Theory leads measurement

This study presents a new measure of financial development that is directly derived from theory. Our measure, the Marginal Utilization of Debt (hereafter, MUD) comes from the seminal work of Myers (1984), Myers and Majluf (1984) and Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999). Further, it is directly related to the development facts of Gurley and Shaw (1955). MUD is a global measure that reflects conditions in both debt and equity markets. It varies enormously across nations; from 0.23 in Australia at one extreme to 0.96 in Turkey at the other. Cross‐country variations in MUD are not random; they are related to special‐purpose measures of debt and equity market advancement from the financial development literature. Richer, more advanced nations have smaller average MUDs. We argue that the MUD may be useful for a variety of purposes and provide three example applications.     

Gender differences in entrepreneurial propensity: Evidence from matrilineal and patriarchal societies

We examine whether men and women in patriarchal and matrilineal societies differ in their propensity to engage in entrepreneurship. We conduct two studies. Study 1 involves face-to-face interviews to identify individuals who are in the process of starting a new business. We find that men in patriarchal societies are more likely than women to initiate action to start a new business. This result, however, is reversed in matrilineal societies, where women are more likely than men to do so. The results of causal mediation tests suggest that entrepreneurial self-efficacy and fear of business failure explain the gender gap in both societies. Study 2 involves a controlled experiment in the lab that captures individuals' willingness to invest in the creation of a new venture. The results of the experiments are consistent with the survey data: men in patriarchal societies and women in matrilineal societies invest more in new venture creation in a simulated environment. We therefore rule out the simplistic view that women are inherently less likely to enter into entrepreneurship due to innate differences across genders. Rather, gender differences in entrepreneurial propensity are outcome of socialization.     

Towards adopting inflation targeting: The credibility and limitations of monetary policy under the fixed exchange system—the case of Jordan

In this paper, the interest rate pass‐through is examined within its intermediate lag of action to shed light on the credibility of monetary policy in Jordan, where the reputation of low inflation is imported through a fixed exchange rate system to the US dollar. We use time series methods which allow us to test for asymmetric adjustment. The results are compared to that of two inflation targeting countries at time proceeding building the credibility of price stability domestically: New Zealand and the UK. The empirical findings suggest that the interest rate pass‐through in Jordan is weak and slow. In addition, our results indicate the existence of non‐competitive pricing behaviour in the market. Comparing the results to the two inflation targeters, the study suggests that Jordan needs to move to a more resilient exchange rate arrangement.     

Shared consumption and its determinants: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Shared consumption is rapidly evolving as a potential alternative consumption paradigm and hence gaining increased scholarly attention. In the last 5 years, there has been an exponential increase in research focusing on the adoption of shared consumption. There is a pressing need to consolidate and reconcile the resultant insights, which calls for an appropriate review study. Accordingly, this study aims to systematically review the extant literature on the adoption of shared consumption, synthesize the body of knowledge and provide a comprehensive understanding of this emerging consumption mode. Following the SPAR-4-SLR review protocol, this systematic review draws upon the theoretical guidance provided by the theory of consumption values, innovation resistance theory and value-attitude-behaviour hierarchy to synthesize 331 research articles. Bibliometric analysis was employed to reveal the research trend, most prominent journals, authors, articles and countries of research. A thematic analysis was carried out to synthesize the knowledge of the literature corpus. The results suggest that while economic incentives commonly drive individuals to participate in shared consumption, social incentives significantly influence participation in a peer-to-peer setting. Perceived risks (physical, privacy, safety and security) deter participation, while trust plays a vital role in adoption. It has also unveiled some inconclusive relationships in the literature, such as the effect of environmental considerations and materialism on sharing intention. The analysis shows that the providers' perspective has received less attention than the consumers. Further, it is important to empirically validate the findings in domains that transcend the extant industry specificity of studies. The salient observations were structured in an integrated model capturing the drivers and inhibitors of the adoption of the phenomenon. Finally, based on the TCCM framework, pertinent future research directions have been elaborated.