Abstract There exists considerable evidence that people do not often follow the health recommendations issued by health authorities. It might be tempting to think that not following health recommendations is a sign of irrationality and that behavioral considerations are required in order to explain such behavior. Despite this temptation, and using a general health‐capital model which accounts for the consumption of many goods, a stock of health and investment in it, as well as an agent's random lifetime and accumulation of wealth, it is shown that such seemingly irrational decisions are in fact consistent with rational, forward‐looking, decision making. Moreover, it is shown, among other things, that the prototypical assumptions employed in the literature imply that rational agents invest more in their health at each point in time than that which minimizes the conditional probability of dying at that point in time, and thus lack sufficient explanatory reach.
{"title":"Optimal investment in health when lifetime is stochastic, or, rational agents do not often follow health recommendations","authors":"Kristian Bolin, Michael R. Caputo","doi":"10.1002/soej.12656","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12656","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract There exists considerable evidence that people do not often follow the health recommendations issued by health authorities. It might be tempting to think that not following health recommendations is a sign of irrationality and that behavioral considerations are required in order to explain such behavior. Despite this temptation, and using a general health‐capital model which accounts for the consumption of many goods, a stock of health and investment in it, as well as an agent's random lifetime and accumulation of wealth, it is shown that such seemingly irrational decisions are in fact consistent with rational, forward‐looking, decision making. Moreover, it is shown, among other things, that the prototypical assumptions employed in the literature imply that rational agents invest more in their health at each point in time than that which minimizes the conditional probability of dying at that point in time, and thus lack sufficient explanatory reach.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136060937","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 examine the relationship between incoming international passengers and COVID‐19 cases and deaths during the pandemic's initial wave in the United States. We find passengers from Milan, Italy, the location of an early outbreak, were an important source of exposure, increasing the early spread of COVID‐19 in the United States. Cities that received more passengers from Milan during the first quarter of 2020 experienced more COVID‐19 cases during March 2020 than cities receiving fewer passengers from Milan. Concurrently, cities that received more passengers from China or Rome (the latter not experiencing a major outbreak until later in 2020), did not experience increased cases. These results show passengers from at least one foreign epicenter were an important source of exposure that increased COVID‐19 spread in the United States. Given Milan was a secondary hotspot, our results also illustrate the importance of a holistic view of international pandemic hotspots when considering corresponding travel policy.
{"title":"The effect of international travel on the spread of <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 in the United States","authors":"Jeffrey T. Prince, Daniel H. Simon","doi":"10.1002/soej.12661","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12661","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We examine the relationship between incoming international passengers and COVID‐19 cases and deaths during the pandemic's initial wave in the United States. We find passengers from Milan, Italy, the location of an early outbreak, were an important source of exposure, increasing the early spread of COVID‐19 in the United States. Cities that received more passengers from Milan during the first quarter of 2020 experienced more COVID‐19 cases during March 2020 than cities receiving fewer passengers from Milan. Concurrently, cities that received more passengers from China or Rome (the latter not experiencing a major outbreak until later in 2020), did not experience increased cases. These results show passengers from at least one foreign epicenter were an important source of exposure that increased COVID‐19 spread in the United States. Given Milan was a secondary hotspot, our results also illustrate the importance of a holistic view of international pandemic hotspots when considering corresponding travel policy.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136152337","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}
Marisa Cameron, Bryan C. McCannon, Katherine Starr
Abstract We ask whether Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation has a meaningful impact on higher education admissions. To do this, we use the Synthetic control Method to explore 19 U.S. institutions which first achieved this certification recently. We, first, restrict attention to business school enrollment. While initial evidence suggests that the accreditation is associated with a decrease in enrollments, we show that this is complicated by non‐parallel trends prior to accreditation. Compared to their peers, institutions who seek out accreditation were experiencing flatter business enrollments. Correcting for the non‐parallel trends, we fail to find evidence that AACSB accreditation halts this negative undergraduate enrollment trend. We do find potential benefits to graduate business enrollment. Second, considering institution‐wide effects, we fail to find an impact on undergraduate applications, first‐year enrollment, price, or quality of the incoming student body.
