Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does the sharing economy hurt the traditional economy? Evidence in the hospitality industry from the United States

A burgeoning sharing economy has recently opened vast niches of opportunities for virtually every economic sector from service to knowledge creation and even manufacturing. Notwithstanding the notable expansion and opportunities it provides, new forms of challenges for decision-makers and other stakeholders − including Main Street, cities, states and the federal government − have emerged in its wake. As a result, it has become increasingly relevant to understand the nature of the relationship between the sharing economy and incumbent industries. This project delves into this matter by focusing on the hospitality industry in the United States, while examining how it is impacted by the sharing economy. Using a two-step methodological approach involving filtering methods and vector auto-regressions (VARs), the empirical findings reveal no evidence of the sharing economy acting as an impediment to the hospitality industry. In other words, there is no evidence that it constrains the development of the traditional sector, nor does it appear to be a substitute. JEL Classification: O31, O35, O39, Z31.
The Effect of Revenue Loss from Enterprise Zone Tax Incentives on Economic Development

The designation of enterprise zones (EZ) within "distressed" areas across various parts of the United States has burgeoned considerably since its onset during the early 1980s. Used as an economic development tool, EZs have been utilized for the revitalization of traditional downtown areas or old industrial and manufacturing areas that have undergone a protracted period of decline. Firms within EZs often receive some combination of labor and capital tax incentives. This article examines various measures of economic development during the period 2006 to 2015 for firms receiving at least one tax incentive. The results suggest that, on average, employment tends to rise more significantly for firms receiving a modest amount in tax incentives than for those receiving above-average amounts. Additionally, the results suggest that fewer tax savings are being translated into higher wages as firms continue to receive incentives. Lastly, firms that receive much more in tax incentives do not invest any differently or experience any higher property values than firms that receive very little.
X-Array: approximating omnidirectional millimeter-wave coverage using an array of phased arrays

Millimeter-wave (mmWave) networks are conventionally considered to bear a fundamental coverage limitation, due to the directional beams and limited field-of-view (FoV) of the phased array antennas. In this paper, we explore an array of phased arrays (APA) architecture, which aggregates co-located phased arrays with complementary FoVs to approximate WiFi-like omni-directional coverage. We found that straightforwardly activating all the arrays may even hamper network performance. To fully exploit the APA's potential, we propose X-Array, which jointly selects the arrays and beams, and applies a dynamic co-phasing mechanism to ensure different arrays' signals enhance each other. X-Array also incorporates a link recovery mechanism to identify alternative arrays/beams that can efficiently recover the link from outage. We have implemented X-Array on a commodity 802.11ad APA radio. Our experiments demonstrate that X-Array can approach omni-directional coverage and maintain high performance in spite of link dynamics.
Is The Exercise-Induced Increase in Central Arterial Stiffness a Risk Factor for Health?

Central arterial stiffness (CAS) is an independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality. If in one side, exercise training can reduce CAS and protect health; on the other side, CAS might be increased in individuals with very strenuous training routines. This chronic increase in CAS is observed acutely, right after a strenuous exercise session. Both chronic and acute increases in CAS are associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as left ventricle hypertrophy, reduction in baroreceptor sensitivity, increased aneurism formation and stroke incidence; besides, they contribute to hypertension, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, dementia and atherosclerosis. However, there are many reasons to believe that trained individuals are protected by other training adaptations and that increased CAS would not be too dangerous in these cases. Nevertheless, even when CAS is increased through exercise training, other harmful adaptations (e g, left ventricle hypertrophy) are aroused together. After debating these questions along the text, it was concluded that individuals should make a complete clinical check-up when decided to face strenuous training routines. A new debate is suggested: personalized exercise programs might be prescribed according to individual cardiovascular risks including CAS and the guidelines for exercise prescriptions proposed by health organizations need to attend these special cases.
Tax policy and the Growth in Mutual Funds: Evidence from Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993

