Explaining non-adoption for Internet service has led to a debate about whether non-adopters place a low value on Internet use or whether the price of connectivity is too high. A thorough analysis of survey data reveals that non-price factors dominate price as the determining factor for not using the Internet at home. Still, as price is a legitimate factor of adoption, if surveys are to be truly useful for policymaking, then they must abandon the current question seeking explanations for non-adoption and gather data that permit an estimate of price sensitivity.
{"title":"'Relevance' and 'Price' as Determinants of Internet Non-Adoption: A Review of the Evidence","authors":"George S. Ford","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3608430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3608430","url":null,"abstract":"Explaining non-adoption for Internet service has led to a debate about whether non-adopters place a low value on Internet use or whether the price of connectivity is too high. A thorough analysis of survey data reveals that non-price factors dominate price as the determining factor for not using the Internet at home. Still, as price is a legitimate factor of adoption, if surveys are to be truly useful for policymaking, then they must abandon the current question seeking explanations for non-adoption and gather data that permit an estimate of price sensitivity.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124771957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates the role of social influences in preferences for redistribution using data from the General Social Survey. We employ social interaction models with a socioeconomic network structure and intertemporal feedbacks during the impressionable years. We find substantial evidence of both lagged endogenous and contextual effects that imply that the redistributive preferences are intertemporally dependent. Interestingly, controlling for individual income, the contextual effect of income is negative and strongly significant. Our results highlight the key role of fathers' education in the structure of the social network. We interpret our findings as suggestive evidence that social identity can explain attitudes towards redistribution. We also uncover evidence of threshold effects in preferences for redistribution that are consistent with the predictions of theoretical models that exhibit multiple equilibria. Finally, we show that our results extend to a range of other attitudes and beliefs, including politics, religion, and ethics.
{"title":"The Role of Social Interactions on Preferences for Redistribution","authors":"Andros Kourtellos, Kyriakos Petrou","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3504279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3504279","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates the role of social influences in preferences for redistribution using data from the General Social Survey. We employ social interaction models with a socioeconomic network structure and intertemporal feedbacks during the impressionable years. We find substantial evidence of both lagged endogenous and contextual effects that imply that the redistributive preferences are intertemporally dependent. Interestingly, controlling for individual income, the contextual effect of income is negative and strongly significant. Our results highlight the key role of fathers' education in the structure of the social network. We interpret our findings as suggestive evidence that social identity can explain attitudes towards redistribution. We also uncover evidence of threshold effects in preferences for redistribution that are consistent with the predictions of theoretical models that exhibit multiple equilibria. Finally, we show that our results extend to a range of other attitudes and beliefs, including politics, religion, and ethics.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133319121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ashani Amarasinghe, R. Hodler, P. Raschky, Y. Zenou
This paper analyzes the role of networks in the spatial diffusion of local economic shocks in Africa. We show that road and ethnic connectivity are particularly important factors for diffusing economic spillovers over longer distances. We then determine the key players, i.e., which districts are key in propagating local economic shocks across Africa. Using these results, we conduct counterfactual policy exercises to evaluate the potential gains from policies that increase economic activity in specific districts or improve road connectivity between districts.
{"title":"Key Players in Economic Development","authors":"Ashani Amarasinghe, R. Hodler, P. Raschky, Y. Zenou","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3562861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3562861","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyzes the role of networks in the spatial diffusion of local economic shocks in Africa. We show that road and ethnic connectivity are particularly important factors for diffusing economic spillovers over longer distances. We then determine the key players, i.e., which districts are key in propagating local economic shocks across Africa. Using these results, we conduct counterfactual policy exercises to evaluate the potential gains from policies that increase economic activity in specific districts or improve road connectivity between districts.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129027410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines the concept and the criticisms of Steemit, with a view to situating its difficulties in imposing a self-regulating cryptoanarchist information network, as well its interesting meshing of blogging and social networking with a blockchain (Steem) database. This raises questions about the structures of accountability in the cryptocurrency realm, and of the abuse of cryptoanarchist principles in practice.
