RePEc: Research Papers in Economics
Research Papers in Economics is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics.
School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series
2011
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#276Download full text
- Keywords:
- Rural and regional planners; expectations; experiences; Australia
(forthcomming)Motivations, expectations and experiences of Australian rural and regional planners
Despite playing an extremely important role in shaping communities, the role and contribution of planners is not widely understood or acknowledged. At the same time, there is a shortage of planners in Australia, especially in non-urban areas. Thus, though an online survey of 185 rural and regional planners, this research explores their motivations, expectations and experiences. Most enjoyed and felt confident in their role, explaining that they valued the relaxed family orientated rural lifestyle and the varied nature of the planning work. Although they sometimes felt isolated, the non-urban location provided quicker progression to senior roles, the ability to engage directly with the community and to see the consequences of their decisions. Only half felt their education had prepared them well for their role, citing gaps in terms of computerised modelling, team leadership and conflict resolution skills. Their feedback centred on providing a more practical course, focussing more on regional planning, and encouraging urban and rural experience placements. As the first study to quantifiably explore rural and regional Australian planners perceptions of their role and challenges, the findings illustrate current experiences, key planning challenges, perceived educational gaps and future priorities.
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#275
Does Fundamental Indexation Lead to Better Risk Adjusted Returns? New Evidence from Australian Securities Exchange
Fundamental indexing based on accounting valuation has drawn significant interest from academics and practitioners in recent times as an alternative to capitalization weighted indexing based on market valuation. This paper investigates the claims of superiority of fundamental indexation strategy by using data for Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed stocks between 1985 and 2010. Not only do our results strongly support the outperformance claims observed in other geographical markets, we find that the excess returns from fundamental indexation in Australian market are actually much higher. The fundamental indexation strategy does underperform during strong bull markets although this effect diminishes with longer time horizons. On a rolling five years basis, the fundamental index always outperforms the capitalization-weighted index. Contrary to many previous studies, our results show that superior performance of fundamental indexation could not be attributed to value, size, or momentum effects. Overall, the findings indicate that fundamental indexation could offer potential outperformance of traditional indexation based on market capitalization even after adjusting for the former’s slightly higher turnover and transaction costs.
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#274Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- E37; C45; Q33
- Keywords:
- commodity prices, co-movement, hierarchy and topology, networks, complex systems
Co-movements in commodity prices: a note based on network analysis
This paper analyses co-movements in a wide group of commodity prices during the time period 1992-2010. Our methodological approach is based on the correlation matrix and the networks inside. Through this approach we are able to summarize global interaction and interdependence, capturing the existing heterogeneity in the degrees of synchronization between commodity prices. Our results produce two main findings: (a) we do not observe a persistent increase in the degree of co-movement of the commodity prices in our time sample, however from mid-2008 to the end of 2009 co-movements almost doubled when compared with the average correlation; (b) we observe three groups of commodities which have exhibited similar price dynamics (metals, oil and grains and oilseeds) and which have increased their degree of co-movement during the sampled period. These results suggest that speculation and uncertainty are drivers of the sharp slump in commodity prices synchronization.
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#273Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- D03, D70; D64; Z12; N30; Z10
- Keywords:
- Content Analysis, Positive Emotion, Negative Emotion, Religiosity, Disaster Communications, 9/11
The emergence of emotions and pro-social and religious sentiments during the September 11 disaster
Analysing emotional states under duress or during heightened, life-and-death situations is extremely difficult, especially given the inability of laboratory experiments to adequately replicate the environment and the inherent biases of post event surveys. It is in this area that natural experiments come to the fore by combining the randomization that comes from natural data with an experimentally realistic event. The pager communications from September 11th, made publicly available by Wiki Leaks (Wiki Leaks, 2009), provide exactly the kind of natural experiment emotion researchers have been seeking. We have analysed the pager messages by applying an absolute count methodology and by presenting both positive and negative emotive categories as well as the development of pro-social and religious sentiment. Providing behavioural evidence on how people communicate under extreme circumstances and offers valuable insights into human nature. We demonstrate that positive and pro-social communications are the first to emerge followed by the slower and lower negative communications. Religious sentiment is the last to emerge, as individual attempt to make sense of event.
