Measuring partisan media bias in US newscasts from 2001 to 2012

This paper investigates the positioning in political news coverage of the big four US newscasts, ABC News, CBS News, FOX News and NBC News, as well as how they alter their positions when president Barack Obama took over from George W. Bush. Our empirical analysis is based on the tonality of their political coverage using more than 815,000 news items on Democrats and Republicans from 2001 through 2012. Using the Political Coverage Index (PCI), we find evidence for partisan and biased news coverage across all of the newscasts, with a general tendency of ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News to be slightly more critical of the Republicans, and of FOX News with a clear tendency to be more critical of Democrats. Moreover, and even more interesting, two of the newscasts – CBS News and NBC News – changed their political coverage such that it became more conservative when Democrat Barack Obama became president. This effect becomes even more pronounced when observations from election campaign periods are dropped. We interpret these results as evidence for a watchdog-like anti-government bias on the part of the observed newscasts. In contrast, FOX News remains Democrat-critical independent of who is in office and can be seen as partisan from this perspective. The results are confirmed when controlling for differences in reporting rates between the parties and the administrations using interaction terms.     

Household savings and present bias among Chinese couples: A household bargaining approach

Family savings is crucial to long-term wellbeing for all members in a household, particularly in a Chinese context where costs of living increasingly shift from government to individuals. Savings are typically examined as a balance of financial behaviors and spending preferences; however, this study highlights how savings in a family context is also a function of relationship status. Drawing on intra-household bargaining models, we analyze data from the 2014 China Family Panel Studies to examine the extent to which men's and women's relative power in the household explain variation in savings levels across families. Our findings indicate that women's greater bargaining positions (e.g., income and assets) correspond with greater savings for the family. However, such bargaining power constitutes a net negative for family savings when women have both greater relational power and higher spending preferences. We suggest that family savings can and should be understood as an outcome of dynamic bargaining conditions in addition to income factors.     

The Effect of Inflation on Wage Inequality: A North–South Monetary Model of Endogenous Growth with International Trade

This study analyzes the effects of inflation on intra- and intercounty wage inequality, specialization, and growth, using a North–South endogenous growth model with international trade and money. The relationship between inflation and intracountry wage inequality depends on firms' credit constraints and on the inflation levels. Our results indicate that inflation decreases specialization in skilled production and increases intracountry wage inequality. Moreover, increasing inflation in the South increases the wage inequality gap between countries. Theoretical results are confirmed through calibration and match with existing empirical evidence.     

International portfolio diversification and the home bias puzzle

We review the literature on equity home bias, a phenomenon stating that investors do not hold enough foreign equities for an optimally diversified portfolio. We begin by defining the home bias measurement and reviewing related evidence on the bias. Further, we consider four explanations for this puzzling phenomenon: barriers to foreign investment, country-specific risks, information asymmetry, and cultural and behavioral factors. We analyze the related theoretical arguments and empirical findings of prior studies within each explanation. Based on the discussion of previous studies, several avenues for future research are suggested. (JEL G11, G15, F41)