Journal of Economic Surveys最新文献

Spatial and spatiotemporal volatility models are a class of models designed to capture spatial dependence in the volatility of spatial and spatiotemporal data. Spatial dependence in the volatility may arise due to spatial spillovers among locations; that is, in the case of positive spatial dependence, if two locations are in close proximity, they can exhibit similar volatilities. In this paper, we aim to provide a comprehensive review of the recent literature on spatial and spatiotemporal volatility models. We first briefly review time series volatility models and their multivariate extensions to motivate their spatial and spatiotemporal counterparts. We then review various spatial and spatiotemporal volatility specifications proposed in the literature along with their underlying motivations and estimation strategies. Through this analysis, we effectively compare all models and provide practical recommendations for their appropriate usage. We highlight possible extensions and conclude by outlining directions for future research.

Estimates of the exchange rate pass-through vary significantly across studies. Therefore, I conduct a meta-analysis to understand why estimates differ and provide consensus for the conflicting results. The dataset includes 72 primary studies containing 1219 estimates of the pass-through from nominal effective exchange rates to consumer prices for 111 countries. Because there are many potential causes of heterogeneity, I use Bayesian model averaging to identify the important ones. I find that results vary mainly due to a combination of country-specific and methodological characteristics, even though factors such as asymmetry and product-specific characteristics also play a role. The country-specific characteristics include trade openness, exchange rate flexibility, economic development status, exchange rate persistence, and commodity dependence. On the other hand, the methodological factors include estimation methods, data characteristics, endogeneity bias, and the researcher's choice of control variables. Finally, I model the exchange rate pass-through, taking into account asymmetry and the best practices in the literature. I find that a 1% increase in the exchange rate leads to a 0.09% decrease in the consumer price level, whereas a 1% decrease leads to a 0.19% increase.

We offer an updated and comprehensive review of recent studies on the impacts of climate change, particularly global warming, on poverty and inequality, paying special attention to data sources as well as empirical methods. While studies consistently find negative impacts of higher temperatures on poverty across different geographical regions, with higher vulnerability especially in poorer Sub-Saharan Africa, there is inconclusive evidence on climate change impacts on inequality. Further analyzing a recently constructed global database at the subnational unit level derived from official national household income and consumption surveys, we find that temperature change has larger impacts in the short term and more impacts on chronic poverty than transient poverty. The results are robust to different model specifications and measures of chronic poverty and are more pronounced for poorer countries. Our findings offer relevant inputs into current efforts to fight climate change.

China's carbon market is far from being integrated. This paper studies how carbon emissions reduction and carbon market integration affect China's aggregate productivity and welfare via a quantitative spatial general equilibrium model with $�{\mathrm{CO}}_2$ as a by-product of production. We find that (1) were carbon emission rights to be allowed to be traded across regions, (i) if there is no technological growth, China's overall productivity and real GDP would increase by 10.26%, and 27.19% respectively, and welfare would decline slightly by 0.92%; (ii) if the technology grows at the present growth rate, China's total output, real GDP and welfare would increase by 9.97, 38.57, and 7.79%, respectively; (2) were nine regional carbon trading markets integrated, China's overall productivity, real GDP and welfare would increase by 4.35, 29.17, and 7.75%, respectively.  Carbon market integration enables China to achieve economic development at a lower $�{\mathrm{CO}}_2$ cost.

The economic consequences of water efficiency that results from water policies remains controversial. Studies on how water rights trading (WRT), which allocates water resources in and across industries, influences corporate efficiency can reveal the behavioral response of market participants to increase water efficiency. Considering the WRT pilot implemented in 2014 as a quasi-natural experiment, we adopt the difference-in-difference-in-differences method to evaluate its impact on corporate total factor productivity (TFP). Our findings show that WRT significantly stimulates the TFP of firms with high water costs. This effect is achieved by promoting water-related green innovation and optimizing resource allocation instead of alleviating corporate risks. Furthermore, the impact of WRT is more pronounced in areas with lower levels of water endowment and market development. The research findings have strikingly important policy implications regarding water management in China through WRT.

This paper presents a review of empirical methods used to assess the behavioral, economic, and political outcomes of Internet and social media usage. Instead of merely surveying the various impacts of the Internet, we examine the methods adopted to identify these impacts. We describe two main approaches for establishing causal effects, each with strengths and limitations. The first approach involves searching for exogenous sources of variation in the access to fast Internet or specific content. The second approach takes the form of field or laboratory experiments. In this paper, we focus on the first approach, delving into the methodological threats, empirical design, and main findings of the most prominent studies that exploit natural or quasi-experiments for identifying the causal impact of high-speed Internet or specific social media. This undertaking allows us to highlight the key empirical challenges in the field of Internet and social media economics while summarizing the causal relationships that the literature has uncovered so far.

Over the past several decades, meta-analysis has emerged as a widely accepted tool to understand economics research. Meta-analyses often challenge the established conventional wisdom of their respective fields. We systematically review a wide range of influential meta-analyses in economics and compare them to “conventional wisdom.” After correcting for observable biases, the empirical economic effects are typically much closer to zero and sometimes switch signs. Typically, the relative reduction in effect sizes is 45%–60%.

The low degree of stock market participation (SMP) is one of the big puzzles in finance. Numerous determinants have been proposed. We put these determinants into a structure that is derived from a standard static portfolio model. Then we discuss arguments put forward regarding specific SMP determinants and the empirical evidence that has been provided. The focus of our survey is on the identification of a causal impact of determinants on SMP via shocks. We summarize the evidence by suggesting established and likely SMP determinants and providing an outlook for future research and policy.

In this paper, a comprehensive review is carried out on the strand of the literature related to the effects of bubbles on production, which includes the scarce empirical literature. The content is structured according to the bubble phase, since a major part of the literature considers that during the boom, there can be a crowding-in effect that can even offset the crowding-out effect derived from the bursting of the bubble. This possibility is due to the influence of two opposing mechanisms: a substitution effect derived from the possible diversion of resources previously allocated to productive investments, and an income effect derived from the fact that investors have more resources obtained from the sale of the bubble assets and from the role of these assets as collateral in loan operations. Studies also show the negative effect derived from the involvement of banks in bubbles. In this paper, both the results of the research and the main methodological framework are reviewed, thereby identifying as a gap in the literature to be considered for future research: the scarcity of empirical research, of studies that include demand factors, of papers that address bubbles in nonfinancial and nonhousing markets, and in undeveloped and emerging countries.

Intellectual property rights are fundamental to how economies organize innovation and steer the diffusion of knowledge. Copyright law, in particular, has developed constantly to keep up with emerging technologies and the interests of creators, consumers, and intermediaries of the different creative industries. We provide a synthesis of the literature on the law and economics of copyright in the digital age, with a particular focus on the available empirical evidence. First, we discuss the legal foundations of the copyright system and developments of length and scope throughout the era of digitization. Second, we review the literature on technological change with its opportunities and challenges for the stakeholders involved. We give special attention to empirical evidence on online copyright enforcement, changes in the supply of works due to digital technology, and the importance of creative re-use and new licensing and business models. We then set out avenues for further research identifying critical gaps in the literature regarding the scope of empirical copyright research, the effects of technology that enables algorithmic licensing, and copyright issues related to software, data and artificial intelligence.