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#272Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- K14; K42; I18; Z19
- Keywords:
- Medical marijuana, drug policy, ballot initiatives, policy signalling
Smoke Signals and Mixed Messages: Medical Marijuana & Drug Policy Signalling Effects
Liberal drug policy reform is often criticized for 'sending the wrong message', particularly to youth. Reform opponents argue that liberal policies such as decriminalisation and medical marijuana laws will cause marijuana to be perceived as less risky and lead to an increase in use. We seek to test this claim empirically, exploiting the timing and unique properties of state level medical marijuana laws in the US to isolate policy signalling effects. We use survey-derived state-level estimates of youths' marijuana risk-perceptions and use prevalence, and find evidence of signalling effects on aggregate risk-perceptions of marijuana use that correspond to the introduction of medical marijuana laws. These effects, however, do not conform to what reform opponents predict - medical marijuana provisions appear to send the 'right' message. Further, we find no robust effects on non-medical marijuana use.
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#271Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- D24; L93
- Keywords:
- Data envelopment analysis, efficiency, airlines, bootstrap truncated regression, non-discretionary inputs.
Operational performance of low-cost carriers and international airlines: New evidence using a bootstrap truncated regression
Between 2001 and 2005, the US airline industry faced financial turmoil. At the same time, the European airline industry entered a period of substantive deregulation. This period witnessed opportunities for low-cost carriers to become more competitive in the market as a result of these combined events. To help assess airline performance in the aftermath of these events, this paper provides new evidence of technical efficiency for 42 national and international airlines in 2006 using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) bootstrap approach first proposed by Simar and Wilson (J Econ, 136:31-64, 2007). In the first stage, technical efficiency scores are estimated using a bootstrap DEA model. In the second stage, a truncated regression is employed to quantify the economic drivers underlying measured technical efficiency. The results highlight the key role played by non-discretionary inputs in measures of airline technical efficiency.
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#270Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- C43, D24, L81, O47
- Keywords:
- purchasing power parities; distribution trade; wholesale trade; retail trade; total factor productivity; labour productivity
Distribution Trade Sector Output and Productivity Performance: A Case Study of Singapore and Hong Kong 2001-2008
This paper employs the industry of origin approach to compare value added and productivity of Singapore and Hong Kong's Distribution Trade Sector for the period 2001-2008. The direct comparison between these two economies was motivated by the statements of the Singapore government: Its services sector, especially in Retail Trade, lags behind Hong Kong's productivity levels. The results show that since 2005, Singapore's Distribution performance in terms of labour productivity was below Hong Kong's level, which was largely due to poor performance in its Retail Trade sector arising from an influx of foreign workers. Results from total factor productivity (TFP) between these two economies also suggest that Hong Kong's better performance (since 2005) was largely due to its ability to employ more educated and trained workers with limited use of capital. The results suggest that polices that worked in Hong Kong may not work for Singapore because its population is more diverse which poses a challenge to policy-makers in raising its productivity level.
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#269Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- G21;D24
- Keywords:
- Efficiency, productivity; Malmquist indices; Singapore services
Productivity, Technical and Efficiency Change in Singapore's Services Sector, 2005 to 2008
The current study was motivated by statements made by the Economic Strategies Committee that Singapore's recent productivity levels in services were well below countries such as the US, Japan and Hong Kong. Massive employment of foreign workers was cited as the reason for poor productivity levels. To shed more light on Singapore's falling productivity, a nonparametric Malmquist productivity index was employed which provides measures of productivity change, technical change and efficiency change. The findings reveal that growth in total factor productivity was attributed to technical change with no improvement in efficiency change. Such results suggest that gains from TFP were input-driven rather than from a 'best-practice' approach such as improvements in operations or better resource allocation.
