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Economic literature offers several distinct explanations for the raising income inequality observed in several countries. In the debate about the causes of inequality a growing strand of research focuses on the effects of taxation on income inequality. We contribute to this literature by providing a systematic empirical account of the relationship between income inequality and personal income taxation (PIT) for a set of countries over the period 1981–2005. In order to take alternative explanations into account and to isolate the effects of tax progressivity, we include a wide range of control variables. We address potential reverse causality between inequality and PIT by using the variation in tax schedules of neighbouring countries. Our results confirm a statistically significant negative association between the progressivity of PIT and income inequality. Overall, we find that especially the average and the marginal tax rate have the potential to reduce income inequality. This finding is qualitatively robust across various different empirical specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the unique setting of small and medium-sized banks (SMBs) branching deregulation in China, this paper examines the impact of SMBs branches expansion on the credit availability of enterprises by using spatial distribution of SMBs branches at firm-level. We find that SMBs branches expansion has a stronger effect on improving the credit availability of large-scale enterprises compared with SMEs, indicating that SMBs don't give play to their advantages in serving SMEs. Our study provides empirical evidence for the hypothesis of 'Comparative Advantages of SMBs' and policy implication for the reform of banking structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using synthetic control methods, we examined the economic effects of political uncertainty. We show that political uncertainty resulting from certain political events is negatively related to major stock indices. Particularly in emerging countries, political turmoil involving the president enormously increases the difficulty of doing business due to increased uncertainty in economic policy. Our results suggest that the beginning of the impeachment process and successful military coup could positively influence the stock market, while a military coup failure and an aircraft accident negatively influence the stock market. Therefore, market investors and business owners in emerging countries must be prepared for significant changes in the progress of a company, industry or sector after the event occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the rotation characteristics of different styles, this study employs the design of experiments (DOE) to systematically combine factor weights to generate stock selection models that express various stock selection styles. This study uses the S&P 500 constituent stocks as the stock pool. At the beginning of each month, we select the highest-scoring 4% stocks with a weighted scoring method and hold them until the end of the month. The back-test period goes from 1999/Jan to 2020/June, a total of 21.5 years (258 months). The results show that (1) many stock selection models mixing value style with growth style have high synergy effect. (2) many models have positive autocorrelations according to the Durbin–Watson (DW) statistics of each model's time series of monthly excess rate of return. (3) the candidate models of the style timing strategy should include a value style factor, a growth style factor, and a two-factor model with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts principal component analysis to assign weights to three fund performances obtained independently by the Sharpe index, Jensen index, and Treynor index. Therefore, a comprehensive model for the performance of Chinese securities investment funds (SIFs) is derived by combining these three indexes. The empirical study shows that the regression between SIFs managers' characteristics and fund performance is better when using this comprehensive measurement model. Moreover, SIFs managers' experience and tenure have negative and positive effects on fund performance, respectively. However, their gender, education level, professional qualification holdings, research experience, and abroad experience, do not significantly influence the fund performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates thhe effect of international co-production on trade. Co-production, which allows a foreign producer to partner with domestic firms, has emerged as a way of promoting trade. Using the data on the Chinese movies, we find that international co production has a positive effect on both the extensive and intensive margins. We also show that the co-production effect is mainly explained by improvement in quality. Our research investigates international co production, a less explored topic in the literatures of international economics, which mainly focus on export and FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical research on minimum wages has historically focused on employment effects, with the implicit assumption that workers who remain employed under a minimum wage regime are better off. This paper develops a simple model and a stylized example to highlight the importance of an underappreciated margin: how a minimum wage might affect the regularity of workers' schedules. Our analysis illustrates a novel line of intuition for how a minimum wage can reduce welfare even if, as in our example, it increases wages, productivity, and output, without decreasing employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time series that have seasonal effects with long periods relative to the observation frequency can exhibit spurious long memory. The effect of these seasonalities on the periodogram is similar to that of structural breaks and non-periodic trends, but it only influences the seasonal frequencies and their harmonics. Still, the effect causes a sizable bias of popular estimators such as the local Whittle estimator. To overcome this, we propose a robust local Whittle estimator based on the