Michael A. Insler, Ahmed S. Rahman, Katherine A. Smith
{"title":"Why do peers influence college major selection?","authors":"Michael A. Insler, Ahmed S. Rahman, Katherine A. Smith","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13294","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13294","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Why do peers influence people's choices? Is it for information (social learning) or for socializing (social utility)? Exploiting unique data and natural experiments from the United States Naval Academy (USNA), we analyze data on major selections of USNA students. We find peers influence students into selecting different academic paths than they would have chosen independently. Through random reassignments, “shot-guns”, of students into new peer groups along with random assignments into courses, we explore the reasons why herding occurs. Evidence suggests that social learning, as opposed to social utility, is an important driver for herding behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"63 3","pages":"715-739"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144492638","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}
Kaiwen Leong, Dan Li, Huailu Li, Chuangwei Peng, Zhanyu Xu
{"title":"Re-examining investor sentiment and stock returns: A replication and extension of Baker and Wurgler (2006)","authors":"Kaiwen Leong, Dan Li, Huailu Li, Chuangwei Peng, Zhanyu Xu","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13290","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13290","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study replicates and extends Baker and Wurgler's (2006) analysis on investor sentiment's impact on stock returns. We confirm their findings by demonstrating the significant cross-sectional effect of sentiment in both their original sample (1963–2002) and a new sample (2002–2023). Expanding the scope, we introduce a monthly sentiment measure and analyze the U.S. market (2002–2023) and the Chinese market. Our results show that the predictive strength of sentiment indicators can shift or invert over time. In the Chinese market, sentiment's expected cross-sectional effects disappear when foundational conditions, such as stock valuation variance, are not met.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"64 1","pages":"88-119"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ecin.13290","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145987154","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":"Housing market connectedness and transmission of monetary policy","authors":"Woo Suk Lee, Eunseong Ma","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13292","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13292","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper investigates whether interconnectivity among local housing markets influences the effectiveness of the (United States) U.S. monetary transmission mechanism. We construct measures of housing market connectedness and employ a state-dependent local projection method to estimate nonlinear impulse responses of macroeconomic variables to monetary policy (MP) shocks. The findings show that MP has a greater impact when regional housing markets are more synchronized. Higher interconnectivity amplifies spillover effects across local markets, enhancing MP effectiveness. Additionally, we find that MP is particularly effective when highly connected states experience economic expansion.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"63 3","pages":"961-984"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ecin.13292","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144492902","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":"Assessing the benefits of education in early childhood: Evidence from a Pre-K lottery in Georgia","authors":"Henry Woodyard, Tim Sass, Ishtiaque Fazlul","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13288","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13288","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using enrollment lotteries for over-subscribed school-based sites in Georgia's universal pre-K program, we analyze the impact of participation on elementary school outcomes. We find that lottery-winning school-based Georgia Pre-K enrollees enter kindergarten more prepared in both math and reading than non-winning peers. Gains fade by the end of kindergarten, and some negative achievement effects emerge by grade 4. Free-and-reduced-price meal (FRPM) students benefit more compared to non-FRPM students in later grades, suggesting greater benefits from attendance for disadvantaged students. Although we found no effects on discipline, school-based pre-K enrollees had one fewer absence each grade after kindergarten.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"63 3","pages":"663-680"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ecin.13288","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144492840","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 hidden cost of political connection: Evidence from China's stock market responses to land transactions","authors":"Haoyuan Ding, Kang Shi, Juanyi Xu, Xiaoyu Zhang","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13291","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We construct a matched database of land transactions and Chinese listed companies. By analyzing the stock market's reaction to these transactions, we investigate the hidden cost of political connections for firms. Our results show a negative market response to land deals by politically connected companies. This suggests that potential future political or legal risks associated with the land transaction could harm the firm. To strengthen our findings, we leverage the anti-corruption campaign as a natural experiment and employ a difference-in-differences approach. This analysis yields consistent results. Furthermore, we discover that short-term and long-term investors have differing views on political connections.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"63 3","pages":"785-804"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144492747","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":"A simple model of competitive testing","authors":"Boris Ginzburg","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13289","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13289","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Multiple agents are competing for a prize. Each agent is privately informed about his type. The principal who allocates the prize wants to give it to the agent with the highest type. Each agent can take a test that reveals his type at a cost. I show that an increase in competition makes the principal more informed when the cost is high, and less informed when the cost is low. Nevertheless, the principal always benefits from greater competition. Making the test mandatory for receiving the prize is Pareto-dominated by voluntary verification unless competition is low.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"63 3","pages":"888-902"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144492794","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":"Unconditional cash transfers & voter turnout","authors":"Alexander James, Nathaly M. Rivera, Brock Smith","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13287","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13287","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We estimate the effect of unconditional cash transfers on voter turnout, leveraging a large-scale natural experiment, the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) program, which has provided residents with a check of varying size 1 month before election day since 1982. We find that larger transfers cause people to vote, especially in gubernatorial elections in which a 10% increase in cash ($190) causes a 1.4 percentage point increase in turnout. Effects are concentrated among the young and poor. Survey data suggests the mechanism is reduced voter apathy. Implications are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"63 3","pages":"805-829"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144492632","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":"Employment effects of minimum wage indexing: Establishment evidence from Oregon restaurants","authors":"Stephen Miller, Gary A. Wagner, Alicia Plemmons","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13284","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13284","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Though 18 states will index their minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index by 2025, few studies have examined indexing's differential employment effects. Leveraging a period of stability in minimum wages (2000–2007) and two distinct national geocoded databases of establishments, we explore how indexing affected employment in Oregon restaurants, one of the earliest indexing states (2003). Nearest-neighbor matching is used as a preprocessing step before regression, pairing individual restaurants in Oregon to restaurants with similar characteristics in states where the minimum wage was unchanged. We find evidence that establishment employment falls 3.6% after indexing, implying an employment elasticity of −0.18.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"63 3","pages":"681-714"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144493011","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":"A closer look at Doleac and Mukherjee (2022) and the effects of naloxone access laws on opioid ER admissions","authors":"Sergey Alexeev","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13277","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In their 2022 study, ‘The Effects of Naloxone Access Laws on Opioid Abuse, Mortality, and Crime,’ Doleac and Mukherjee conclude that broadening access to a life-saving drug—naloxone—does not reduce opioid-related mortality as the drug simultaneously encourages riskier drug use. I show issues with their data, design, and estimation methods. For example, their Google Search data has an unverifiable origin, the law timing is incorrect, and the statistical inference is invalid. Correcting these issues within a triple difference design shows that naloxone, contrary to their findings, does not increase ER opioid admissions. I conclude that the moral hazard (and the ensuing adverse consequences) of naloxone use lacks empirical support.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"64 1","pages":"54-87"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ecin.13277","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145993918","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":"Charitable giving responses to education budgets","authors":"Jonathan Meer, Hedieh Tajali","doi":"10.1111/ecin.13286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13286","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Do changes in government spending affect voluntary contributions to those recipients? We examine how changes in K-12 education budgets impact donations to teachers using data from DonorsChoose.org, an online crowdfunding platform for public school teachers to raise money. We find a positive correlation between budgets and voluntary contributions when not accounting for their endogenous relationship. Estimates using instrumental variables show evidence for crowd-out of private giving, though the magnitudes are small relative to spending and do not meaningfully offset budget changes. These results are driven entirely by teachers' posting of requests.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"63 3","pages":"865-887"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144492848","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}