Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retrospection, fairness, and economic shocks: how do voters judge policy responses to natural disasters?

Abstract Which factors explain voters’ evaluations of policy responses to economic shocks? We explore this question in the context of mass preferences over the distribution of disaster relief and evaluate three fairness-based explanations related to affectedness, need, and political ties. We analyze experimental data from an original survey conducted among American citizens and find that affectedness and need are key drivers of voters’ preferred disaster responses. We then compare these patterns with observed disaster relief distributions (1993–2008). The results suggest that observed relief allocations largely mirror the structure of voter preferences with respect to affectedness and need, but not to political ties. These findings have implications for an ongoing debate over the electoral effects of natural disasters, voters’ retrospective evaluations of incumbent performance, and the extent to which divide-the-dollar politics decisions align with mass preferences.
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP: MOBILE APP INVESTMENT AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

With the continuous growth of mobile market, many firms are considering investing in mobile apps. Through the lens of stock market reaction, we find that on average public firms experience a negative abnormal stock return on the day when they release their first mobile app and mobile app investment does not lead to any significant abnormal stock return in the long run, which is likely because investors are discouraged by the competitive nature of mobile app market and foresee the future underperformance of the launched mobile app. Our dataset covers all U.S. public firms that released mobile apps from 2008 to 2017 on the two leading mobile app stores, Apple App Store and Google Play. To better understand our seemingly surprising results, we conduct three additional analyses. First, we explore the determinants of the short-term abnormal return and find that having a pre-announcement, being a late follower, and releasing apps on both major app stores are positively correlated with the short-term abnormal stock return. Second, we show that the stock market accurately anticipates the future performances of mobile apps, as the mobile apps of firms experiencing a negative short-term abnormal stock return tend to have fewer downloads and less active users in the long term. Third, mobile app investment on average does not have a significant effect on firms’ operating performance measured by return on assets. As the first empirical study to rigorously and systematically document the impact of IT investment in the mobile domain, our findings imply that firms should act cautiously when planning to enter the mobile app market.
Nexus of Oil Price Pass-Through and Exchange Rate: Evidence from US and China

Due to technological innovation and energy consumption growth in recent years, US and China become increasingly important players in the world crude oil market and are growingly exposed to not only supply and demand shocks but also foreign exchange risks. To better understand the nexus of crude oil prices and exchange rate, we construct a nonlinear vector autoregressive model to investigate the nonlinear and asymmetric relationships among the US and China’s crude oil prices and the RMB-dollar exchange rate. This study finds that the interactions between US and China’s crude oil prices and the effect of exchange rate on oil prices are time-varying and, more importantly, dependent on oil price regimes. The reform of China’s exchange rate system has significantly impacted the dynamic relationship by enhancing China’s influence on the oil pricing in the world market.
The Fellowship of LIBOR: A Study of Interbank Correlations by the Method of Wigner-Ville Function

The method of the Wigner-Ville function proposed by Wigner, (1932) and Ville (1947) is widely used in quantum statistical mechanics and signal processing and historically preceded the continuous-time wavelets. (Gabor, 1946) Here it is proposed for the studies of the financial time series. One of the advantages of the Wigner-Ville function is the possibility to easily visualize the results and use image analysis software to analyze the time series, especially pertinent in the modern era of “big data. ” In the current paper, we use the Wigner-Ville function for the “toy” problem of the suspected manipulation of the LIBOR quotes by the member banks.
Intention to Leave Self-employment: A Comparison of Business Owners and the Independently Self-employed

Purpose: This paper examines individuals who want to leave self-employment to work a ‘regular’ job for someone else. We compare business owners and the independently self-employed who intend to leave self-employment (Leavers) with those who desire to remain self-employed (Stayers). <br><br>Design/methodology/approach: The authors used multivariate analyses to compare Leavers versus Stayers. The analyses used data from a national probability sample (n = 738 self-employed), the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce. Predictions were derived from the theory of planned behavior, the conservation of resources (COR) theory, and the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory. <br><br>Findings: Work, health, work-family, and satisfaction variables differed for four groups (Owner Stayers, Independent Stayers, Owner Leavers, and Independent Leavers), controlling for demographic and personal variables. <br><br>Originality/value: This study breaks new ground by exploring a range of variables that affect leaving self-employment. The authors contribute to the understanding of why individuals intend to leave self-employment by examining non-economic factors that influence intention to leave. The type of self-employment, Independents versus Owners, affects the decision to leave.
Village chicken upgrading programme in Malawi

