Abstract This paper studies how individuals discount the utility they derive from their provision of goods over spatial distance. In a controlled laboratory experiment in Germany, we elicit preferences for the provision of the same good at different locations. To isolate spatial preferences from any other direct value of the goods being close to the individual, we focus on goods with “existence value.” We find that individuals put special weight on the provision of these goods in their immediate vicinity. This “vicinity bias” represents a spatial analogy to the “present bias” in the time dimension.
{"title":"How do people discount over spatial distance?","authors":"Lisa V. Bruttel, Niklas Ziemann","doi":"10.1515/ger-2021-0106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2021-0106","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper studies how individuals discount the utility they derive from their provision of goods over spatial distance. In a controlled laboratory experiment in Germany, we elicit preferences for the provision of the same good at different locations. To isolate spatial preferences from any other direct value of the goods being close to the individual, we focus on goods with “existence value.” We find that individuals put special weight on the provision of these goods in their immediate vicinity. This “vicinity bias” represents a spatial analogy to the “present bias” in the time dimension.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"35 2 1","pages":"33 - 67"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77958837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.5089/9798400227042.001
Serhan Cevik, Sadhna Naik
Abstract This paper investigates how housing prices respond to economic, financial and demographic conditions in emerging markets in Europe. We use quarterly data covering 10 countries over the period 1998–2022 and implement a panel quantile regression approach to obtain a granular analysis of real estate markets. Overall, economic, financial and demographic developments explain real house price growth in emerging Europe, with income growth having the most significant impact. Quantile regression estimations show that income growth matters more for higher quantiles of the property market. We also find that an increase in short-term or long-term interest rates has a price-dampening impact, indicating that a higher cost of borrowing is associated with lower real house price growth. These results indicate that the downturn in house prices could deepen with the looming economic recession and soaring interest rates.
{"title":"Don’t Look Up: House Prices in Emerging Europe","authors":"Serhan Cevik, Sadhna Naik","doi":"10.5089/9798400227042.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400227042.001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper investigates how housing prices respond to economic, financial and demographic conditions in emerging markets in Europe. We use quarterly data covering 10 countries over the period 1998–2022 and implement a panel quantile regression approach to obtain a granular analysis of real estate markets. Overall, economic, financial and demographic developments explain real house price growth in emerging Europe, with income growth having the most significant impact. Quantile regression estimations show that income growth matters more for higher quantiles of the property market. We also find that an increase in short-term or long-term interest rates has a price-dampening impact, indicating that a higher cost of borrowing is associated with lower real house price growth. These results indicate that the downturn in house prices could deepen with the looming economic recession and soaring interest rates.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"133 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87879990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract We exploit the natural experimental setting provided by the Covid-19 lockdown to analyse how performance is affected by a friendly audience. Specifically, we use data on all football matches in the top-level competitions across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom over the 2019/2020 season. We compare the difference between the number of points gained by teams playing at home and teams competing away before the Covid-19 outbreak, when supporters could attend any match, with the same difference after the lockdown, when all matches took place behind closed doors. We find that the performance of the home team is halved when stadiums are empty. Further analyses indicate that offensive (defensive) actions taken by the home team are drastically reduced (increased) once games are played behind closed doors. Referees are affected too, as they change their behaviour in games without spectators. Finally, the home advantage is entirely driven by teams that do not have international experience. Taken together, our findings corroborate the hypothesis that social pressure influences individual behaviour.
{"title":"Team performance and the perception of being observed: Experimental evidence from top-level professional football","authors":"Massimiliano Ferraresi, G. Gucciardi","doi":"10.1515/ger-2021-0104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2021-0104","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We exploit the natural experimental setting provided by the Covid-19 lockdown to analyse how performance is affected by a friendly audience. Specifically, we use data on all football matches in the top-level competitions across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom over the 2019/2020 season. We compare the difference between the number of points gained by teams playing at home and teams competing away before the Covid-19 outbreak, when supporters could attend any match, with the same difference after the lockdown, when all matches took place behind closed doors. We find that the performance of the home team is halved when stadiums are empty. Further analyses indicate that offensive (defensive) actions taken by the home team are drastically reduced (increased) once games are played behind closed doors. Referees are affected too, as they change their behaviour in games without spectators. Finally, the home advantage is entirely driven by teams that do not have international experience. Taken together, our findings corroborate the hypothesis that social pressure influences individual behaviour.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"22 1","pages":"1 - 31"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72764953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jonas Jessen, C. Spieß, Sevrin Waights, Katharina Wrohlich
Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic and related closures of day care centres and schools significantly increased the amount of care work done by parents. There has been much speculation over whether the pandemic increased or decreased gender equality in parental care work. Based on representative data for Germany from spring 2020 and winter 2021 we present an empirical analysis that shows that although gender inequality in the division of care work increased to some extent in the beginning of the pandemic, it returned to the pre-pandemic level in the second lockdown almost nine months later. These results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic neither aggravated nor lessened inequality in the division of unpaid care work among mothers and fathers in any persistent way in Germany.
