Economics LettersPub Date : 2025-04-20DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112351
Alexis R. Santos-Lozada , Ernesto R. Cuxil
{"title":"The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on remittances in Guatemala: A causal impact analysis","authors":"Alexis R. Santos-Lozada , Ernesto R. Cuxil","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112351","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112351","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Remittances constitute a major way in which migrants contribute to their family’s well-being and stability during their absence. Almost 2 million people of Guatemalan-origin reside in the United States, with remittances increasing since 2000. In this paper we use monthly data spanning 2002–2024 published by the Bank of Guatemala to examine whether remittances received deviated from expected levels after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The counterfactual is produced considering past trends and variation with time series that remained relatively stable during the post-pandemic period. Using Bayesian Structural Time-Series modeling and inferential causal impact, we find that remittances exceeded what was expected based on a counterfactual built using foreign currency reserves. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, remittances to Guatemala increased between 23 % and 42 % resulting in an additional 20.17 billion dollars when compared to expected levels. Our analysis suggests that this shock continued having an effect in December 2024. This is likely due to the earlier normalization of economic activities in migrant-hosting countries, a possible increase in the adoption of formal remittance channels, and expectations of continued support after the normalization of economic activities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 112351"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143859237","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 : 2025-04-18DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112332
Kalee E. Burns , Julie L. Hotchkiss
{"title":"Growing electric vehicle adoption in the U.S.: Implications of different funding policies for infrastructure maintenance and tax burden on families","authors":"Kalee E. Burns , Julie L. Hotchkiss","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112332","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112332","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Increased demand for electric vehicles threatens a major source of revenue for maintaining roads and further shifts the burden of the tax toward consumers who can't afford expensive electric vehicles. This paper explores alternative tax policies, assessing their relative regressivity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 112332"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143863741","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}
{"title":"Disentangling anti-refugee sentiment: An empirical investigation of the Rohingya crisis","authors":"Yuki Higuchi , Keisaku Higashida , Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain , Ryo Takahashi","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112341","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112341","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the impact of refugee influx on host communities’ sentiment, focusing on the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh. Using data from an incentivized lab-in-the-field experiment and an original survey, we disentangle anti-refugee sentiment into hate, fear, and general survey-based measures. Our findings reveal that mere proximity to a refugee camp intensifies hate without affecting fear or survey-based measures, while experiencing direct damages exacerbates all three dimensions. Conversely, contact with refugees improves survey-based attitudes by enhancing perceptions of communication and interaction. These findings highlight the differential effects of exposure, damage, and contact on anti-refugee sentiment, offering insights for targeted policy interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 112341"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143863738","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 : 2025-04-16DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112343
Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley, C․Lockwood Reynolds
{"title":"Housing wealth, bequests, risk aversion, and the elderly","authors":"Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley, C․Lockwood Reynolds","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112343","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112343","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We find plausibly exogenous wealth shocks lead to an increase in the expected likelihood of leaving a large bequest for elderly households with lower baseline wealth, health, and risk aversion, and in increased likelihood of estate planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"251 ","pages":"Article 112343"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143850690","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 : 2025-04-16DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112342
Jussi Huuskonen, Sanni Kiviholma
{"title":"Check in, check out: How periodic interviews lead immigrants to leave the labor force","authors":"Jussi Huuskonen, Sanni Kiviholma","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112342","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112342","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Periodic interviews combine job search assistance and monitoring of job search. In 2017, a policy change increased the frequency with which public employment offices interviewed unemployed jobseekers in Finland. We study the effects of periodic interviews on unemployed immigrants’ exit rates from unemployment. Utilizing regional variation in the implementation of interviews, we find that the reform pushed immigrant jobseekers out of the labor force. We find no evidence that the intensifying of interviews increased unemployed immigrants’ transitions to employment, education, or active labor market programs. We document that immigrants’ better language skills are associated with higher employment probabilities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 112342"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143873487","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 : 2025-04-15DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112337
Joshua Fullard
{"title":"Is the school workforce biased against men?","authors":"Joshua Fullard","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112337","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112337","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We test for gender discrimination in the School Workforce in England by asking teachers to evaluate fictitious applicants for three hypothetical positions in their school (Teaching Assistant, Classroom Teacher and Headteacher). We find that male applicants are evaluated less favourably than female applicants. The gender difference in evaluations decreases with seniority – for Headteacher roles male and female applicants are evaluated similarly. These findings suggest that minority groups can experience more discrimination for lower-level jobs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"251 ","pages":"Article 112337"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143850689","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 : 2025-04-15DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112318
Xiaoqing Yin , Haijun Wang
{"title":"Dynamic portfolio choice with information-processing constraints and finite investment horizon","authors":"Xiaoqing Yin , Haijun Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112318","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112318","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores how information-processing constraints affect an investor’s dynamic portfolio choice with finite investment horizon. With the given information channel capacity, we give a closed-form solution. We find that the risky portfolio share increases with the information channel capacity and fast converges to its true mean. In the case of endogenous channel capacity, we give an approximate solution. Due to the information cost, the optimal channel capacity decreases with time and the risky portfolio share is convex in time for a long investment horizon.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"251 ","pages":"Article 112318"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143832555","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 : 2025-04-15DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112320
Dino Gerardi
{"title":"Interim pre-play communication","authors":"Dino Gerardi","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112320","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112320","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study communication in games with incomplete information, four or more players and rational parameters. We show that every communication equilibrium can be implemented with unmediated communication taking place at the interim stage, i.e., after the players learn their types.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"251 ","pages":"Article 112320"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143832554","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 : 2025-04-14DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112338
Balint Tatar , Volker Wieland
{"title":"Policy rules and the inflation surge: The case of the ECB","authors":"Balint Tatar , Volker Wieland","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112338","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112338","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates the implications of monetary policy rules during the surge and subsequent decline of inflation in the euro area and compares them to the interest rate decisions of the European Central Bank. It focuses on versions of the Taylor (1993) and Orphanides and Wieland (2013) rules. Rules that respond to recent outcomes of HICP core or domestic inflation data called for raising interest rates in 2021—well ahead of the rate hikes of the ECB. Thus, simple outcome-based rules deserve more attention in the ECB's monetary policy strategy. Interestingly, the rules support the shift to policy easing in 2024.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 112338"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143863739","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 : 2025-04-14DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112319
Yajing Chen , Zhenhua Jiao , Fang Zhao
{"title":"The equivalence between random priority and probabilistic serial rule on restricted preference domains","authors":"Yajing Chen , Zhenhua Jiao , Fang Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112319","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112319","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study the outcome equivalence between the random priority (RP) rule and the probabilistic serial (PS) rule on restricted preference domains. For random assignment problems defined on restricted tier domains, the following three statements are equivalent: <span><math><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>i</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></math></span> The RP rule is outcome equivalent to the PS rule; <span><math><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>i</mi><mi>i</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></math></span> On each tier consisting of two objects all agents except one have the same preferences over objects in such tier; <span><math><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>i</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>i</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></math></span> The RP rule is ordinally efficient. For problems defined on the universal domain, we provide a sufficient condition for the outcome equivalence of the RP rule and the PS rule.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11468,"journal":{"name":"Economics Letters","volume":"251 ","pages":"Article 112319"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143832552","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}