Eastern Economic Journal最新文献

Sports leagues have requested state legislatures to pass so-called integrity fees or taxes on the entire amount bet on their games, ostensibly to provide resources to protect against game fixing and other corrupt behavior. These fees might just augment league revenues. Integrity fees have different consequences if they are placed on a sports book's handle or hold. We model one possible consequence of an integrity fee placed on the handle, that sports books might be motivated to avoid pushes, after which they have no hold but face a tax liability. One approach moves to half-point lines which eliminate pushes but might be second best in terms of betting market efficiency. As a case study, we describe the characteristics of recent betting lines in four North American sports. Based on predicted pushes, actual pushes, half-point lines, and the intertemporal correlation between the annual number of pushes and the annual number of half-point lines, it appears that sports books already actively set lines that avoid pushes and could easily adjust to half-point lines motivated by integrity fees.

The current globalized economic environment has made Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) highly exposed to global economic shocks. During the Covid-19 pandemic, EMEs have been facing increased health costs and heightened demand for fiscal stimulus. In addition, most EMEs experienced currency depreciation, reversal in capital flow, decrease in global demand and significant decline in domestic revenue, leading to a potential increase in sovereign bond risk premiums (SRP). Using dynamic panel estimations and focusing on 12 countries, we find that the Covid-19 pandemic impacts SRP primarily through GDP growth and political stability indicators. In addition, we find the real exchange rate and net export to GDP ratio have a statistically significant impact on sovereign bond risk premium.

This study examines survey data on the views of editors of economics journals on common critiques of the discipline, ethics and editorial practices, and the role of prestige and status in publishing. We utilize an ordered probit model to investigate whether editors or journal characteristics are systematically related to editors' views, controlling for gender and editorial position. Regression results show that editors from top-ranked journals are less likely to agree with common disciplinary critiques, more likely to support market solutions and less likely to agree with concerns about editorial practices.

I investigate the timing of the Stay-at-Home orders. I use daily Google search data to track early interest in the novel Coronavirus pandemic. I ask whether governors responded to heightened concern (i.e., following) or if their decisions are independent of citizen sentiment (i.e., leading). I show that Stay-at-Home orders were initiated sooner in states that saw early, heightened in the virus. This suggests that governors follow voters' opinions, preferences, and sentiments. Exploring potential heterogeneous effects, there is not a difference in the size of this effect between Republican and Democrat governors, nor is there a difference between those up for re-election in 2020 and those not. I do find that governor responsiveness is related to the state's economic freedom and the governor's approval rating just before the pandemic. In a novel environment without precedence, governors in the USA set policy in accord with voter preferences.

This paper addresses the issues of general theorizing and historical specificity in the 'Keynes versus the Classics' dispute and puts forward two main arguments. First, the current macroeconomic orthodoxy wins the 'relative' generality contest because it implies that institutions influence outcomes, such as the natural rate of unemployment, in contrast with Keynes's 'internalist' approach, which neglects historical specificity. Secondly, mainstream macro is not truly general in an 'absolute' sense since it only makes sense under very special real-world institutional conditions.