{"title":"The gender division of unpaid care work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany","authors":"Jonas Jessen, C. Spieß, Sevrin Waights, Katharina Wrohlich","doi":"10.1515/ger-2022-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2022-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic and related closures of day care centres and schools significantly increased the amount of care work done by parents. There has been much speculation over whether the pandemic increased or decreased gender equality in parental care work. Based on representative data for Germany from spring 2020 and winter 2021 we present an empirical analysis that shows that although gender inequality in the division of care work increased to some extent in the beginning of the pandemic, it returned to the pre-pandemic level in the second lockdown almost nine months later. These results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic neither aggravated nor lessened inequality in the division of unpaid care work among mothers and fathers in any persistent way in Germany.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"89 1","pages":"641 - 667"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75711467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In a federal country with two regions, consumers can decide not only the region where to invest, but also the type of capital investment. We analyse how such decision is affected by the fact that a first type of capital is taxed at a regional level while a second one is taxed at a federal level with tax compliance for federal taxation varying across regions. A standard horizontal tax competition arises for the first type of capital across regions. Instead, vertical tax competition arising between the regional and the federal level is not standard because there is not tax base overlap between the two tiers of government. However, both regional and federal tax bases are affected by tax policies decided by each level of government via capital movements from one type of capital towards the other one. Our main result shows under which conditions an increase in federal taxation in response to an increase in tax noncompliance may be less severe than in a set-up with only one type of capital because of capital flights arising not only across regions, but also across different types of capital investment.
{"title":"Heterogeneous capital tax competition in a federation with asymmetric tax compliance","authors":"Lisa Grazzini, A. Petretto","doi":"10.1515/ger-2021-0103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2021-0103","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In a federal country with two regions, consumers can decide not only the region where to invest, but also the type of capital investment. We analyse how such decision is affected by the fact that a first type of capital is taxed at a regional level while a second one is taxed at a federal level with tax compliance for federal taxation varying across regions. A standard horizontal tax competition arises for the first type of capital across regions. Instead, vertical tax competition arising between the regional and the federal level is not standard because there is not tax base overlap between the two tiers of government. However, both regional and federal tax bases are affected by tax policies decided by each level of government via capital movements from one type of capital towards the other one. Our main result shows under which conditions an increase in federal taxation in response to an increase in tax noncompliance may be less severe than in a set-up with only one type of capital because of capital flights arising not only across regions, but also across different types of capital investment.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"32 1","pages":"669 - 705"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75159388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Constantly rising expenditures for pharmaceuticals require government intervention in firms’ pricing decisions. To this end, reference pricing systems are a frequently employed regulatory mechanism. This paper considers a duopoly market with vertically differentiated firms highlighting the effects of a reference pricing system on prices, consumer and producer surplus, expenditures and welfare. Reference pricing decreases equilibrium prices and induces a more competitive environment. It promotes generic usage leading to increased market coverage. Especially generic consumers benefit from a reference pricing regulation. The losses in producer surplus are mainly born by the brand-name firm. Introducing a reference pricing system unambiguously increases welfare.
{"title":"Reference pricing systems on the pharmaceutical market","authors":"Maximiliane Unsorg","doi":"10.1515/ger-2020-0105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2020-0105","url":null,"abstract":"Constantly rising expenditures for pharmaceuticals require government intervention in firms’ pricing decisions. To this end, reference pricing systems are a frequently employed regulatory mechanism. This paper considers a duopoly market with vertically differentiated firms highlighting the effects of a reference pricing system on prices, consumer and producer surplus, expenditures and welfare. Reference pricing decreases equilibrium prices and induces a more competitive environment. It promotes generic usage leading to increased market coverage. Especially generic consumers benefit from a reference pricing regulation. The losses in producer surplus are mainly born by the brand-name firm. Introducing a reference pricing system unambiguously increases welfare.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138517062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has decelerated substantial parts of economic and human interaction. This paper estimates football matches’ contribution to the spread of COVID-19 during Germany’s second infection wave in summer and autumn 2020. Exploiting the exogenous fixture schedules of matches across German counties in an event study design, we estimate that one additional match in a county on average raises daily cases by between 0.34 to 0.71 cases per 100,000 inhabitants after three weeks. Hence, this implies an increase of the seven-day incidence per 100,000 inhabitants by around three to seven percent. We do not find qualitatively different results for a subsample of German top league matches with the strictest hygiene regulations or matches with higher occupancy levels. Notably, the found effect is mediated by the incidence level at the day of the match with very few infections for matches at a seven-day incidence below 25. Using mobile phone data, we identify strong increases in the local mobility as an underlying mechanism. We finally show that the ban of away fans successfully limited the spread of COVID-19 beyond county borders. Our results alert that even outdoor mass gatherings can remarkably cause infections.