This paper discusses the village chicken upgrading programme in Malawi. It looks at the objectives of the programme, its implementation, the problems faced and how it can be improved. The village chicken upgrading programme started in the early 1950s. Its main aim is to improve egg and meat production from indigenous chickens through crossbreeding using the Black Australorp. The programme is hampered by many problems such as ill defined objectives and implementation strategies, lack of proper poultry husbandry skills, inconsistent and poor supply of birds, lack of cheap feed of reliable quality, prevalence of diseases, poor livestock extension services and lack of easily accessible veterinary services. Potential solutions and recommendations for improving the project are suggested.
Confidence and Monetary Policy Transmission

Empirical results for the euro area show that an important channel through which monetary policy – measured traditionally by the short-term interest rate as well as by the Eurosystem balance sheet total – affects economic growth is the confidence of borrowers as well as of lenders. Impulse responses and variance decompositions show that this channel is most effective via the short-term interest rate. Moreover, the state of confidence significantly matters for economic growth, particularly for investment (compared to private consumption) and for industry value added (compared to services). The findings are robust across adding other transmission variables, impulse definition, and other measures of monetary policy and confidence. The importance of a “feel good” factor among lenders provides new empirical evidence in the old debate that the situation of the financial sector does matter for growth.
Stock Return Seasonalities and Investor Structure: Evidence from China's B-Share Markets

This paper investigates whether seasonalities in daily stock returns are related to the trading behavior of individual and institutional investors. The change in the investor structure of B-share markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen after the abolition of ownership restrictions in 2001 provides a unique testing environment. We show that day-of-the-week effects are attenuated after the market entrance of Chinese individual investors, who had previously not been allowed to trade in B-shares. Our empirical results suggest that institutional rather than individual investors are a main driving force behind such anomalies. In addition, we find evidence of reduced index return autocorrelation and US spillover effects in the post-liberalization period.
Tyr-48, a conserved residue in ribotoxins, is involved in the RNA-degrading activity of α-sarcin

Abstract Residue Tyr-48 in α-sarcin is conserved not only within the ribotoxin family, but also within the larger group of extracellular fungal ribonucleases, best represented by RNase T1. A mutant protein in which this Tyr residue was substituted by Phe has been produced and isolated to homogeneity. It was spectroscopically analyzed by means of circular dichroism, fluorescence emission and NMR. Taken together, these results and those from enzyme characterization have revealed the essential role of the -OH group from the Tyr-48 phenolic ring in the cleavage of polymeric RNA substrates, including the ribosome-embedded 28S rRNA, the natural substrate of ribotoxins. Thus, the mutant protein does not degrade its natural ribosomal RNA substrate. However, it has been shown that this Y48F mutant still retains its ability to cleave a phosphodiester bond in a minimal substrate such as the dinucleoside phosphate ApA. The role of different α-sarcin residues within the enzyme reaction catalyzed by this protein is discussed.
Welfare Estimation in Peer-to-Peer Markets with Heterogenous Agents: The Case of Airbnb

Peer-to-peer (P2P) markets allow small suppliers with limited capital to enter markets that were traditionally occupied by large firms. This feature provides a potential decentralized distribution of opportunities. To investigate the distribution of welfare and opportunities among agents, I study the Airbnb short-term rental market, as a successful P2P marketplace. I use daily panel data of Airbnb rentals in Chicago from August 2014 through April 2017 and apply an individual-level multinomial logit model to estimate the distribution of consumer and producer surpluses across differentiated agents and over time. I show that properties in less advantaged neighborhoods benefit the least from having access to the Airbnb market, even though these properties feature weaker competitive pressure and lower opportunity costs of renting. My results show a disproportionate concentration of welfare in neighborhoods with higher incomes and house prices. I also show evidence of a higher surplus for low-income property owners, especially for those who live in high-demand areas. ∗Email: farhood2@illinois.edu; Address: Department of Economics, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 †I am indebted to Dan Bernhardt for his invaluable advice. I am grateful for valuable guidance from David Albouy, George Deltas, Jorge Lemus, and Guillermo Marshall.
Dynamic Inventory Control with Stockout Substitution and Demand Learning