{"title":"<scp>AACSB</scp> accreditation and student demand","authors":"Marisa Cameron, Bryan C. McCannon, Katherine Starr","doi":"10.1002/soej.12660","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12660","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We ask whether Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation has a meaningful impact on higher education admissions. To do this, we use the Synthetic control Method to explore 19 U.S. institutions which first achieved this certification recently. We, first, restrict attention to business school enrollment. While initial evidence suggests that the accreditation is associated with a decrease in enrollments, we show that this is complicated by non‐parallel trends prior to accreditation. Compared to their peers, institutions who seek out accreditation were experiencing flatter business enrollments. Correcting for the non‐parallel trends, we fail to find evidence that AACSB accreditation halts this negative undergraduate enrollment trend. We do find potential benefits to graduate business enrollment. Second, considering institution‐wide effects, we fail to find an impact on undergraduate applications, first‐year enrollment, price, or quality of the incoming student body.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135107092","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 Technological improvements have changed the way class content is delivered and absorbed, with new modes of communication and collaboration creating viable alternatives to the traditional classroom. While online learning has many benefits in terms of greater flexibility and convenience, the lack of face‐to‐face interaction creates potential consequences in the form of greater propensity for procrastination in completing coursework. Microcommitments, defined as small daily tasks accompanied by a soft commitment device delivered via an online platform providing social accountability, increase engagement with course content and have been shown to improve exam performance among students enrolled in online courses. We randomly assigned 276 online students into a treatment or control group and investigate whether reduced procrastination may be a channel contributing to the observed gains in academic performance. Our results support this hypothesis as we document a reduction in procrastination. Students exposed to microcommitments with social accountability are nearly twice as likely to complete at least some of the assigned work more than a week prior to the due date as opposed to leaving all of the work for the last week.
{"title":"Microcommitments: Mitigating procrastination with more than a nudge","authors":"Amanda J. Felkey, Eva Dziadula, Eric P. Chiang","doi":"10.1002/soej.12659","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12659","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Technological improvements have changed the way class content is delivered and absorbed, with new modes of communication and collaboration creating viable alternatives to the traditional classroom. While online learning has many benefits in terms of greater flexibility and convenience, the lack of face‐to‐face interaction creates potential consequences in the form of greater propensity for procrastination in completing coursework. Microcommitments, defined as small daily tasks accompanied by a soft commitment device delivered via an online platform providing social accountability, increase engagement with course content and have been shown to improve exam performance among students enrolled in online courses. We randomly assigned 276 online students into a treatment or control group and investigate whether reduced procrastination may be a channel contributing to the observed gains in academic performance. Our results support this hypothesis as we document a reduction in procrastination. Students exposed to microcommitments with social accountability are nearly twice as likely to complete at least some of the assigned work more than a week prior to the due date as opposed to leaving all of the work for the last week.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135689861","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}
The field of economics is undergoing a paradigm shift, marked by what has become known as the “credibility revolution.” This shift has impacted what economists write about, how they organize and structure their papers, and where they chose to publish their findings. This paper traces publishing trends from the 100 most cited papers in the decades from 1970 to 2019 (500 papers in total). Data suggest that the field has become more empirical and that the structure of papers is more standardized, often following a format that is closer to that of scientific papers. Increases in the percentage of women first‐listed authors and the gender ratio are noted and found to be correlated with emerging fields. Most interestingly, a decreasing number of highly cited papers are from what are generally considered the “Top 5” journals in economics, suggesting increasing importance of articles published outside of the Top 5.
