We estimate the potential negative effects of underground natural gas storage on local residents using hedonic regression and a sample of Indiana properties transacted between 2004 and 2013. We find ...that underground natural gas storage activities significantly reduce property values. Property values increase by about 10 percent at a distance of 1 kilometer from a storage field. Each additional storage well and observation well located near a property reduces the property's value by about 0.43 percent and 2.64 percent, respectively. Our research sheds new light on a previously unexplored aspect of natural gas resource activities.
Adverse selection is an operating risk of crop insurance. Based on survey data on crop insurance collected by questionnaires in Inner Mongolia, China, the paper uses non-parametric analysis and ...econometric models to estimate the relationship between conditions for crop production and farmers＇ insurance decision in order to test the existence of farmers＇ adverse selection. The results show farmers＇ adverse selection does exist, but settling a claim by negotiation and premium subsidy from governments at all levels can defuse farmers＇ adverse selection under the current system of crop insurance. Risk regionalization, heterogeneous insurance contract and product innovation may decrease adverse selection to some extent.
We propose a simple kernel estimator for semiparametric partial linear models with endogeneity in the nonparametric function. Compared to the existing backfitting estimator, our estimator is ...notationally simpler and relatively easier to implement. We also discuss data-driven bandwidth selection to implement this estimator in practice. Monte Carlo exercises show that the finite sample performance of these two estimators is similar.
•We focus on semiparametric regression with endogeneity.•Our estimator is simple to implement.•Our estimator performs well in finite samples.
We consider private provision of an environmental public good and the link between voluntary pollution-abatement markets and the optimal level of mandatory environmental regulation. We show that ...voluntary abatement markets react to the level of mandatory abatement imposed and that an optimal regulatory policy must account for that reaction. We consider several assumptions about consumer behavior and find that the voluntary market's reaction to regulation depends on the motivating behavior of consumers. Whether the optimal level of mandatory abatement is higher than the level provided by traditional settings depends on the direction and magnitude of the voluntary market's reaction to changes in mandatory abatement.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of crop insurance on farmer income in Inner Mongolia, China
Design/methodology/approach
We use a survey of farmers in Inner Mongolia, China, ...with difference-in-difference, propensity score matching, and hybrid propensity score matching difference-in-difference treatment effect estimators to assess the effectiveness of crop insurance on farmer income.
Findings
The empirical results show that crop insurance does not significantly affect farmer income under the current policy of “low-premium, wide-coverage, low-guarantee and low-indemnity.”
Research limitations/implications
A possible limitation of this study is that the data includes only one geographic area, Inner Mongolia, China, and so results may not generalize to other regions of China.
Practical implications
This research provides empirical estimates of the impact of crop insurance on farm household income. Given the results, we speculate that a number of specific changes to the crop insurance program might increase its positive impacts.
Originality/value
We believe this is the first study to use individual farm household level survey data to evaluate the impact of crop insurance on farmer income in China.
We characterize the types of interactions between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth, and analyze the effect of institutional quality on such interactions. To do this analysis, we ...develop a class of instrument-based semiparametric system of simultaneous equations estimators for panel data and prove that our estimators are consistent and asymptotically normal. Our new methodological tool suggests that across developed and developing economies, causal, heterogeneous symbiosis and commensalism are the most dominant types of interactions between FDI and economic growth. Higher institutional quality facilitates, impedes or has no effect on the interactions between FDI and economic growth.
Employing a sample of US residents, a new WTP (willingness-to-pay) data collection method using component discrete choice experiments is proposed and compared to the traditional method. The WTP ...experiments elicit consumer's WTP for potentially animal welfare improving production practices and product attributes in yogurt. The new data collection method was designed to decrease complexity by having respondents participate in fewer choice scenarios. Incidences of attribute non-attendance (ANA), a potential simplifying heuristic, occurred less frequently for all but one attribute in the new WTP data collection method. Exhibiting ANA for any attribute was negatively correlated with the time for completion.
Display omitted
•A new WTP data collection method is proposed and compared to the traditional method.•The new WTP data collection method employs component discrete choice experiments.•The new data collection method was designed to decrease complexity.•ANA occurred less often for most attributes in the new WTP data collection method.•WTP for production practices and product attributes in yogurt are determined.
We investigate the effect of frequency and predictability of turnover among Chinese city officials on air quality in their jurisdiction. Existing studies examining the relationship between the ...political cycle and pollution assume that local officials have perfect information on the turnover timing. We relax this crucial assumption by explicitly accounting for a turnover anticipation effect which we proxy via a nonparametric model. Based on city panel data, we find that there is a spike in air pollution in the year prior to the leadership turnover, but only if the turnover is anticipated by the incumbent. Beyond this cyclical anomaly, less frequent turnovers are generally conducive to lower air pollution. A key contribution of this study is the incorporation of the anticipation effect, which turns out to be critical for understanding the effect of turnover on air pollution. Our findings offer refinement to previous studies, indicating that when turnover is frequent and predictable, local leaders are more likely to focus on policies that encourage economic activity to signal their competence to upper-level authority, at the cost of damaging air quality.
If a leader correctly anticipates turnover, there is a spike in API before the turnover. Allowing the leader to serve the current term in full partially offsets such spike. Display omitted
•In China, the timing of local political turnover is uncertain.•Local leaders try to signal competence through economic growth at the cost of air quality.•Local political turnover induces an 18% increase in air pollution if the local leader correctly anticipates such turnover.•Anticipated turnover is modeled through a nonparametric approach.•Less frequent turnover partially alleviates turnover-induced air pollution.
On the Efficacy of Open Educational Resources Delgado, Huimei; Delgado, Michael; Hilton III, John
International review of research in open and distance learning,
02/2019, Letnik:
20, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Odprti dostop
Open educational resources (OER), which are free and openly licensed educational materials, have been a widely discussed topic in response to high textbook costs, the need for more pedagogical ...flexibility, and inequality in access to educational materials. In this study we examine the efficacy of OER through a quantitative analysis of the impact of OER on student final exam performance in a large calculus course. Our dataset affords us a relatively large sample size, allows us to classify students in both treatment and control groups, and includes a variety of covariates that allow us to control for multiple correlated factors. We estimate causal treatment effects using several econometric approaches. Our study adds the following insights into the research on OER efficacy: (i) OER materials do not, in general, lead to any significant change in student final exam performance; and (ii) OER materials have a significantly positive impact on both international students and Pell Grant eligible students.
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