Information transmission between bitcoin derivatives and spot markets: high-frequency causality analysis with Fourier approximation

This paper examines information transmission between Bitcoin derivatives and spot exchanges using 15-minutes interval data over May 2016 - September 2020. We employ a novel econometric framework with Fourier approximation, taking structural shifts in causal linkages, on the prices, returns, and volatilities of BitMEX, the derivatives market, and five other major spot exchanges, Coinbase, Bitstamp, Kraken, CEX.io, and Poloniex. Overall, the results provide robust evidence of information flow between the derivatives and spot exchanges, implying the markets react to new information simultaneously. The results are of importance for investors conducting portfolio allocation exercises and risk management strategies.

National culture and the distribution of foreign aid

This paper investigates the relationship between a country’s national culture and the level of aid it grants to other countries. We rely on Hofstede’s culture framework to quantify national culture and find that national culture and aid are significantly related. Specifically, we show that countries having high power distance, high masculinity and high uncertainty avoidance cultures appear to refrain from engaging in foreign assistance programmes. On the other hand, high individualistic-culture countries tend to provide greater levels of foreign aid. Overall, the results imply that national culture matters in shaping the donation behaviour of aid providers.

The income elasticity of lottery revisited: a worldwide perspective

Using panel data information from The WLA Global Lottery Data Compendium this paper estimates aggregate demand functions for lottery tickets in order to examine variation in the income elasticity of lottery tickets worldwide. The analysis uses a panel data quantile regression approach. The estimated elasticities are compared across income quartiles and world regions. The results provide evidence that a significant variation in the income elasticities across both geographic areas and the income distribution exists. Also, a clear heterogeneity in the incidence of lottery expenditures is observed. Overall, it is found that lottery is a normal good.

Energy consumption, economic growth, foreign direct investment and globalization causality nexus in OECD countries: a symbolic transfer entropy analysis

In this paper, we investigate the validity and usefulness of the symbolic transfer entropy (STE) test for longitudinal data by examining causality relationships among foreign direct investment, energy consumption, globalization and economic growth respectively, between the periods 1970-2015 using Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries as a case study. Also, a comparison to validate or contrast with other existing studies results generated using other forms of causality test is given. Our findings suggest that the STE causality test is suitable approach for our OECD panel of countries.

Gender disparity effect among financially included (and excluded) women in Middle East and North Africa

Gender in financial inclusion is an evolving field of research. This study uses the World Bank’s Global Findex database, along with probit models, to investigate the presence of gender inequality on financial inclusion and its causes. In the Middle East and North Africa samples, we present new evidence of lower women’s financial inclusion. Being a man, older, well-educated and with a high-income increases the likelihood of being financially included. The findings of this study support policymaker in defining policies to promote financial inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa. Increasing the level of financial inclusion enhances the level of official savings in countries, which in turn promotes development.

An innovation adoption model of licensing-in for US start-ups

Using the Kauffman panel dataset of US start-ups, we analyse the key determinants oflicensing-in adoption. Licensing-in entails an intellectual property contract between the licensor(e.g. upstream established firm) and licensee (e.g. downstream start-up) aiming to bring aninnovation to market rapidly. Assuming maximizing of the owner’s managerial utility in thestart-up years, we explain licensing-in adoption through firm characteristics like size, R&D andcapital structure, as well as other IP types, and controls for year and regional fixed effects, usingpanel probit estimation with adjustments for sample selection bias and endogeneity. We findkey determinants of licensing-in to be owners’ equity, product (rather than service) sales andR&D spend; and then comment on their policy implications for business incubation.

Effects of the COVID-related stay-at-home order on hospitality sales and automobile traffic counts: evidence from the State of Maine, USA

This paper examines the effects of the COVID-related Stay-at-Home order on hospitality sales and automobile traffic counts in the State of Maine, USA. Empirical results show that the Stay-at-Home order did not have a statistically significant impact on either measure of state economic activity. Instead, households adjusted their behavior as a result of COVID-19 in advance of the Stay-at-Home order. This is an important public policy issue given the large health and economic impacts of the pandemic, and widespread use of Stay-at-Home orders. Even beyond the COVID pandemic, however, the extent to which people respond to government restrictions is important for policy development and implementation.

Measuring the effect of trade liberalisation on the consumption of non-renewable energy sources in Latin America & the Caribbean Countries

This article investigates the impact of trade openness on the consumption of fossil fuels for a panel of fourteen LAC countries over the period from 1990 to 2014. To this end, a PARDL model in unrestricted error-correction form is estimated. The results of the model regression point indicate that the impact of economic growth and elasticity of trade openness are statistically significant at the 1% level and contribute to increased consumption of fossil fuels in the LAC countries. However, the impact and elasticity of consumption of renewable energy are statistically significant at 1% and 5% levels and thus contribute to decreasing consumption of fossil fuels.

Attenuating the school context increases students’ academic self-concept

We show two examples of how attenuating school-context-generated automatic social comparison leads to an increase in students’ academic self-concept (ASC), which is known to regulate the effort students put into education. In Study 1, we exploited COVID-19 induced home-based education to find that students’ ASC in reading and writing increased outside the school context. In Study 2, we activated/attenuated the school context by different priming in a randomized survey experiment. Here, we found that students who first reported their ASC, and subsequently their grades, had higher ASC in reading (but not in writing) than those who first reported their grades. The results indicate that social comparison might indirectly harm students’ educational achievement and attainment via their ASC.

Does the use of a big data variable improve monetary policy estimates? Evidence from Mexico

We analyse the performance improvement on a monetary policy model of introducing non-conventional market attention (NCMA) indices generated using big data. To address this aim, we extracted top keywords by text mining Banco de Mexico’s minutes. Then, we used Google search information according to the top keywords and related queries to generate NCMA indices. Finally, we introduce as covariates the NCMA indices into a bivariate probit model of monetary policy and contrast several specifications to examine the improvement in the model estimates. Our results show evidence of the statistical significance of the NCMA indices where the expanded model performed better than models only including conventional economic and financial variables.