omission of the affected periodogram ordinates. In a Monte Carlo study, we compare this estimator with a robust log-periodogram regression-based estimator known in the literature. An application to electricity load series demonstrates the potential of robust estimators for empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose an improved TOPSIS evaluation model based on coordinated development. We improve the TOPSIS evaluation model by taking two indicators as examples to deduce the coordination degree between the indicators, based on spatial analytic geometry. Finally, we use a case study to validate the improved model. The results show that the improved model considers not only the weighted distance from the decision-making scheme to the ideal scheme and the negative ideal scheme, but also the coordination information of the multiple indicators, which has a certain theoretical value for multi-attribute decision-making problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bitcoin is the world's leading cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization briefly exceeding $300 billion. This hints at Bitcoin's amorphous nature: Is this a monetary or a corporate measure? Hard values become explicit in the processing of transactions and the digital mining of Bitcoins. Electricity is a primary input cost. Bitcoins earned are often used to circumvent local currency controls and acquire US dollars. For the period August 2010 to February 2018, we examine the financial components of Bitcoin mining revenues, their statistical contribution to daily changes, and to its variance. We provide empirical evidence that Bitcoin transaction processing is capacity constrained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We address the two measurement issues in the analysis for the effect of free streaming on the consumption of CD and live concerts. One is measurement type for usage of free files and the other is how to measure consumption of ancillary markets, live concerts. Our results indicate that CD purchase is not affected by free streaming use, not supporting the displacement or sampling effect. Meanwhile, results clearly show that streaming use increases the expenditure for music concerts, supporting positive externality of free files. Regarding the measurement issues, we find better goodness-of-fit when we use the continuous time variable rather than the dichotomous dummy for streaming use and find a clearer externality when we use the expenditure rather than frequency for the consumption of concerts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This 2015 cross-sectional study tested whether the level of competition affected the national test scores of senior high schools in Jakarta. We measured the level of competition using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and a gravity-based school competition index for the number of enrolled students. We found that schools' national exam scores were positively associated with the level of competition. Furthermore, this competition was better explained by physical proximity than by administrative boundaries. However, public schools did not benefit from the competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides the first empirical analysis of the homeowner-renter gap for electric vehicles. Using newly-available U.S. nationally representative data, the analysis shows that homeowners are three times more likely than renters to own an electric vehicle. The gap is highly statistically significant, and remains even after controlling for income. For example, among households with annual income between $75,000 and $100,000, 1 in 130 homeowners owns an electric vehicle, compared to 1 in 370 renters. Additional controls do little to narrow the gap. The paper argues that this is a version of what economists have called the "landlord-tenant" problem, and briefly discusses potential policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade competition between two countries is usually measured through structural similarity indicators (e.g., Krugman Specialization Index). We contribute to the area of research that focuses on how to measure trade competition between two countries by proposing an indicator that simultaneously accounts for structural and geographical similarity (i.e., similarity in sectoral weights for each market and weights of destination markets). We perform an empirical analysis considering the exports from the 28 EU countries to more than 120 markets. The importance of the geographical dimension is confirmed, highlighting that applied studies may produce inaccurate conclusions when this dimension is excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the KLEMS database for capitalist countries, pertaining to years 1973-2005, we show that the direction, the composition, and the effects on productivity of technological changes vary considerably across space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the impact of oil prices on both aggregate and industry US real stock returns over the period 1973-2017. The empirical analysis contributes to the related literature introducing a state-dependent oil price (high and low) and the local projections approach. Our main finding is that, depending on the nature of the shock and industry, the negative effects of oil price shocks become exacerbated -and the positive effects get moderated- if oil prices are already high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constructs a model-based core inflation for India using Divisia monetary aggregates instead of traditional money measures with the methodology proposed by Bagliano and Morana (2003) and evaluates its forecasting abilities. The core inflation derived from Divisia monetary aggregates is found to be a better leading indicator of measured inflation than the core inflation derived from traditional money measures. These results argue for a case in favour of using monetary aggregates in the construction of core inflation for policy purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the effects of innovation attempts on the venture capital and investment activity in the cases of the selected European