This article examines the relationship between economic freedom and happiness inequality for a large sample of countries. We find that economic freedom is negatively associated with happiness ...inequality and robust to several alternative measures of happiness inequality, including the standard deviation, mean absolute difference, coefficient of variation, and Gini coefficient. Among the economic freedom areas, legal system and sound money are negatively correlated with happiness inequality. Drawing on the Engerman‐Sokoloff hypothesis, we use a measure of factor endowments as an instrument for economic freedom to provide a further robustness test, finding a negative association between economic freedom and happiness inequality. (JEL D63, I31, P16)
Private saving and economic growth are intimately linked, and low saving rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have often been held responsible for disappointing growth in the region. Thus, ...identifying factors that spur saving is critical. This paper surveys previous empirical studies on LAC, highlighting contradictions, omissions and in some cases inconclusiveness of findings. Relying on a large dataset and a nested econometric framework, it analyzes private saving patterns and explores the role of its determinants in LAC, across LAC sub‐regions and compared with other regions. While the results highlight great heterogeneity in private saving rates within LAC and compared with the rest of the world, saving determinants are broadly the same notwithstanding some differences in sensitivity and contributions' sizes, and include its lag, income, demographics and public saving.
In this paper, we identify and estimate the dynamic effects of foreign (US) and national (Canadian) credit shocks in a small open economy. We use standard credit spreads as proxies to the external ...finance premium. Our first result suggests that the US and Canadian credit spreads contain substantial forecasting power for several measures of the Canadian real economic activity, especially during the recent financial crisis and its aftermath. Secondly, an adverse US credit shock generates a significant and persistent economic slowdown in Canada: the national external finance premium rises immediately while interest rates, credit aggregates, output and employment indicators decline. Variance decomposition reveals that credit shocks have a sizeable effect on real activity measures, leading indicators and credit spreads. Yet, the unexpected shocks in domestic credit spreads are not able to generate any significant dynamic response of the real activity once we control for the US credit market conditions. Une étude empirique de la transmission de chocs de crédit dans une petite économie ouverte. Dans ce texte, les auteurs identifient et estiment les effets dynamiques de chocs de crédit étranger (US) et domestique (Canada) dans une petite économie ouverte. On utilise les écarts de crédit standard en tant qu'approximation de la prime du financement externe. Premièrement, les résultats suggèrent que les écarts de crédit US/Canada ont un pouvoir de prédiction substantiel pour plusieurs mesures de l'activité économique réelle au Canada, en particulier au cours de la récente crise financière et son après. Deuxièmement, un choc négatif de crédit aux États-Unis déclenche un ralentissement économique significatif et persistant au Canada : alors que la prime nationale du financement externe s'accroît immédiatement, les taux d'intérêt, et les indicateurs du niveau de crédit agrégé, de la production et de l'emploi déclinent. La décomposition de la variance montre que les chocs de crédit ont un effet important sur les mesures d'activité économique réelle, les indicateurs avancés et les écarts de crédit. D'autre part, les chocs non-anticipés dans les écarts de crédit domestiques n'engendrent pas de réponse dynamique significative dans le niveau d'activité économique réelle quand on tient compte des conditions sur le marché du crédit aux États-Unis.
We examine the potential of labor‐relations reforms to address wage inequality by relating an index of the favorableness to unions of Canadian provincial labor‐relations laws to changes in industry, ...occupation, education, and gender‐specific provincial unionization rates. While we find some evidence of larger unionization gains among high‐school–educated workers, the differences across groups are small and in some cases suggest larger gains among professionals. Overall, the results suggest a limited potential for reforms in labor‐relations laws to mitigate growing labor‐market inequality.
Medical net discount rates (MNDRs) are calculated using monthly data for the period 1981:01-2012:06 based on the medical consumer price index and annual percentage yields based on 3-month, 6-month ...and 1-year U. S. Treasury Securities. Stationarity is tested for each series and the results of time-series analytics through 2000:05 are compared to previously published results (Ewing, Payne and Piette, 2001) that omitted Treasury Securities of shortest duration. The various series are extended to 2012:06 and the time series properties are examined. Although the results are mixed, they are more supportive of total offset (i.e., a zero MNDR) than previously published research findings have been.
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