{"title":"Opening the gates: The increasing impact of papers beyond the top five and other changes in economic publishing","authors":"Jill Caviglia‐Harris","doi":"10.1002/soej.12655","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12655","url":null,"abstract":"The field of economics is undergoing a paradigm shift, marked by what has become known as the “credibility revolution.” This shift has impacted what economists write about, how they organize and structure their papers, and where they chose to publish their findings. This paper traces publishing trends from the 100 most cited papers in the decades from 1970 to 2019 (500 papers in total). Data suggest that the field has become more empirical and that the structure of papers is more standardized, often following a format that is closer to that of scientific papers. Increases in the percentage of women first‐listed authors and the gender ratio are noted and found to be correlated with emerging fields. Most interestingly, a decreasing number of highly cited papers are from what are generally considered the “Top 5” journals in economics, suggesting increasing importance of articles published outside of the Top 5.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49491278","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}
The legal landscape for marijuana in the United States has changed dramatically over the last three decades. While several studies have examined the relationship between marijuana legalization and traffic fatalities, some of the research is becoming outdated and existing evidence remains mixed. Our research revisits the topic with two updates. First, our study includes states that legalized marijuana more recently and provides updated evidence on the effects of marijuana legalization. Second, considering recent discussions about the limitations of difference‐in‐differences designs, we employ alternative estimators that are robust to heterogeneous and dynamic treatment effects. Overall, our alternative estimators suggest either a smaller reduction (i.e., 3.9% drop in the overall fatality rate) or no change in traffic fatalities associated with legalizing marijuana for medical use, compared to the two‐way fixed‐effect estimator. We find no significant impact on traffic fatalities associated with legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
{"title":"Marijuana legalization and traffic fatalities revisited","authors":"Weiwei Chen, Michael T. French","doi":"10.1002/soej.12657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12657","url":null,"abstract":"The legal landscape for marijuana in the United States has changed dramatically over the last three decades. While several studies have examined the relationship between marijuana legalization and traffic fatalities, some of the research is becoming outdated and existing evidence remains mixed. Our research revisits the topic with two updates. First, our study includes states that legalized marijuana more recently and provides updated evidence on the effects of marijuana legalization. Second, considering recent discussions about the limitations of difference‐in‐differences designs, we employ alternative estimators that are robust to heterogeneous and dynamic treatment effects. Overall, our alternative estimators suggest either a smaller reduction (i.e., 3.9% drop in the overall fatality rate) or no change in traffic fatalities associated with legalizing marijuana for medical use, compared to the two‐way fixed‐effect estimator. We find no significant impact on traffic fatalities associated with legalizing marijuana for recreational use.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48200116","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}
Personalized pricing has become a reality through digitization. We examine firms' incentives to adopt one of the three pricing schemes: uniform, personalized, or group pricing in a Hotelling duopoly model. There are two types of consumer groups that are heterogeneous in their mismatch costs. We show that both firms employ personalized pricing in equilibrium regardless of the heterogeneity of consumer groups. If the consumer groups' heterogeneity is significant, the profits are higher when both firms use personalized pricing than when they employ uniform pricing; otherwise, the latter profits are higher than the former. Profits are highest when firms employ group pricing among the three cases. The ranking of consumer welfare among the three cases is opposite to that of profits.
{"title":"Personalized pricing with heterogeneous mismatch costs","authors":"Noriaki Matsushima, Tomomichi Mizuno, Cong Pan","doi":"10.1002/soej.12654","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12654","url":null,"abstract":"Personalized pricing has become a reality through digitization. We examine firms' incentives to adopt one of the three pricing schemes: uniform, personalized, or group pricing in a Hotelling duopoly model. There are two types of consumer groups that are heterogeneous in their mismatch costs. We show that both firms employ personalized pricing in equilibrium regardless of the heterogeneity of consumer groups. If the consumer groups' heterogeneity is significant, the profits are higher when both firms use personalized pricing than when they employ uniform pricing; otherwise, the latter profits are higher than the former. Profits are highest when firms employ group pricing among the three cases. The ranking of consumer welfare among the three cases is opposite to that of profits.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43310721","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}
Centralized state response is almost universally considered as the first best option for managing pandemics. This paper argues that in reality, states fall short of this ideal. Knowledge problems hinder the government's disease acknowledgement, resource allocation and feedback, while compulsion, political predation, and corruption exacerbate the situation further. On the other hand, a decentralized, voluntary response may overcome knowledge problems and opportunism through effective signals such as prices, better incentives, local knowledge, and internalization of disease‐related externalities. This results in a speedier, more effective, and responsive pandemic management, which also accounts for differences in risk preferences, and becomes a feasible second‐best option. I then apply these insights to Russia and its history of disease management. I focus on three diseases: plague, cholera, and COVID‐19, which results in a historical analysis that spans multiple centuries and different institutional settings. I show that government‐led pandemic response in Russia has been riddled with knowledge problems, abuse, political predation, and violence. On the other hand, a decentralized response was quicker and more effective at managing the disease, often emerging even in the most unfavorable circumstances.