Union plus European Free Trade Agreement countries using annual panel data and by controlling for real income growth and business sophistication. Our findings suggest that innovation has positively significant effects on venture capital in the cases without opt-out countries (United Kingdom and Denmark); however, these effects become negative in the cases with opt-out countries. Policy implications are provided in the conclusion section of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many states, public institutions of higher education have the autonomy to raise tuition. This has not been the case in Louisiana since a 1995 constitutional amendment required a two-thirds majority of the state legislature for any tuition increase. In November of 2016, voters in Louisiana rejected Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that would have given state institutions of higher education autonomy in setting tuition. We examine parish-level voting on Amendment 2 using an empirical political economy model and find that parishes with a greater percentage of African-Americans and university employees were more likely to vote yes. Student enrolment at public institutions seemingly did not play a role in Amendment 2 losing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence for the effect of stock liquidity on firm value is limited and mixed due to a severe endogeneity problem. This article adds to the literature on this topic by providing new empirical evidence using the nontradable share reform in China as a quasi-natural experiment. Our results show that higher stock liquidity can lead to significant firm value improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many people are relatively unsatisfied with the democratic system as it currently exists. In this empirical research note, the authors present evidence that German workers, who perceive their own pay or top managers’ pay as unfair, are on average significantly less happy with the democracy in Germany. Thus, fairness perceptions in the labour market and of income inequality seem to have spillover effects on the overall satisfaction with the democratic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A farm-level deterministic and stochastic nonparametric tests of profit maximization and cost minimization behaviour for a sample of 112 Kansas farms was completed from 1996 to 2013. Allowing for monotonic non-regressive technological change and using a 10% significance level, 73 farms violated the profit-maximization hypothesis and 58 farms violated the cost minimization hypothesis. More profit maximization violations existed relative to cost minimization violations. However, comparing these results with results for 289 Kansas farms using data from 1973 to 1990, farms have significantly reduced profit maximizing violations. Cost minimizing behaviour has not changed substantially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an avid debate concerning the presence of a hiatus in global warming. Recognizing that this phenomenon has considerable economic implications, this study aims to make a threefold contribution to the climate econometrics literature. Firstly, it formulates a testable hypothesis; secondly, it proposes a systematic empirical procedure; thirdly, it performs the Bai–Perron test to detect the starting point of the global warming hiatus. The findings supported the existence of the global warming hiatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on profit-maximizing behaviour, the usual interpretation of the Lerner index is that a zero value reflects competitive behaviour, while a positive value is associated with market power. We investigate to what extent the usual interpretation of the Lerner index remains valid in a setting where firms do not pursue profit maximization, but instead maximize revenues subject to a minimum-profit constraint. We show that a positive Lerner index still indicates market power, but that the magnitude of a positive Lerner index can no longer be used to determine how much market power there is. Furthermore, extra information would be required to draw conclusions about the presence or absence of market power when the Lerner index is zero or negative. We discuss the empirical implications of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The translog cost function is valuable to researchers for empirical analysis in themodelling of indirect cost and profit functions. A flaw of the functional form is in themodelling of zero output values. This study examined the impacts of empirical definition of zero output values on price elasticities, economies of scope and scale, using the translog cost function. Estimation of a system of cost and factor share equations with regularity condition imposed was conducted. Results show that the choice of default values affects policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the link between the population structure and housing prices. We use a panel of 23 countries from 1976 to 2013 in our empirical analysis. We find statistically significant impacts of the proportion of the economically active population aged 15–64 to the total population on housing-price growth. Our study supports a policy for stable population growth to moderate housing-price growth and economic cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We investigate the effect of inflation uncertainty on inflation from January 1982 through March 2016 for Turkey by using the Stochastic Volatility in Mean model with time-varying parameters. Our empirical evidence from consumer price index (CPI) inflation suggests that the observed positive relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty is not robust. This positive relationship diminishes after 2002. This finding is valid for all five subcomponents of CPI inflation; however, for Health Services, Transportation Services, and Recreational and Cultural Services, an inflation-positive association is reported after 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a new model for decision-making under risk, which provides an explanation for empirically-observed preference reversals. Central to the theory is the