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#268Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- D24, Q12, Q16
- Keywords:
- agro-economic efficiency, agronomic efficiency, crop growth model, frontier production model, farm heterogeneity, spatial heterogeneity
Analysis of Productive Performance of Crop and Animal Production Systems: An Integrated Analytical Framework
This article presents a two-stage analytical framework that integrates ecological crop (animal) growth and economic frontier production models to analyse the productive efficiency of crop (animal) production systems. The ecological crop (animal) growth model estimates "potential" output levels given the genetic characteristics of crops (animals) and the physical conditions of locations where the crops (animals) are grown (reared). The economic frontier production model estimates "best practice" production levels, taking into account economic, institutional and social factors that cause farm and spatial heterogeneity. In the first stage, both ecological crop growth and economic frontier production models are estimated to calculate three measures of productive efficiency: (1) technical efficiency, as the ratio of actual to "best practice" output levels; (2) agronomic efficiency, as the ratio of actual to "potential" output levels; and (3) agro-economic efficiency, as the ratio of "best practice" to "potential" output levels. Also in the first stage, the economic frontier production model identifies factors that determine technical efficiency. In the second stage, agro-economic efficiency is analysed econometrically in relation to economic, institutional and social factors that cause farm and spatial heterogeneity. The proposed framework has several important advantages in comparison with existing proposals. Firstly, it allows the systematic incorporation of all physical, economic, institutional and social factors that cause farm and spatial heterogeneity in analysing the productive performance of crop and animal production systems. Secondly, the location-specific physical factors are not modelled symmetrically as other economic inputs of production. Thirdly, climate change and technological advancements in crop and animal sciences can be modelled in a "forward-looking" manner. Fourthly, knowledge in agronomy and data from experimental studies can be utilised for socio-economic policy analysis. The proposed framework can be easily applied in empirical studies due to the current availability of ecological crop (animal) growth models, farm or secondary data, and econometric software packages. The article highlights several directions of empirical studies that researchers may pursue in the future.
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#267Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- E320; C450; O470
- Keywords:
- Globalization, regionalism, correlation matrix, clustering, synchronization
Measuring Globalization: A hierarchical network approach
This paper investigates the business cycle co-movement across countries and regions since the middle of the last century as a measure for quantifying the ongoing globalization process of the world economy. Our methodological approach is based on analysis of a correlation matrix and the networks it contains. Such an approach summarizes the interaction and interdependence of all elements and it represents a more accurate measure of the global interdependence involved in the economic system. Our results show (1) that the dynamics of globalization has been more driven by synchronization in regional growth patterns than by the synchronization of the world economy as a whole in contrast with other empirical works and (2) that world crisis periods increase dramatically the global co movement in the world economy.
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#266Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- A10, A110, B00, B31, B40, I23, N01, J00, Z00
- Keywords:
- American Economic Review, publishing economics, rankings, cooperation,authors, editors, board members, referees, connections, awards, paper characteristics, economic history, history of economic thoug
A Century of American Economic Review
Using information collected from American Economic Review publications of the last 100 years, we try to provide answers to various questions: Which are the top AER publishing institutions and countries? Which are the top AER papers based on citation success? How frequently is someone able to publish in AER? How equally is citation success distributed? Who are the top AER publishing authors? What is the level of cooperation among the authors? What drives the alphabetical name ordering? What are the individual characteristics of the AER authors, editors, editorial board members, and referees? How frequently do women publish in AER? What is the relationship between academic age, publication performance, and citation success? What are the paper characteristics? What influences the level of technique used in articles? Do connections have an influence on citation success? Who receives awards? Can awards increase the probability of publishing in AER at a later stage?
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#265Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- Z130; I300; D310
- Keywords:
- Relative income, positional concerns, social capital, social norms, deprivation theory
Do Positional Concerns Destroy Social Capital: Evidence from 26 Countries
Research on the effects of positional concerns on individuals’ attitudes and behavior is sorely lacking. To address this deficiency, we use the International Social Survey Programme 1998 data on 25’000 individuals from 26 countries to investigate the impact of relative income position on three facets of social capital, covering horizontal and vertical trust as well as norm compliance. Testing relative deprivation theory, we identify a deleterious positional income effect for persons below the reference income, particularly for their social trust and confidence in secular institutions. Also often a social capital-lowering effect of relative income advantage occurs, while a rise in absolute income almost always contributes positively. These results indicate that a rise in income inequality in society too large is rather detrimental to the formation of social capital.
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#264Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- B410; A200; A100
- Keywords:
- American Economic Review, William Baumol, Mathematics, Macroeconomics, Applied Economics, Job Openings
Testing William Baumol’s “Toward a Newer Economics: The Future Lies Ahead!â€
20 years ago, William Baumol provided an interesting wish list that outlined his hopes for the future of economics over the next hundred years. Impatiently, this paper puts his wish list to the test by comparing the characteristics of publications that appeared in the American Economic Review before Baumol’s contribution in 1991 (1984 to 1988) and those published 20 years later (2004 to 2008), and by looking at the Job Openings for Economists between 1991 and 2009. Focusing on issues such as the role of mathematics, the short-run orientation of macroeconomics, the emphasis of economic history versus the history of economic ideas, as well as a more concrete menu of wishes for applied economics, we observe that this was not just a wish list, but is in many ways a list that offers an accurate picture of what has changed over time and what has happened in recent years.