Journal of Economic Surveys最新文献

We provide the first quantitative synthesis of the literature on how financial markets react to the disclosure of financial crimes committed by listed firms. While consensus expects negative returns, the exact size of the effect is far from clear. We survey 111 studies published over three decades, from which we collect 480 estimates from event studies. Then, we perform a thorough meta-analysis based on the most recent available techniques. We show that the negative abnormal returns found in the literature seem to be exaggerated by more than three times. Hence, the “punishment” effect, including a reputational penalty, suffers from a serious publication bias. After controlling for this bias, negative abnormal returns suggest the existence of an informational effect. We also document that accounting frauds, crimes committed in common-law countries such as the United States, and allegations are particularly severely sanctioned by financial markets, while the information channels and types of procedures do not influence market reactions.

With the growing use of digital technologies, data have become core to many organizations’ decisions, with its value widely acknowledged across public and private sectors. Yet few comprehensive empirical approaches to establishing the value of data exist, and there is no consensus about which methods should be applied to specific data types or purposes. This paper examines a range of data valuation methodologies proposed in the existing literature. We propose a typology linking methods to different data types and purposes.

What drives recessions and expansions? Since it was introduced in 2007, there have been hundreds of business cycle accounting (BCA) exercises, a procedure aimed at identifying classes of models that hold quantitative promise to explain economic fluctuations. This paper contributes with a software—a graphical user interface that allows practitioners to perform BCA exercises with minimal effort—and exemplifies the procedure by studying the U.S. recessions in 1973 and 1990 and reflecting upon the critiques BCA has been subject to. We look into the many equivalence theorems that the literature has produced and that allow BCA practitioners to identify the theories that are quantitatively relevant for the economic period under study. The methodological extensions that have been brought forth since BCA's original inception are addressed as well as conclusions regarding the relative contribution of each wedge: GDP and investment are usually driven by an efficiency wedge, hours worked are closely related to the labor wedge and, in an open economy extension, the investment wedge helps to explain country risk spreads on international bonds. Finally, larger changes in interest rates and currency crises are usually associated with the investment and/or the labor wedge.

Do more intelligent investors take better economic decisions than less intelligent ones? Is risk attitude, in particular risk/loss aversion, linked to cognitive ability? Does an investor's cognitive ability impact his/her patience? Is financial performance positively linked to investor's intelligence? These research questions have become highly relevant with the development of behavioral economics and behavioral finance, following the recognition that humans are not homo economicus. This paper reviews the several strands of literature devoted to answering the above questions. We first discuss the barely debated definitions and measures of intelligence/cognitive ability used in psychology, economics, and finance. We then review the results related to the (controversial) link between risk aversion and cognitive ability. We observe that the literature provides clear results for patience; individuals with a higher level of cognitive ability being more patient on average. Finally, we review the contributions linking (successfully or not) portfolio choice and financial performance to cognitive ability.

This special issue consists of nine surveys that delve into the recent development in the literature on inequality, examining its perception, sources, implications, and potential solutions. The review synthesizes key aspects, from the conceptualization of inequality perception to its profound consequences such as deteriorated social cohesion, unethical behaviors, and even violent conflicts. The papers underscore the complexity of individuals' preferences for redistribution, influenced by myriad factors like procedural fairness, societal norms, and ethnicity composition. They also explore the potential for interventions, such as wage transparency reforms, to tackle inequality. This synthesis underscores the persistent challenge posed by inequality, while also pointing towards unexplored avenues for future research, thus advancing our understanding of the socio-economic implications of inequality.

Over the last two decades, the causal relationship between climate change and migration has gained increasing prominence in international research and policy. Despite recent advances in conceptual frameworks and applied techniques, the empirical evidence does not provide clear-cut conclusions, mainly due to the intrinsic complexity of the phenomenon of interest, the irreducible heterogeneity of the transmission mechanisms, some common misconceptions, and, in particular, the paucity of adequate data. In this work, we present the first data-oriented review of the nexus between climate change and migration. Then, we discuss open issues and assess the main data gaps that currently prevent more robust quantifications. Finally, using a prominent survey collection produced by the World Bank as a case study, we highlight opportunities for exploiting and enhancing the potential of existing multi-topic and multi-purpose household survey datasets.

This paper presents a systematic review of research papers on nowcasting economic activity. The study summarizes the state-of-the-art nowcasting approaches and methods, describes the indicators used in this analysis, highlights the existing gaps, and proposes future research directions. Based on an analysis of 193 articles on nowcasting in economics that were published in the journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection database, future research directions in nowcasting are described in this paper. This research indicates that the focus of economic activity nowcasting should rely on the use of real-time data and alternative indicators in order to enhance the predictive ability.

The Chinese stock market has a threefold segmented structure. Firstly, there is a division between floatable and nonfloatable shares, known as the split-share structure. Before 2005, more than two-thirds of the shares outstanding were nonfloatable. This structure limited shareholders’ ability to exercise governance rights through stock trading. While largely dismantled by the 2005 reform, the split-share structure has not been fully eliminated. Secondly, floatable shares can be issued in multiple currencies. However, shares denominated in the domestic currency often trade at a premium over those denominated in foreign currencies. This premium can be explained by the differences in target investors and the trading restrictions. Thirdly, stocks denominated in the domestic currency are sorted into different market tiers depending on the firms’ profitability and market capitalization. The limited mobility of stocks across different tiers engenders tier-specific characteristics, such as high family ownership and venture-capital backing, which have not been sufficiently studied. In this paper, we delineate the three aspects of market segmentation, offer critical comments on the caveats of the extant studies, and propose topics for future research.

We review the literature that investigates the causal effect of ethnic diversity on support for redistribution. The results indicate that ethnic diversity or an increase in the salience of ethnic minorities tends to reduce support for redistribution. Evidence is presented that this finding can be interpreted as an outcome of ethnic discrimination. Nonetheless, there is substantial heterogeneity, such that the effect of ethnic diversity on support for redistribution depends on the specific context. An important moderator of the effect is whether ethnic diversity is accompanied by interethnic contact.

There is growing awareness within the economics profession of the important role narratives play in the economy. Even though empirical approaches that try to quantify economic narratives are getting increasingly popular, there is no theory or even a universally accepted definition of economic narratives underlying this research. First, we review and categorize the economic literature concerned with narratives and work out the different paradigms at play. Only a subset of the literature considers narratives to be active drivers of economic activity. To solidify the foundation of narrative economics, we propose a definition of collective economic narratives, isolating five important characteristics. We argue that, for a narrative to be economically relevant, it must be a sense-making story that emerges in a social context and suggests action to a social group. We also systematize how a collective economic narrative differs from a topic and from other kinds of narratives that are likely to have less impact on the economy. With regard to the popular use of topic modeling, we suggest that the complementary use of other methods from the natural language processing (NLP) toolkit and the development of new methods is inevitable to go beyond identifying topics and move towards true empirical narrative economics.