{"title":"Thinning out spectators: Did football matches contribute to the second COVID-19 wave in Germany?","authors":"K. Fischer","doi":"10.1515/ger-2021-0060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2021-0060","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has decelerated substantial parts of economic and human interaction. This paper estimates football matches’ contribution to the spread of COVID-19 during Germany’s second infection wave in summer and autumn 2020. Exploiting the exogenous fixture schedules of matches across German counties in an event study design, we estimate that one additional match in a county on average raises daily cases by between 0.34 to 0.71 cases per 100,000 inhabitants after three weeks. Hence, this implies an increase of the seven-day incidence per 100,000 inhabitants by around three to seven percent. We do not find qualitatively different results for a subsample of German top league matches with the strictest hygiene regulations or matches with higher occupancy levels. Notably, the found effect is mediated by the incidence level at the day of the match with very few infections for matches at a seven-day incidence below 25. Using mobile phone data, we identify strong increases in the local mobility as an underlying mechanism. We finally show that the ban of away fans successfully limited the spread of COVID-19 beyond county borders. Our results alert that even outdoor mass gatherings can remarkably cause infections.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"298 1","pages":"595 - 640"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73393073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In this paper, we analyze the role of economic complexity as a driver of regional labor productivity growth in Italy. The Economic Complexity Index (ECI) measures the multiplicity of knowledge embedded in an economy’s productive structure and can be interpreted as an indicator of “qualified diversity”. We assess the impact of ECI on the distribution dynamics of labor productivity by combining growth regression analysis with conditional density estimates. Counterfactual analysis results suggest that ECI plays a key role in the observed tendency to polarization of regional labor productivity. We also provide evidence of a long-run relationship between labor productivity and ECI by using a panel cointegration analysis.
{"title":"Economic complexity and productivity polarization: Evidence from Italian provinces","authors":"Roberto Basile, Gloria Cicerone","doi":"10.1515/ger-2021-0070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2021-0070","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this paper, we analyze the role of economic complexity as a driver of regional labor productivity growth in Italy. The Economic Complexity Index (ECI) measures the multiplicity of knowledge embedded in an economy’s productive structure and can be interpreted as an indicator of “qualified diversity”. We assess the impact of ECI on the distribution dynamics of labor productivity by combining growth regression analysis with conditional density estimates. Counterfactual analysis results suggest that ECI plays a key role in the observed tendency to polarization of regional labor productivity. We also provide evidence of a long-run relationship between labor productivity and ECI by using a panel cointegration analysis.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"3586 1","pages":"567 - 594"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86668934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Favorable macroeconomic conditions, accompanied by optimistic consumer confidence, can stimulate and shape households’ expectations in such a way that they gradually extrapolate the view of good times lasting “forever”. As a consequence, households can then be inclined to accept a much higher level of indebtedness – higher than they would be willing to take on if they were to correctly perceive a discontinuation of the positive trend in the future. This paper documents the empirical link between the macroeconomic conditions faced by households, the confidence of households as investors and consumers, and households’ demand for credit on a sample of 21 European countries. The well-known procyclicality of household credit is found to grow stronger when favorable macroeconomic conditions are met with optimistic consumer confidence. While household credit goes hand in hand with the improving economy during an economic upturn, it is found to be sticky on the way down. Estimates show that households tend to extrapolate recent and current macroeconomic trends to the future and over-estimate the persistence of favorable or adverse conditions.
{"title":"Too much of a good thing? Households’ macroeconomic conditions and credit dynamics","authors":"Martin Hodula, Simona Malovaná, Jan Frait","doi":"10.1515/ger-2021-0033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2021-0033","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Favorable macroeconomic conditions, accompanied by optimistic consumer confidence, can stimulate and shape households’ expectations in such a way that they gradually extrapolate the view of good times lasting “forever”. As a consequence, households can then be inclined to accept a much higher level of indebtedness – higher than they would be willing to take on if they were to correctly perceive a discontinuation of the positive trend in the future. This paper documents the empirical link between the macroeconomic conditions faced by households, the confidence of households as investors and consumers, and households’ demand for credit on a sample of 21 European countries. The well-known procyclicality of household credit is found to grow stronger when favorable macroeconomic conditions are met with optimistic consumer confidence. While household credit goes hand in hand with the improving economy during an economic upturn, it is found to be sticky on the way down. Estimates show that households tend to extrapolate recent and current macroeconomic trends to the future and over-estimate the persistence of favorable or adverse conditions.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"61 1","pages":"529 - 566"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77158104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}