We consider an inventory control problem with multiple products and stockout substitution. The firm knows neither the primary demand distribution for each product nor the customers’ substitution probabilities between products a priori, and it needs to learn such information from sales data on the fly. One challenge in this problem is that the firm cannot distinguish between primary demand and substitution (overflow) demand from the sales data of any product, and lost sales are not observable. To circumvent these difficulties, we construct learning stages with each stage consisting of a cyclic exploration scheme and a benchmark exploration interval. The benchmark interval allows us to isolate the primary demand information from the sales data, and then this information is used against the sales data from the cyclic exploration intervals to estimate substitution probabilities. Because raising the inventory level helps obtain primary demand information but hinders substitution demand information, inventory decisions have to be carefully balanced to learn them together. We show that our learning algorithm admits a worst-case regret rate that (almost) matches the theoretical lower bound, and numerical experiments demonstrate that the algorithm performs very well. This paper was accepted by J. George Shanthikumar, big data analytics.
Public Subsidies and Price Discrimination in Differentiated Oligopoly: Evidence from the Lifeline Extension to High-Speed Internet

The impacts of the Lifeline subsidy on high-speed Internet access, prices and welfare are evaluated. Counterfactuals from a differentiated-product model of competition between cable and telephone firms show the $9.25 subsidy is a positive incentive but the share of low-income households in the United States consuming high-speed Internet increases by only 0.4 percentage points. Regulated price discrimination is more effective. When firms charge different prices for low- and high-income households choosing the same plan, the share of low-income households consuming high-speed Internet increases by about 1.71 to 4.109 percentage points. Overall societal welfare increases substantially with socially-optimal prices.
A Consideration of DiMaggio and Powell's (1983) Hypotheses

In this paper I reconsider and update a conference paper on the construction of case study questions from DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) hypotheses. In this paper I reconsider case study questions that are derived from DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) hypotheses in a more detailed manner. I will also consider measurement issues that can help in efforts to test those hypotheses.
PREFERENTIAL AMMONIUM UPTAKE DURING GROWTH CYCLE AND IDENTIFICATION OF AMMONIUM TRANSPORTER GENES IN YOUNG PEAR TREES

Five sequences showing homology with gene coding for ammonium (NH+ 4 ) transporters of the subfamily AMT1 (AMT1 genes) involved in the nitrogen (N) uptake process were identified in 2-year-old ‘Rocha’ pear/BA29 through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. Multiple AMT1 genes were expressed in each phase of the growth cycle and results suggest that ammonium uptake is conducted by several transporters expressed simultaneously. Trees grown in pots received 2 g N tree−1, at dates corresponding to active shoot vegetative growth, shoot growth cessation and beginning of leaf fall, in the form of either ammonium nitrate (NH 15 4 NO3) or 15NH4NO3. N was preferentially absorbed as NH+ 4 at all sampling dates, ranging from 62% to 66% of the total labelled N recovered in the trees. The fertilizer N use efficiency was also higher for ammonium treatment than for nitrate treatment at all sampling dates. N uptake rate and preferential NH+ 4-N absorption were not altered in response to root pruning and gibberellic acid (GA3) treatments.
THE ROSETTE DISEASE OF PEANUTS (ARACHIS HYPOGAEA L.)

Summary. Rosette is a destructive disease of peanuts in South Africa, characterised by chlorosis of the young leaves and extreme stunting. Similar conditions in this plant have been reported from tropical Africa, Java and India. Experimental evidence is advanced to show thali rosette is not carried in the seed of the peanut nor in soil which has borne a diseased crop. It was successfully transmitted to healthy plants by grafting, but not by inoculation of juice from diseased plants. Insect transmission studies demonstrated the ability of Aphis leguminosae Theo. to act as a vector of rosette. Thirteen species of leaf-hoppers in a limited series of tests failed to transmit the disease. Aphis lguminosae was shown to obtain the virus of rosette by feeding upon a diseased plant. Winged and wingless adults, when feeding singly, were shown occasionally to transmit the disease. An infrequently occurring mosaic-like form of the disease is considered to be due to an exceptional reaction of individual plants to infection by the same virus as that causing typical rosette. In the field this disease is believed to overwinter in diseased plants, which germinate in the late autumn and survive the drought and frost of winter. Upon these plants the aphides may spend the winter. It is thought that in the spring winged aphides become disseminated from the overwintering plants and cause localised infections in the peanut fields. Later in the season epidemic spread of rosette frequently occurs. The evidence of six years of peanut-growing indicates that spring infection of rosette is most severe in seasons following winters of exceptional rains. Rosette disease is likely to be largely escaped in the average season if the crop be planted at the earliest favourable date. Precautions recommended for control are the destruction of surviving plants during the winter and the removal of the diseased plants which develop in the new crop. The best prospect of practical control of rosette however is thought to lie in the discovery of resistant varieties.
City Characteristics, Land Prices and Volatility