Since the 1970s, U.S. tax policy has encouraged individuals to invest for retirement. The enactment of these tax incentives to save for retirement corresponds to a systematic shift in investment preferences from direct ownership of equities securities to indirect ownership of equities through mutual funds. Some prior research attributes this growth of the mutual fund industry to investors’ maximizing lifetime earnings by locating these assets in tax-preferred retirement accounts that offer deferral of the associated taxable income. An inherent difficulty of examining the impact of tax policy on investment decisions is distinguishing between characteristics associated with high-earning investors from the tax incentives that benefit these investors. As a means of isolating the tax effects on investment preferences, I use Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (OBRA 93), which raised tax-rates on some investors, as a quasi-natural experimental setting. By examining individual trading patterns in IRA and Keogh retirement accounts, I find evidence that increasing marginal tax rates actually decreases retirement investments in mutual funds. I attribute this result to a tightening of investors’ budgetary constraints associated with higher taxes. JEL Classifications: G11, H2, H31
Multidrug-resistant bacteria in a paediatric palliative care inpatient unit: results of a one year surveillance

Aim: Nosocomial infections (NIs) and multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens are an important paediatric healthcare issue. In vulnerable patients such as children with life-limiting conditions, MDR infections can be life-threatening. Additionally, these children have a significantly increased risk for colonisation with MDR pathogens. Therefore, it is vital to prevent new colonisations with MDR pathogens in this vulnerable patient group. However, little is known about colonisation with MDR pathogens and NIs in inpatient units for paediatric palliative care (PPC). The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of colonisation with MDR pathogens and the incidence of NIs in a PPC unit. Methods: Evaluation of surveillance data of a PPC unit. All patients admitted to a PPC unit from 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013 were screened for MDR pathogens upon admission. Patients who exhibited clinical signs of an infection during their inpatient stay were screened again. Results: During the study period, 198 cases were admitted to the unit. Those cases represent 118 patients. 18% of the patients were colonised with MDR pathogens. The most common MDR pathogens were E. coli (8.1%) and Pseudomonas ssp. (8.1%). In addition, 58% of patients with tracheostomy had MDR pathogens in their tracheal secretions. The incidence density of NIs was 0.99 per 1000 inpatient treatment days with no NI caused by MDR pathogens. Conclusion: Due to a high prevalence, it is reasonable to screen PPC patients for MDR pathogen colonisation before or during admission. Special attention must be given to patients with tracheostomy. Our results provide preliminary evidence that participation in social activities in a PPC unit for patients colonised with MDR pathogens is safe if hygiene concepts are applied.
The Role of Non-Base Compensation in the United States

Using Glassdoor salary data on six U.S. industries, we show that non-base pay not only contributes more to income inequality than base pay, but also represents a sizable and stable fraction of employee compensation. Even within an industry, there is substantial heterogeneity in how firms pay bonuses and which employees receive cash, stock, profit-sharing, or sales commission. The size and incidence of bonuses is intimately related to job hierarchy and skill. More senior employees and occupations that require interpersonal (routine) skills receive higher (lower) bonuses, while employees with comparable roles (same job title) within a firm receive similar non-base compensation. Non-base pay also responds more to firm and, across the corporate hierarchy, industry shocks than base, and therefore represents an important mechanism through which changes in firm productivity are passed on to workers. ∗University of Pennsylvania. Email: jsockin@sas.upenn. edu †University of Texas at Austin. Email: michael.sockin@mccombs.utexas. edu. PRELIMINARY: We thank Andres Donangelo, John Griffin, Sam Krueger, Andres Lieberman, Larry Schmidt, Kelly Shue, Per Stromberg, and Mindy Zhang for helpful comments and discussions, and seminar participants at UT Austin. We thank Xiang Kang for excellent research assistance.
Nonparametric quantile treatment e¤ects under endogeneity