{"title":"The Concept and Criticisms of Steemit","authors":"Usman W. Chohan","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3129410","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3129410","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the concept and the criticisms of Steemit, with a view to situating its difficulties in imposing a self-regulating cryptoanarchist information network, as well its interesting meshing of blogging and social networking with a blockchain (Steem) database. This raises questions about the structures of accountability in the cryptocurrency realm, and of the abuse of cryptoanarchist principles in practice.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116581233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study addresses the effects of platform protection and different information structures on equilibrium outcomes for competing superior and inferior two-sided platforms. The conditions under which the platform vendors, content providers, and users prefer to the higher platform protection are derived. When users are informed, the preferences of the inferior platform and its content providers depend on both the security effect and the change in user utility from content consumption. When users are uninformed, the impact of the security effect diminishes. Information disclosures might be detrimental to customer surplus and social welfare as the increasing of protection levels.
{"title":"Effects of Platform Protection in a Duopoly in the Presence of Asymmetric Information and User Security Preference","authors":"Zhiyong Li, Guofang Nan, Minqiang Li","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3556488","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3556488","url":null,"abstract":"This study addresses the effects of platform protection and different information structures on equilibrium outcomes for competing superior and inferior two-sided platforms. The conditions under which the platform vendors, content providers, and users prefer to the higher platform protection are derived. When users are informed, the preferences of the inferior platform and its content providers depend on both the security effect and the change in user utility from content consumption. When users are uninformed, the impact of the security effect diminishes. Information disclosures might be detrimental to customer surplus and social welfare as the increasing of protection levels.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"108 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127574641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Social media gives firms a better platform to promote and build brand trust and loyalty. The objective of this study is to develop and validate a conceptual model that integrates the relationships among social media marketing elements, brand trust, and brand loyalty. Data was collected from 242 social media users in Saudi Arabia and the model was tested by employing structural equation modelling using SPSS and AMOS. The model was tested using a two-stage process, model evaluation and testing the significance of the model. Results of the hypotheses tests reveal that brand communities, entertainment, interaction, and customization features have a significant and positive relationship with brand trust and brand loyalty. The findings of this study provide a guide to social media marketers to build brand trust and loyalty.
{"title":"The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Trust and Brand Loyalty: An Arab Perspective","authors":"M. S. Sohail, Mehedi Hassan, Azlin Fathima Sohail","doi":"10.4018/ijom.2020010102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijom.2020010102","url":null,"abstract":"Social media gives firms a better platform to promote and build brand trust and loyalty. The objective of this study is to develop and validate a conceptual model that integrates the relationships among social media marketing elements, brand trust, and brand loyalty. Data was collected from 242 social media users in Saudi Arabia and the model was tested by employing structural equation modelling using SPSS and AMOS. The model was tested using a two-stage process, model evaluation and testing the significance of the model. Results of the hypotheses tests reveal that brand communities, entertainment, interaction, and customization features have a significant and positive relationship with brand trust and brand loyalty. The findings of this study provide a guide to social media marketers to build brand trust and loyalty.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128633076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Are the professional networks of corporate directors valuable? More connected directors may have better information and more influence, which can increase firm value. However, these directors may also be busy or spread value-decreasing practices. To separate the effect of director networks on firm value from the effect of other value-relevant director attributes, we use the unexpected deaths of directors as a shock to the director networks of interlocked directors. By studying the announcement returns and using a difference-in-differences methodology, we find that this negative shock to director networks reduces firm value. This evidence suggests that director networks are valuable.
{"title":"Director Networks and Firm Value","authors":"Tor-Erik Bakke, J. Black, Hamed Mahmudi, S. Linn","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3552936","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3552936","url":null,"abstract":"Are the professional networks of corporate directors valuable? More connected directors may have better information and more influence, which can increase firm value. However, these directors may also be busy or spread value-decreasing practices. To separate the effect of director networks on firm value from the effect of other value-relevant director attributes, we use the unexpected deaths of directors as a shock to the director networks of interlocked directors. By studying the announcement returns and using a difference-in-differences methodology, we find that this negative shock to director networks reduces firm value. This evidence suggests that director networks are valuable.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129565717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The first chatbot of an academic journal in the field of tourism and hospitality was launched in 2017. This editorial presents the structure of the chatbot of the European Journal of Tourism Research, reflects on Editor’s experience in developing and using the chatbot, and provides practical recommendations to editors and publishers who may wish to adopt chatbots for social media communications.
