Applied Economics Letters

Gassmann, Freya; Haut, Jan; Emrich, Eike

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1696448pmid: N/A

Recent studies have focused on the influence of major sporting events on different areas (e.g. well-being, life satisfaction, sport-related national pride), but their effect on national pride has been investigated insufficiently. A German cross-sectional dataset (ALLBUS) that was collected during spring and fall in 2014 and 2018 was used as time series data to measure national pride among the German population during the FIFA World Cup. To detect the relevant breaks during the observation period, an interrupted time-series analysis (Linden 2015) was performed. In 2014, when the German national team won the championship, there was a small but significant increase in national pride, and, in 2018, when the German national team was eliminated in the group stage, there was a small but significant decrease in national pride. However, in the case of Germany, these effects are temporary and, thus, are not sustainable.

Çepni, Oğuzhan; Gupta, Rangan; Lv, Zhihui

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1696449pmid: N/A

Theory suggests that the effect of inequality on growth varies with the level of economic development, as captured by the ratio of human capital to physical capital. In particular, the effect is shown to be positive at lower levels of this ratio, and turns negative beyond a threshold in such models. Using a comprehensive panel of annual data for the 48 contiguous US states over the period 1948 to 2014, we find overwhelming evidence in support of this theory, unlike prior work on this topic. Hence, our paper highlights the importance of accurately measuring the process of economic development using data on human capital and physical capital, instead of using proxies that are not theoretically consistent. Understandably, if not done so, policymakers would end up undertaking incorrect decisions.

Millán-Quijano, Jaime

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1696930pmid: N/A

This paper discusses the conditions needed to estimate the local average treatment effect (LATE) of a policy using the ‘difference-in-discontinuities’ method while considering imperfect compliance. I show that simple and plausible assumptions about the participation and effects of the confounding existing policies allow the identification of the causal effect of a new policy. Identification is feasible even when information about the participation in other confounding policies is not available.

Børing, Pål; Fevolden, Arne Martin; Mark, Michael Spjelkavik; Piro, Fredrik Niclas

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1696932pmid: N/A

Why some countries are more successful than others at securing European research and innovation grants is a question that has recently received significant attention in the research and policy communities. This article helps answer this question by investigating the role of firms in securing financial returns from EU Framework Programmes. More specifically, it explores how three firm characteristics – size, industrial sector, and country – can lead to increased participation in and larger grants from EU projects. The analysis is carried out using logistic and linear regressions on a combined data set consisting of data on Framework Programmes participation and firm characteristics. The analysis presents results for firms from four Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden – and their involvement in Horizon 2020.

Nyamela, Yanele; Plakandaras, Vasilios; Gupta, Rangan

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1697419pmid: N/A

In this paper, we analyse the impact of uncertainty shocks at the daily-frequency on key macroeconomic variables for the United States. In doing so, we use a vector autoregressive (VAR) model, including the inflation rate, a real-time measure of economic activity and a measure of monetary policy as endogenous variables and decompose uncertainty effects into short, medium and long-term based on a discrete-time Fourier transformation. Aggregate results (prior to decomposition) show that an increase in economic uncertainty has a significant expansionary impact on monetary policy. However, when we decompose uncertainty into its short-, medium- and long-run components, we find that economic activity is affected negatively in a statistically significant manner to shocks in low-frequency uncertainty, while, statistically significant monetary expansion is observed under shocks to relatively high frequencies of uncertainty.

Szczygielski, Jan Jakub; Karathanasopoulos, Andreas; Zaremba, Adam

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1697420pmid: N/A

We perform the most comprehensive test of cryptocurrency return distributions to date. We fit 58 hypothetical distributions to 15 major cryptocurrencies to establish which of these best describes cryptocurrency returns. The answer is: ‘It depends.’ A sharp-peaked Cauchy distribution is the most likely distribution for the majority of return series. Specific distributions are definitively identified for only a handful of cryptocurrencies. The best fitting distributions are peaked and thick-tailed, with some possessing variable shape parameters. Our findings have implications for financial modelling and its applications, such as risk measurement and risk management.

Ahn, Taehyun

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1697795pmid: N/A

This study examines the impacts of employment at older ages on individuals’ health using data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA). In assessing the health consequences of employment, a distinction is made between self-employment, which is predominant among the elderly working population, and wage employment. The results demonstrate that the effects on health differ by employment type: self-employment has a negative impact on general health and mental health, whereas wage work has a positive impact. In contrast to wage work, self-employment improves cognitive functioning.

Wagner, Gary A.; Elder, Erick M.

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1697796pmid: N/A

Accurately assessing the generosity of government pensions is an important policy issue. This article proposes to measure generosity by the present value of benefits workers accrue per additional year of working net of their contributions. We show how a simple adjustment to standard pension metrics will approximate this measure. We conclude by documenting differences between our measure and other generosity metrics using data from Boston University’s Public Plans Database.

De Lucio, Juan; Mínguez, Raúl; Minondo, Asier; Requena, Francisco

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1698709pmid: N/A

Using the universe of Spanish export transactions over 2000–2012, this paper explores empirically whether the choice of destinations among experienced and new exporters is affected by the number and performance of previous exporters in those destinations. The regression analysis shows that new exporters benefit more from information spillovers than experienced exporters. Results hold when spillovers are measured both at the regional and regional-industry level.

Bergh, Andreas; Funcke, Alexander

doi: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1701180pmid: N/A

The sharing economy (peer-to-peer based sharing or renting activities coordinated through community-based online services) is often said to be closely related to trust. This paper examines the association empirically. Using data collected from the two sharing economy companies Airbnb and Flipkey that exist in over 100 countries, we construct a measure of sharing economy penetration and examine its correlation with social trust and other potential explanations. Sharing economy penetration is promoted by ICT-infrastructure and economic openness. Conditional on ICT-infrastructure, countries with higher social trust have significantly lower sharing economy penetration. Our conclusion is that sharing economy services do not require high levels of social trust to succeed. Rather, they provide institutions that facilitate trust-intensive economic activities also where social trust is low.