In this paper we develop nonparametric estimators of the unconditional quantile treatment e¤ects when treatment selection is endogenous. The identi cation and estimation of quantile treatment e¤ects (QTE) has received recently a lot of interest, particularly with applied policy evaluation studies. In this we propose and analyze new nonparametric estimators of the unconditional QTE when treatment selection is endogenous. In contrast to conditional QTE, i.e. the e¤ects conditional on a large number of covariates X, the unconditional QTE summarizes the e¤ects of a treatment for the entire population and is usually of most interest in policy evaluations. The results can easily be conveyed and summarized. In addition, and no less important, is that unconditional QTE can be estimated fully nonparametrically at p n rate, which is obviously impossible for conditional QTE (unless all X are discrete or one imposes parametric assumptions). Hence, unconditional QTE will usually be much less noisy than estimates of conditional QTE. In this paper we extend the identi cation of quantile treatment e¤ects to endogenous treatments. We propose new nonparametric IV estimators, which are root-N consistent. We derive the semiparametric e¢ ciency bound and give conditions under which our estimator is e¢ cient. In a Monte Carlo study, we compare the various estimators. The estimator is then applied to returns to college using distance to college as an instrument. Keywords: Quantile treatment e¤ects, nonparametric regression, instrumental variables JEL classi cation: C13, C14 . We thank David Card for providing us with the data. Address for correspondence: University of St. Gallen, Bodanstrasse 8, SIAW, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland; markus.froelich@unisg.ch, blaise.melly@unisg.ch
Optimal Negative Interest Rate under

I employ a simple overlapping-generations model of money and nominal bonds with Epstein-Zin preferences and study the optimal negative interest rate. A subzero lower bound can arise in the model due to the illiquidity of money as a savings instrument. This model of negative interest rates differentiates from conventional ones based on exogenous money holding costs in that the subzero lower bound as well as the optimal negative rate turn out to crucially depend upon agents’ preferences for the timing of uncertainty resolution. Both the lower bound and the optimal interest rate for aggregate consumption can fall into a negative territory only if agents prefer late resolution of uncertainty. In the latter case, the lower bound and the optimal rate both decrease even further when aggregate output uncertainty rises. However, the optimal interest rate turns out to be non-negative and to have a positive relationship with the degree of aggregate uncertainty if agents prefer early resolution of uncertainty.
Unwilling, unable or unaware? The role of di erent behavioral factors in responding to tax incentives

This paper studies how di erent behavioral factors a ect individual responses to di erent tax incentives. This is important because di erent reasons for responding and not responding might have di erent policy implications and welfare conclusions. Our analysis compares the empirical signi cance of the inability to respond to tax incentives and unawareness of tax rules. Using population-wide Finnish panel data, we estimate behavioral responses to local changes within the tax and transfer system among similar or even the same individuals. We especially focus on higher education students, who are eligible for a study subsidy . The study subsidy rules create notches in the income tax schedule. We nd that Finnish taxpayers in general do not respond at all to small incentives induced by kink points, but students do respond to larger incentives induced by notches. At the same time a large fraction of students do not respond to the notches making them worse o in absolute terms. This is evidence of optimization frictions, which according to subsequent results are partly due to not being aware of the system and partly due to not being able to respond to local tax incentives.
Inequality in the World , 1950-2010 : Estimates from a New Data Set ☆

This paper introduces a new quinquennial data set of educational inequality disaggregated by age group for 146 countries, from 1950 to 2010, by using the Gini index of education as a measure of the distribution of years of schooling. Based on recent estimates of average years of schooling from Barro and Lee (2010) our calculations take into consideration, for the first time, the changes over time in the duration of educational stages, in each country and for each age group. The downward trends in educational inequality observed during the last decades depend on age group, gender and development level. JEL Classification: D63, I21, J24, O15
Collaborative research: ABI Development: Ontology-enabled reasoning across phenotypes from evolution and model organisms

Despite the centrality of phenotypes to biology, the standards used to record and communicate information about phenotypes are discipline-specific and typically limited by the constraints of natural language. Consequently, phenotypes are refractory to attempts at data integration across studies and inaccessible to the larger network of linked machine-readable biological data. Here, we propose development of ontology-driven tools for machine reasoning over phenotype data, building on widely adopted Entity-Quality (EQ) syntax for phenotype descriptions. We aim to develop tools that are adequate to enable machine reasoning over the extensive volume, and diverse nature, of skeletal phenotypes in fossil and modern vertebrates.
Tetramorium boehmei sp. n. – a new ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) species from the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya

Tetramorium boehmei Hita Garcia & Fischer sp. n. – a new ant species from the Kakamega Forest in Western Kenya is described. The new species can be placed in the Tetramorium camerunense species group and differs significantly from the other members of the group by its highly reduced sculpturation on head and mesosoma. With only two available specimens sampled in undisturbed primary forest, Tetramorium boehmei sp. n. seems to be a relatively rare endemic species. Additionally, a first key to the Tetramorium species groups found in the Kakamega Forest is provided.
Why Choose Alternative Work Arrangements?: The Effect of Demand Shocks on AWAs in the U.S. Labor Market

Alternative Work Arrangements (AWAs) are contract forms with lower wages, fewer benefits, and fewer legal protections. Firms using AWAs pay fewer fixed costs, but AWAs continue to account for only 10% of employment. I investigate whether AWAs respond to negative labor demand shocks, and could explain the lack of systematic increase. In a simple conceptual framework where firms can employ a worker in a short-term contract for a lower fixed cost, marginally profitable firms will use AWAs. Negative shocks push AWA-using firms out of business, reducing aggregate AWAs, conditional on employment. I test the effect of two negative labor demand shocks exogenous decreases in housing wealth and increased competition from China on workers’ marginal probability of being in an AWA. I find that negative housing wealth shocks decreased workers’ probability of being in an AWA by 0.25% for every 1% of housing price declines. Direct trade competition reduced workers probability of being in an AWA, however when examining the supply-chain effects of trade, 87% of workers saw a predicted increase. A simple counterfactual suggests that absent housing price declines from the Great Recession, AWAs would have increased by 1.5% since 2005. ∗Email: dmd2195@columbia.edu. Thanks to Bentley MacLeod, Elliott Ash, Miguel Urquiola, Tobias Salz, Andrew Garin, Brad Hershbein, and Simon Jaeger for their helpful comments. Many thanks to the Department of Labor for supporting this research. All results preliminary, comments welcome.
How is public transit in the megacity peripheral relocatees’ area in China? Captive transit rider and dynamic modal accessibility gap analytics in a peripheral large-scale residential area in Shanghai, China

In the process of Chinese megacity suburbanization, central-city substandard housing is demolished. The government relocates residents to megacity peripheral relocatees’ areas. So far, few studies have focused on captive transit riders and analyzed the dynamic points of interest (POI) accessibility by public transit compared to the private mode in these areas. To fill this gap, this study conducts a survey in Jinhexincheng, one of these areas in Shanghai, China; analyzes captive-transit riders with multiple models; and computes the dynamic modal accessibility gap (DMAG) of public transit and private travel mode using multi-source heterogeneous data. Results show that 71.77% of transit-rider samples acknowledge they “have no other choice and have to travel by transit. ” These captive transit riders are more often older, female, non-working, without a driving license, and with more complaints toward public transport. Subjective transit evaluation’s ordinal regression models show that waiting time, speed, operating hours, and number of lines/stops contribute to the low transit subjective evaluation. These things should be given a high priority in transit improvement. As for the captive transit riders, transit’s transfer and bicycle availability should be improved. Using big data analytics, a more fine-grained scale is brought in by computing a DMAG index. It shows a person mostly has a better POI accessibility by private mode for the 30-minute, real-travel-covered area for 24 hours of the average day. For the 60-minute, real-travel-covered area, public transit mostly has a better POI accessibility. This study supports transit planning and decision-making for megacity peripheral relocatees’ areas using multi-source heterogeneous data analytics.
New dinosaur tracks from the Dolomia Principale (Upper Triassic) of the Carnic Prealps (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, NE Italy)