{"title":"The First Chatbot of a Tourism/Hospitality Journal: Editor’s Impressions","authors":"Stanislav Ivanov","doi":"10.54055/ejtr.v24i.403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54055/ejtr.v24i.403","url":null,"abstract":"The first chatbot of an academic journal in the field of tourism and hospitality was launched in 2017. This editorial presents the structure of the chatbot of the European Journal of Tourism Research, reflects on Editor’s experience in developing and using the chatbot, and provides practical recommendations to editors and publishers who may wish to adopt chatbots for social media communications.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129901983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We study possible worker-to-employer discrimination manifested via social preferences in an online labor market. Specifically, we ask, do workers exhibit positive social preferences for an out-race employer relative to an otherwise-identical, own-race one? We run a well-powered, model-based experiment wherein we recruit 6,000 workers from Amazon's M-Turk platform for a real-effort task and randomly (and unobtrusively) reveal to them the racial identity of their non-fictitious employer. Strikingly, we find strong evidence of race-based altruism – white workers, even when they do not benefit personally, work relatively harder to generate more income for black employers. Self-declared white Republicans and Independents exhibit significantly more altruism relative to Democrats. Notably, the altruism does not seem to be driven by race-specific beliefs about the income status of the employers. Our results suggest the possibility that pro-social behavior of whites toward blacks, atypical in traditional labor markets, may emerge in the gig economy where associative (dis)taste is naturally muted due to limited social contact.
{"title":"Do workers discriminate against their out-group employers? Evidence from an online platform economy","authors":"S. Asad, R. Banerjee, Joydeep Bhattacharya","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3544269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3544269","url":null,"abstract":"We study possible worker-to-employer discrimination manifested via social preferences in an online labor market. Specifically, we ask, do workers exhibit positive social preferences for an out-race employer relative to an otherwise-identical, own-race one? We run a well-powered, model-based experiment wherein we recruit 6,000 workers from Amazon's M-Turk platform for a real-effort task and randomly (and unobtrusively) reveal to them the racial identity of their non-fictitious employer. Strikingly, we find strong evidence of race-based altruism – white workers, even when they do not benefit personally, work relatively harder to generate more income for black employers. Self-declared white Republicans and Independents exhibit significantly more altruism relative to Democrats. Notably, the altruism does not seem to be driven by race-specific beliefs about the income status of the employers. Our results suggest the possibility that pro-social behavior of whites toward blacks, atypical in traditional labor markets, may emerge in the gig economy where associative (dis)taste is naturally muted due to limited social contact.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116763107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We show that there cannot be common knowledge trade in a truly decentralised environment, such as in a blockchain. A trade is an agreement to buy and sell a security that pays according to some state of nature; it is settled when the security’s value is verified by an oracle, an intermediary who knows the state of nature. However, since the identity of traders in a blockchain is hidden, an oracle can impersonate a trader, by participating in a trade only when he knows that the outcome will be favourable. If other traders know that this is possible, they might be unwilling to participate in any trade that is offered. In other words, anonymity of traders is incompatible with verifiability of trades. We find that the requirement on verifiability is relatively mild. In particular, it is enough that, among all values of the security that it is common knowledge that some trader thinks are possible, there exists an oracle that can verify either the maximum or the minimum.
{"title":"No Trade in a Blockchain","authors":"Spyros Galanis","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3581822","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3581822","url":null,"abstract":"We show that there cannot be common knowledge trade in a truly decentralised environment, such as in a blockchain. A trade is an agreement to buy and sell a security that pays according to some state of nature; it is settled when the security’s value is verified by an oracle, an intermediary who knows the state of nature. However, since the identity of traders in a blockchain is hidden, an oracle can impersonate a trader, by participating in a trade only when he knows that the outcome will be favourable. If other traders know that this is possible, they might be unwilling to participate in any trade that is offered. In other words, anonymity of traders is incompatible with verifiability of trades. We find that the requirement on verifiability is relatively mild. In particular, it is enough that, among all values of the security that it is common knowledge that some trader thinks are possible, there exists an oracle that can verify either the maximum or the minimum.","PeriodicalId":319022,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Networks eJournal","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126384632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}