incorporation of probability perception imprecision, which arises because of individuals’ vague understanding of numerical probabilities. We combine this concept with the use of the Alpha EU model and construct a simple model which helps us to understand anomalies, such as preference reversals and valuation gaps, discovered in the experimental economics literature, that standard models cannot explain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present empirical evidence suggesting that weak tax enforcement proxied by the extent of tax evasion in a country acts like a lower corporate tax rate in attracting profits of multinational corporations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we conduct formal statistical tests to compare a semiparametric hedonic wine price model with its parametric counterpart using a Canadian data set. The relevant test results turn out to be overwhelmingly in favour of the semiparametric specification. The estimated semiparametric model also provides clear evidence of nonlinearity between wine prices and quality when other wine attributes are controlled for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiency determinants analysis is a main contemporary component in the productive efficiency literature. Two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) procedure supposed a turning point in the methodology as the significance of a certain exogenous factor can provide policymakers with accurate information for future strategic decisions, but a deeper scrutiny into the importance of each factor remains unsettled. This article provides a novelty theoretical extension and empirical application for the two-stage DEA bootstrap procedure. We define the stability coefficient (SC) whose magnitude reveals the effect of each exogenous factor in the efficiency estimates. We present empirical evidence to examine the hypothesis that the efficiency of the 17 Spanish tourism regions for the average period data 2005–2013 is determined by a group of contextual variables, illustrating how the SCs strengthen knowledge concerning the significance of each potential attractor. The results help us to classify the significant attractors into strong and weak, accordingly enhancing the public or private decision process, and henceforth avoiding the wastefulness of decision-making units spending. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2001 and 2002, the Korean government rewarded around $3 to civilians who photograph and report violations of traffic rules. This so-called ‘car-parazzi system’ was such a success with well over 4 million cases reported until its abolition. Our empirical results found that the car-parazzi system was much effective in significantly reducing the death tolls by traffic accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We investigate the relationship between household debt and income inequality in the USA, allowing for asymmetry, using data over the period 1913–2008. We find evidence of an asymmetric cointegration between household debt and inequality for different regimes. Our results indicate household debt only responds to positive changes in income inequality, while there is no evidence of falling inequality significantly affecting household debt. The presence of this asymmetry provides further empirical insights into the emerging literature on household debt and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the effect of the global crisis on the determinants of nonperforming loans (NPLs) in the Turkish banking sector by using dynamic panel estimation techniques. Empirical findings suggest that NPLs present persistence, which is more evident after the crisis, while other regressors have also persistent effects in the post-crisis period. Moreover, NPLs are mostly shaped by bank-specific variables before the crisis, whereas, after the crisis, NPLs are also driven by macroeconomic and policy-related variables. In particular, the post-crisis significance of GDP, policy rate and sovereign debt shows that robust economic activity, tight monetary policy and strong fiscal balances restrict NPLs, thereby enhancing financial stability. The significance of inflation in both sub-periods shows that commitment to price stability objective is indispensable for limiting NPLs and promoting financial stability. In the period ahead, the speed and the direction of normalization in global monetary policies may determine the course of financial conditions, which, therefore, have implications regarding NPL dynamics and financial stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article empirically assesses determinants of countries' fiscal rules suggested by the political science, sociology and economics literature. We find several of these variables to be related to the stringency of fiscal rules, providing indirect evidence for the relevance of governments' deficit bias. These determinants may also serve as instruments in models with (endogenous) fiscal rules as explanatory variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates how agricultural R&D investment affects the food self-sufficiency ratio (SSR). Several studies have argued a causal relationship between agricultural R&D investment and food security. However, most of these studies are based on conceptual logic and few studies have conducted an empirical analysis. This study verifies whether agricultural R&D investment affects the food SSR as a representative indicator of food security. A total of 822 data sets of 41 countries have been used in the analysis in this study and include developed and developing country data over the period 1981–2009. Food self-efficiency is used as a dependent variable, and agricultural R&D investment and other variables are used as explanatory variables. The estimation results show that, first, the cereal SSR and income are in an inverted U-shaped relationship. Second, increases in land productivity increase the cereal SSR and, lastly, the cereal SSR ratio and agricultural R&D investment are in a U-shaped relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study aims to explore the role of the cross exchange rate as a form of market competition, which has previously been omitted as an explanatory variable in estimating the risk exposure of the standard exchange. To the end, we develop a model of exporting firms that reflects exposure to market interaction and mark-up in a duopolistic export market. Using monthly data of stock returns and cross exchange rates of two oligopoly industries (i.e. semiconductor and steel & iron), our empirical evidence supports our hypothesis that cross exchange rates significantly explain firm value. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years more and more working time accounts (WTA) have been introduced. From a theoretical perspective both employers and employees benefit from such an instrument. Indeed, empirical studies show that life satisfaction of workers is larger under a WTA regime than under a non-WTA regime. However, more detailed investigations in this article reveal wages to be lower for men under WTA regimes. Why should men accept WTA when they earn less? Subgroup analyses show that these results are only valid for some groups of individuals. Our analysis allows us to deliver some explanations and to exclude other possible reasons. The major results are: (1) High-income workers suffer higher losses; (2) the shorter the compensation period of WTA systems the lower the wage reduction imposed by WTA; (3) the length of total working time does not seem to affect the link between WTA and wages but the length of overtime; (4) men accept wage losses from WTA if they can adjust actual to desired working hours. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article provides new empirical evidence on gender differences inself-reportedandobservedfinancial performance. Using a quasi-experimental framework, comparing people who live in a matrilineal and a patrilineal environment in India, the results show that no significant gender differences in observed and self-reported performance exist among respondents who belong to the matrilineal culture. In contrast, women who live in a patrilineal environment self-report more often than men that they are not dealing well with economic and financial problems. However, no significant gender differences in observed financial performance are found. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Hierarchical models have a long history in empirical applications; recognition of the fact that many datasets of interest to applied econometricians are nested; counties within states, pupils within school, regions within countries, etc. Just as many datasets are characterized by nesting, many are also characterized by the presence of spatial dependence or spatial heterogeneity. Significant advances have been made in developing econometric techniques and models to allow applied econometricians to address this spatial dimension to their data. This article fuses these two literatures together and combines a hierarchical model with the twogeneralspatial econometric models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There has been no study aimed to determine to what extent the growth of wealth, on a global scale, contributes to stimulating investments in high-risk ventures. This article intents to answer the question:Does the growing wealth drive venture capital fundraising in Europe?Additionally, we will calculate short-term forecasts of the increased-risk capital market for the years 2015–2017. Recognition of the factors impacting the vc/pe market allows stimulation of development of the increased-risk capital. Venture capital serves as a source of financing of prospective projects, stimulates innovation and promotes small and medium enterprises. Owing to counteracting unemployment, this capital economically supports development of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study relates to the literature regarding credibility effect on public debt for developing economies under inflation targeting. The novelty is the investigation of effects of both monetary and fiscal credibility on public debt and its management. The main idea is that high credibility might improve public debt management. With this purpose, this paper addresses empirical evidence based on the Brazilian experience. The findings denote that credibility is an important instrument to improve the public debt management under inflation targeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although identification is critical to organizational survival, knowledge on how identification changes and evolves over time is still limited. Not only can tastes and choices vary across both social context and time, but individuals can change or choose their identity, as well as their ideals, group loyalty and/or social category. Hence, in this letter, we examine the relation between organizational identification and age using five large sports consumer surveys as a snapshot of the age distribution of team identification. Our results provide evidence of robust U-shaped age profiles, with a probable turning point in the 40s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land value tax has been thoroughly scrutinized as a potential tool in mitigating urban sprawl. However, most studies that have measured the impact of land value tax on land development have focused mainly either on purely new development on vacant land, or on land development on partially developed land such as subdivision development. This study tries to incorporate these two types of residential development conceptually and empirically to make an accurate assessment of the impact of land value tax on land development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this article is to study the interdependence of military spending between US and a panel of European countries in the period 1988–2013. The empirical estimation is based on a: (1) unit root tests and a cointegration analysis and (2) fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares estimations. General results highlight that military spending of European countries is: (1) positively associated with US military spending and (2) negatively associated with average military spending of other European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]