Ten new track-bearing boulders discovered in the Parco Naturale delle Dolomiti Friulane area (Carnic Prealps, NE Italy) during the last 15 years demonstrate that bipedal dinosaurs with a functionally tridactyl, digitigrade pes, within the size-class of the ichnogenus Anchisauripus Lull, 1904, were the most common trackmakers in the carbonate tidal flats of the Dolomia Principale during the latest Triassic. If the footprint morphology actually reflects the functional tridactyl condition of the trackmakers’ feet, theropods are the most suitable trackmakers. The ichnoassociation of the Parco delle Dolomiti Friulane area differs from coeval ichnoassociations in the dominance of mid-sized tridactyl footprints and the rarity of small tridactyl (Grallator Hitchcock, 1858; length <15 cm) and chirotheriid tracks. Tracks potentially produced by basal sauropodomorphs, which were the most common European dinosaurs in the late Norian-Rhaetian interval, are underrepresented. RIASSUNTO [Nuove orme di dinosauro nella Dolomia Principale (Triassico Superiore) delle Prealpi Carniche (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italia nord-orientale)] In questo lavoro vengono descritti dieci nuovi massi con orme fossili rinvenuti negli ultimi 15 anni nel Parco Naturale delle Dolomiti Friulane (Prealpi Carniche, Italia nord-orientale). Questi nuovi reperti, inquadrati nel contesto icnologico del Triassico Superiore del Parco delle Dolomiti Friulane, confermano che i dinosauri bipedi con un pes funzionalmente tridattile e digitigrado erano i più comuni autori di orme sulle piane tidali carbonatiche della Dolomia Principale durante il Triassico Superiore. Questi dinosauri producevano orme lunghe tra i 15 e i 25 centimetri, tipiche della classe dimensionale dell’icnogenere Anchisauripus Lull, 1904. Se la morfologia delle orme riflette realmente la tridattilia funzionale del pes del trackmaker, i dinosauri teropodi sono i più probabili candidati. I potenziali autori alternativi bipedi o facoltativamente tali (arcosauri pseudosuchi, dinosauromorfi non dinosauri, ornitischi basali, saurischi basali, sauropodomorfi basali) erano troppo piccoli rispetto alle orme in esame. Inoltre, quando presenti nel record fossile attuale, le loro zampe posteriori presentano un dito I sensibilmente lungo, che toccava il suolo e poteva produrre orme tetradattili. L’icnoassociazione del Parco delle Dolomiti Friulane si distingue dalle altre icnoassociazioni coeve per l’abbondanza di orme tridattili di medie dimensioni (lunghe 15-25 cm) e la rarità di quelle più piccole e delle orme chirotheriidi. Anche le impronte riferibili ai sauropodomorfi basali, i dinosauri più comuni in Europa durante il Norico superiore-Retico, sono poco rappresentate.
What Does Income Mobility Reveal About the Tax Risk-Reward Tradeoff?

We identify a subset of income mobile firms asserted to achieve greater tax savings with lower incremental risk to assess the overall risk-return relation in the context of tax avoidance. We begin by developing a measure of income mobility, which synthesizes several firm-level characteristics that reflect ex ante opportunities to exploit multijurisdictional tax planning. We document that income mobile firms engage in more longterm tax avoidance than non-income mobile firms. Further, investors place a higher value on cash tax savings generated by income mobile firms, consistent with investors viewing income mobile tax avoidance as less risky. We conclude that income mobile firms are able to achieve greater tax avoidance with less risk and use this conclusion to evaluate various proxies for tax risk proxies proposed in the literature. Univariate comparisons reveal that income mobile firms have less volatile cash effective tax rates and retain a greater portion of uncertain tax benefits than non-income mobile firms, but that their tax reserves and coefficients of variation are higher. Multivariate analyses suggest that it is important to also take into account the level of tax avoidance when comparing risk proxies. These findings deepen our understanding of tax risk, as well as of the riskreward trade-off of tax strategies. Our contributions are constructing a composite measure that more powerfully identifies a subset of firms capable engaging in sustainable tax avoidance than any single component of the measure and providing a more nuanced understanding of tax risk.