{"title":"Decentralized response as a pandemic second‐best: The case of Russia","authors":"V. Maltsev","doi":"10.1002/soej.12653","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12653","url":null,"abstract":"Centralized state response is almost universally considered as the first best option for managing pandemics. This paper argues that in reality, states fall short of this ideal. Knowledge problems hinder the government's disease acknowledgement, resource allocation and feedback, while compulsion, political predation, and corruption exacerbate the situation further. On the other hand, a decentralized, voluntary response may overcome knowledge problems and opportunism through effective signals such as prices, better incentives, local knowledge, and internalization of disease‐related externalities. This results in a speedier, more effective, and responsive pandemic management, which also accounts for differences in risk preferences, and becomes a feasible second‐best option. I then apply these insights to Russia and its history of disease management. I focus on three diseases: plague, cholera, and COVID‐19, which results in a historical analysis that spans multiple centuries and different institutional settings. I show that government‐led pandemic response in Russia has been riddled with knowledge problems, abuse, political predation, and violence. On the other hand, a decentralized response was quicker and more effective at managing the disease, often emerging even in the most unfavorable circumstances.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44028794","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}
This study empirically explores the effect of bilateral currency swap agreements (BCSAs) on foreign capital inflows. Using data on foreign enterprises' cross‐border investments in China over 2005–2020 released by Bureau van Dijk (BvD) Zephyr database, a multiperiod difference‐in‐differences (DID) estimation is used based on the signing of China's BCSAs over the period of 2009–2020. We find that the signing of BCSAs increases the total amount of foreign capital inflows by 9.97% and the number of foreign capital projects by 8.68% on average. Moreover, foreign capital inflows that come from economies with higher bilateral exchange fluctuations, fewer foreign exchange reserves, higher interest rates, higher tax rates, and lower institutional qualities are more responsive to the signing of BCSAs, especially for those horizontal capital inflows.
本研究实证研究了双边货币互换协议对外资流入的影响。利用Bureau van Dijk（BvD）Zephyr数据库发布的2005-2020年外国企业在中国的跨境投资数据，基于2009-2010年中国BCSA的签署情况，使用了多期差异（DID）估计。我们发现，BCSA的签署使外资流入总量平均增加了9.97%，外资项目数量平均增加了8.68%。此外，来自双边汇率波动较大、外汇储备较少、利率较高、税率较高和制度素质较低的经济体的外国资本流入对BCSA的签署更为敏感，尤其是对于那些横向资本流入。
{"title":"The effect of bilateral currency swap agreements on foreign capital inflows: Evidence from China","authors":"Lingduo Jiang, Shuangshuang Liu, Guofeng Zhang","doi":"10.1002/soej.12652","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12652","url":null,"abstract":"This study empirically explores the effect of bilateral currency swap agreements (BCSAs) on foreign capital inflows. Using data on foreign enterprises' cross‐border investments in China over 2005–2020 released by Bureau van Dijk (BvD) Zephyr database, a multiperiod difference‐in‐differences (DID) estimation is used based on the signing of China's BCSAs over the period of 2009–2020. We find that the signing of BCSAs increases the total amount of foreign capital inflows by 9.97% and the number of foreign capital projects by 8.68% on average. Moreover, foreign capital inflows that come from economies with higher bilateral exchange fluctuations, fewer foreign exchange reserves, higher interest rates, higher tax rates, and lower institutional qualities are more responsive to the signing of BCSAs, especially for those horizontal capital inflows.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44267876","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}
The Community Connect Grant (CCG) Program was created in 2002 to provide financial assistance for the provision of broadband service in rural areas. Although it aimed to strengthen the rural economy, it is possible that an increase in internet usage due to the program could have induced bank branch closures, which could have had unintended effects on the economy. This paper discusses the mechanism by which the program affects bank branches and estimates the magnitude of its effects using an event study model and find that receiving benefits from this program decreases the number of bank branches.
{"title":"Unintended effects of broadband grants on bank branches","authors":"Minhae Kim","doi":"10.1002/soej.12649","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12649","url":null,"abstract":"The Community Connect Grant (CCG) Program was created in 2002 to provide financial assistance for the provision of broadband service in rural areas. Although it aimed to strengthen the rural economy, it is possible that an increase in internet usage due to the program could have induced bank branch closures, which could have had unintended effects on the economy. This paper discusses the mechanism by which the program affects bank branches and estimates the magnitude of its effects using an event study model and find that receiving benefits from this program decreases the number of bank branches.","PeriodicalId":47946,"journal":{"name":"Southern Economic Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47403216","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}
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