We develop a general equilibrium model that describes the evolution of land prices and rental rates in a monocentric city. The model explores how differences in a city's borders and land use, i.e., zoning and the presence of undevelopable land, as well as differences in transit technology, i.e., cars versus rail, affect both the level and volatility of land prices. We also consider the effect of alternative production technologies that have different land use intensities and agglomeration externalities. Our analysis indicates that rental rate and price volatility is amplified when agglomeration externalities are stronger, and is dampened when land plays a larger role in production. In some settings land supply constraints and transit costs make rental rates more volatile, but in other settings, they dampen volatility.
The Business Model: An Integrative Framework for Strategy Execution

We have many useful frameworks for formulating business strategy, i.e., devising a theory of how to compete. Frameworks for strategy execution are comparatively fragmented and idiosyncratic. This paper proposes a business model framework to link the firm's theory about how to compete to its execution. The framework captures previous ideas about business models in a simple logical structure that reflects current thinking in strategy. The business model framework provides a consistent logical picture of the firm that is a useful tool for the strategist, for teaching, and potentially for research on business models in strategy.
Credit Constraints, Heterogeneous Firms and International Trade

This paper examines the detrimental consequences of financial market imperfections for international trade. I develop a heterogeneous-firm model with countries at different levels of financial development and sectors of varying financial vulnerability. Applying this model to aggregate trade data, I study the mechanisms through which credit constraints operate. First, financial development increases countries' exports above and beyond its impact on overall production. Firm selection into exporting accounts for a third of the trade-specific effect, while two thirds are due to reductions in firm-level exports. Second, financially advanced economies export a wider range of products and their exports experience less product turnover. Finally, while all countries service large destinations, exporters with superior financial institutions have more trading partners and also enter smaller markets. All of these effects are magnified in financially vulnerable sectors. These results have important policy implications for less developed economies that rely on exports for economic growth but suffer from poor financial contractibility.
Heathlands, fire and grazing. A palaeoenvironmental view of Las Hurdes (Cáceres, Spain) history during the last 1200 years

Aim of study. The diachronic study of vegetation change through palynological analysis of sedimentary deposits is an essential tool both to design sound strategies on landscape management and to understand its anthropogenic dynamics. Area of study . La Meseguera mire (Ladrillar, Caceres, Spain) is located in the Hurdes region in the western part of Iberian Central System and started to develop at the beginning of the Islamic period (ca. 770 cal AD), in an area widely dominated by heathland. Material and methods. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and charcoal accumulation rate (CHAR) combined with historical data are useful indicators to assess the increasing role of human influence on vegetation. Main results. The use of fire and livestock husbandry represents the main drivers of landscape change in the course of the history. The establishment of forest afforestation plans, from the middle of 20 th century, changed substantially the regional features. The sporadic presence of beech pollen is detected until 16 th century, which implies the most western location in the Iberian Central Mountain System. Research highlights. The integration of pollen analysis and historical data is an essential tool when studying the changes in Holocene vegetation. These changes have been mainly driven by anthropogenic disturbances, more specifically by fire and livestock husbandry. Key Words: Anthropogenic dynamics; Central Mountain System; microcharcoals; non-pollen palynomorphs.
Team Production

This paper investigates games played on bipartite networks by introducing a team production function allowing for any pattern of cross effects between projects and cross effects between agents. By using a new representation of a bipartite network through a multi-layers network, we are able to characterize the interior equilibrium efforts as a function of agents centralities in the multi-layers network.
Optimal Educational Policies and Comparative Advantage

We consider the optimal education policies of a small economy whose government has a limited budget. Initially, the economy is closed and the government chooses its education policy to maximize welfare under autarky. Then the economy trades with the rest of the world. Lastly, the government chooses a new education policy that maximizes welfare under trade. Is it ever optimal for the government to choose its new policy so that it reverses the economy's comparative advantage? We find that if the budget stays fixed when it is optimal to 'move up the skills chain' it is not feasible. In such a case a foreign loan is welfare imroving. A move in the opposite direction can be optimal and when it is optimal it is also feasible.