Eduardo G. Minuci, Alexander Cardazzi, Candon Johnson
{"title":"Should more teams “trust the process” of tanking?","authors":"Eduardo G. Minuci, Alexander Cardazzi, Candon Johnson","doi":"10.1111/coep.12705","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.12705","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In many professional sport leagues, the worst-performing teams receive higher probability of earning top draft picks. This provides teams incentives to purposefully lose, or “tank,” if they are not likely to contend for the playoffs or championships. We evaluate the effectiveness of tanking to improve team outcomes by examining the most explicit tanking case in the NBA: the “Trust the Process” Philadelphia 76ers. Using synthetic control, we demonstrate that tanking caused the 76ers to be more successful in terms of winning and operating income. However, only operating income had a plausibly positive present value when calculating discounted present values.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"408-425"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/coep.12705","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Health insurance and labor supply: Evidence from same-sex couples","authors":"Elisabeth Wurm","doi":"10.1111/coep.12706","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.12706","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper examines labor supply effects of policies allowing public sector workers to include same-sex partners in employer-sponsored insurance plans. Unlike broader partnership recognition rights, these policies focus narrowly on insurance access. I find gendered labor supply responses: women in same-sex couples reduce their labor supply when gaining insurance access (−3.3pp), while men's labor supply remains unchanged. The effects are roughly half the size of those seen with broader partnership rights but follow the same gendered pattern. Lower household income and health conditions amplify labor supply responses; child care does not seem to be a key factor.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"253-274"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/coep.12706","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parents' legal status and children's health insurance: Evidence from DACA","authors":"Nhan Tran","doi":"10.1111/coep.70009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70009","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Fear of immigration enforcement may deter undocumented parents from enrolling their US-born children in public health insurance. This paper examines the effect of providing legal status to parents through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on health insurance among US-born children. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find DACA eligibility among likely undocumented mothers increases Medicaid enrollment for US-born children by five percentage points. I find no similar evidence among those with likely undocumented fathers. The estimates are local to individuals near the age threshold. There is suggestive evidence of heterogeneity in effects across groups of DACA-eligible mothers.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"234-252"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/coep.70009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Heterogeneity of shifts in economic expectations around elections","authors":"Paul Niekamp","doi":"10.1111/coep.70001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper uses the Survey of Consumer Expectations to study the effects of the 2016 and 2020 US elections on economic expectations. I find that Trump's 2016 election victory elicited broad-based improvements in US stock price and debt expectations, transcending the “winning team.” Aggregate expectations of a US debt level decrease more than doubled. While stronger for white individuals, improvements were distributed across demographics, including predicted Democrat voters, except black individuals. I find no evidence that Biden's 2020 election victory elicited improvements in expectations of the “winning team.” Aggregate stock market expectations decreased and individuals anticipated a higher unemployment rate.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"299-318"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683884","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":"Taxing windfall money: A quasi-experimental study","authors":"Álvaro Muñiz-Fernández, Levi Pérez","doi":"10.1111/coep.70002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper examines individuals' reaction to windfall income taxation. We take advantage of similar tax reforms on lottery winnings in Portugal and Spain in 2013 to study effects on lottery participation in both countries. Using a Synthetic Difference in Differences approach on a database of 348 draws from EuroMillions, our results indicate that taxation caused a decline in sales by 11.75% in low jackpot draws, with no significant effects for larger jackpots. These findings suggest that individuals fail to adjust their behavior when potential gains are large, likely due to overestimating the likelihood of winning and underestimating the tax burden.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"319-332"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/coep.70002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"External validity of inferred attribute non-attendance: Evidence from a laboratory experiment with real and hypothetical payoffs","authors":"Tanga M. Mohr, John C. Whitehead","doi":"10.1111/coep.70008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70008","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We use attribute non-attendance (ANA) models to analyze differences in laboratory experiments with real and hypothetical payoffs. In both payoff treatments, we find that the effect of the cost of an emissions permit on behavior differs if the cost is implicit or explicit. In inferred ANA models with the real payment data we find no evidence of ANA. With the hypothetical treatment data we find evidence of ANA on two of the four choice attributes. We do not find evidence that real and hypothetical decisions converge to theoretical predictions once ANA is accounted for.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"367-379"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/coep.70008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A human capital theory of who escapes the grasp of the local monopsonist","authors":"Matthew E. Kahn, Joseph S. Tracy","doi":"10.1111/coep.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In local labor markets where firms exercise monopsony power, workers lose out in terms of earnings and job satisfaction as they have fewer and less attractive job options to choose from. High skilled mobile workers can avoid monopsony costs by moving to other more competitive local labor markets. Counties with concentrated labor markets are predicted to experience a “brain drain” over time. Using data over 4 decades, we document this deskilling and loss of high-income workers associated with local monopsony power. We explore private and public policy strategies for helping workers to adapt to the costs imposed by local monopsony.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"462-481"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147684028","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}
Carsten Creutzburg, Wolfgang Maennig, Steffen Q. Mueller
{"title":"From bias to bliss: Racial preferences and worker productivity in tennis","authors":"Carsten Creutzburg, Wolfgang Maennig, Steffen Q. Mueller","doi":"10.1111/coep.70004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70004","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We investigate the impact of differences in consumers' racial preferences on worker productivity through the example of the home advantage (HA) effect using data on wins in men's tennis from 2001 to 2020 (pre-COVID-19). We identify players' racial affiliation as one of five distinct groups by combining clustering and facial recognition methods. Our empirical design allows us to distinguish among HA factors related to the presence of fans, referee bias, travel fatigue, and home-court familiarity. We provide evidence of social environments where Black players benefit more strongly from fan support than players of other races do, resulting in increased productivity.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"380-393"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/coep.70004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147684070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parents' legal status and children's health insurance: Evidence from DACA","authors":"Nhan Tran","doi":"10.1111/coep.70009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.70009","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Fear of immigration enforcement may deter undocumented parents from enrolling their US-born children in public health insurance. This paper examines the effect of providing legal status to parents through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on health insurance among US-born children. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find DACA eligibility among likely undocumented mothers increases Medicaid enrollment for US-born children by five percentage points. I find no similar evidence among those with likely undocumented fathers. The estimates are local to individuals near the age threshold. There is suggestive evidence of heterogeneity in effects across groups of DACA-eligible mothers.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"234-252"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/coep.70009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effect of civilian monitoring on fatal encounters","authors":"Matthew Harvey","doi":"10.1111/coep.70010","DOIUrl":"10.1111/coep.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Does civilian monitoring affect police use of force? Using evidence from the Safe Passage program, I exploit geographic and temporal variation in the program's release in a difference-in-difference framework. I find that fatal encounters decrease in areas where the program was implemented by <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mn>33</mn>\u0000 <mi>%</mi>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation> $33%$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math>. While this effect cannot be directly tied to the presence of monitors, it is robust to multiple subsets of fatal encounters and levels of fixed effects. The program also leads to an increase in police presence as captured by investigatory stop and a very small increase in police usage among civilians. However, civilian sentiments as captured by self-reported trust and safety scores do not change in response to the Safe Passage program; I also find no statistically significant change in complaints against officers after the program.</p>","PeriodicalId":47364,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Economic Policy","volume":"44 2","pages":"394-407"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147668943","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}