Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112519
Patrick Roger , Tristan Roger
{"title":"Costly number seven","authors":"Patrick Roger , Tristan Roger","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112519","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112519","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lotto players often choose numbers non-randomly, a behavior known as <em>conscious selection</em>. In many Western countries, the number 7 is considered lucky, causing it to be disproportionately selected in lotto games. This study quantifies the financial cost of this tendency using data from lotto games in Belgium (2011–2025) and France (2002–2008, 2019–2025), as well as Euromillions data (2016–2025). Due to the parimutuel payout system, tickets containing the number 7 earn significantly lower prizes than those without it. We find that this cost persists across different game formats and time periods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112519"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144810344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112522
Eugenio Rojas , Felipe Saffie
{"title":"A simple measure of Fisherian amplification with flow collateral constraints","authors":"Eugenio Rojas , Felipe Saffie","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112522","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112522","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We derive a closed-form expression for Fisherian amplification in small open economies. The formula isolates nonlinear feedback from price-sensitive collateral and highlights when macroprudential concerns become relevant due to amplification driven by collateral tightness and substitution elasticity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112522"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144773063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112540
Sehwon Kang, Hyelim Oh
{"title":"Decoding the premium: The effect of name fluency on NFT artwork valuation","authors":"Sehwon Kang, Hyelim Oh","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112540","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112540","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines how the fluency of an NFT’s title affects its market valuation. Leveraging sales data from Damien Hirst’s renowned NFT collection, <em>The Currency</em>, we find a positive association between name fluency and NFT price. Tokens with higher name fluency, measured by shorter titles and simpler syntax, achieve significantly higher prices. These findings extend heuristic-based theories in finance and economics by demonstrating that fluent cues influence investors’ valuations in the emerging blockchain-empowered NFT markets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112540"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144879156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112530
Ercio Muñoz , Melanie Saavedra , Dario Sansone
{"title":"Intersex people and household income: Evidence from a nationally representative survey in Chile","authors":"Ercio Muñoz , Melanie Saavedra , Dario Sansone","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112530","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112530","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We provide the first evidence on income disparities by sex characteristics using nationally representative data from Chile’s 2022–2023 National Survey on Health, Sexuality, and Gender. Our sample includes 530 intersex respondents, representing 2.77 % of Chile’s population aged 18–64 years. We find substantial household income penalties: on average, intersex female and intersex male individuals belong to households with incomes that are 28.1 log points and 27.9 log points lower than those of endosex male individuals, respectively. These disparities persist even after demographic characteristics, education, region, sexual orientation, and gender identity are controlled for.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112530"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144780689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112501
Yasuo Sasaki
{"title":"School choice with rank-dependent priorities","authors":"Yasuo Sasaki","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112501","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112501","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We extend the standard school choice problem by allowing schools’ priority orders to depend on the rankings submitted by students. In this setting, the student-proposing deferred acceptance algorithm using such modified priorities is no longer strategy-proof, and moreover stability and strategy-proofness are incompatible.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112501"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144780691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112526
Byungwan Koh, James L. Park, Jaehwan Kim
{"title":"Music royalty shares: Investment or fandom?","authors":"Byungwan Koh, James L. Park, Jaehwan Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112526","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112526","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how music royalty shares on Musicow, a Korean trading platform, are priced during an exogenous regulatory shock classifying these assets as securities. Using transaction data, we show that the shares linked to popular artists are associated with a valuation premium. However, these shares decrease more sharply following the shock, suggesting that economic fundamentals supersede fan-driven sentiment. Our findings highlight that, even in markets for cultural goods, investor behavior aligns closely with rational valuation in the context of external risk.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112526"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144842876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112537
Gregory Gadzinski, Vito Liuzzi
{"title":"Do liquidations discourage lending in DeFi?","authors":"Gregory Gadzinski, Vito Liuzzi","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112537","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112537","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article investigates the behavioural consequences of loan liquidations in the decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol Aave. Using a dataset of 25,798 liquidation events from March 2022 to December 2024, we analyse how being liquidated affects users’ subsequent activity. Despite the adverse shock of liquidation, we find that users generally continue to engage with the Aave platform at a higher frequency, albeit heterogeneous effects exist. These findings suggest that, unlike in traditional finance, where default often curtails future borrowing, DeFi usage persists even after liquidations. Our results have implications for the risk management and resilience of DeFi lending markets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112537"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144780690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-07-31DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112517
Igor Mendes , Edilean Kleber da Silva Bejarano Aragón , Marcelo E.A. Silva
{"title":"Trend inflation and weak identification in the New Keynesian Phillips curve","authors":"Igor Mendes , Edilean Kleber da Silva Bejarano Aragón , Marcelo E.A. Silva","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112517","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112517","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper, we estimate a generalized New Keynesian Phillips curve (GNKPC) using monetary shocks as instruments and an approach robust to weak instruments. Compared to the specification that disregards trend inflation, we find that the backward-looking term becomes statistically insignificant, the forward-looking coefficient is higher, and the slope of the Phillips curve is lower. Furthermore, we find evidence suggesting that the GNKPC is weakly identified. These findings highlight the importance of considering trend inflation in the monetary policy decision-making process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112517"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144763971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-07-29DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112524
Matheus Oliveira de Alencar , Thais Waideman Niquito , Lívia Madeira Triaca , Felipe Garcia Ribeiro
{"title":"The effect of transportation costs on elderly labor market participation","authors":"Matheus Oliveira de Alencar , Thais Waideman Niquito , Lívia Madeira Triaca , Felipe Garcia Ribeiro","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112524","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112524","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the impact of the repeal of free public transportation on elderly labor market participation. The research leverages a natural experiment from the termination of free transportation for individuals aged 60 to 64 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, using microdata from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNADC) and the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) method. The results indicate that the repeal of free transportation reduced the labor supply of this age group. Dynamic analysis and falsification tests confirm the robustness of the findings. The study concludes that transportation costs play a crucial role in the elderly labor market participation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112524"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144773062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-07-28DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112480
Chuanping Sun
{"title":"A correlation-robust shrinkage estimator: Oracle inequality and an application on out-of-sample factor selection","authors":"Chuanping Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112480","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112480","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Shrinkage methods are widely used in big data to achieve sparse variable selection and reduce overfitting. However, these methods, such as LASSO (Tibshirani, 1996), often struggle when faced with highly correlated predictors. In this paper, we examine a recently developed machine learning estimator that is robust to highly correlated variables, providing superior out-of-sample performance compared to traditional shrinkage techniques. We establish the asymptotic properties of this estimator under general conditions, including i.i.d. sub-Gaussianity. Empirically, we demonstrate the practical benefits of this approach in selecting factors to construct hedged portfolios, achieving significantly higher Sharpe ratios compared to benchmarks such as LASSO, Ridge, and Elastic Net in an out-of-sample context.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 112480"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144756700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}