Human Computation and Economics

This article is devoted to economical aspects of Human Computation (HC) and to perspectives of HC in economics. As of economical aspects of HC, it is first observed that much of what makes HC systems effective is economical in nature suggesting that complexity being reconsidered as a “HC complexity” and the conception of efficient HC systems as a “HC economics”. This article also points to the relevance of HC in the development of standard software and to the importance of competition in HC systems. As of HC in economics, it is first argued that markets can be seen as HC systems avant la lettre. Looking more closely at financial markets, the article then points to a speed differential between transactions and credit risk awareness that compromises the efficiency of financial markets. Finally, a HCbased credit risk rating is proposed that, overcoming the afore mentioned speed differential, holds promise for better functioning financial markets

Social Network Capital and Academic Careers

Social Network Capital and Academic Careers: The Case of a College of Agriculture ABSTRACT The relationship between economic performance and various forms of capital anchors a significant portion of mainstream economic theory and applied economics. Human, physical and financial capital represent important factors in the production of goods and services. The label “capital” implies characteristics such as investment, accumulation, maintenance, depreciation, and transfer. Recently, social capital or social network capital (SNC) has received increased scholarly attention in the literature of sociology, business, and economics. Limited analysis, however, has been directed at the role of SNC in the academy. We hypothesize that academic success at the professorial level is determined by the stock of human (HC) and SNC and the value flows emerging from these stocks. We view SNC as a complement to HC, increasing the productivity of HC while holding all other factors constant. An analysis of SNC’s importance to academic career success should interest the academy as well as other large organizations (i.e. research laboratories, government agencies) with similar structures and incentive systems.Social capital, academic networks, human capital, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

The impact of the Single Farm Payments on the Expenditure on Fertilizers and crop protection inputs: a comparative study of the Italian agriculture

The Health Check (HC) of the European Common Agricultural Policy in 2003 sped up the process of policy reforms toward decoupled payments in order to urge agricultural production to respond to market signals. However, since decoupled payments could generate “coupled” effects on production, it remains questionable how single farm payment (SFP) alters agricultural intensification. Therefore, through a comparative statistical analysis applied on Italian FADN regional data, this paper aims at evaluating whether the HC reform had positive impacts on the aggregate expenditure on fertilizers and crop production inputs. From the results, it is observed that the expansion of profitable crops like vegetables, flowers and vineyards, along with the receipt of SFP increased the expenditure of fertilizers and crop protection inputs. Such findings suggest that the HC reform has been so far effective in terms of aligning agricultural production to markets’ signals, but with the unintended consequence of higher intensification. We deduce that farmers may allocate higher proportions of SFP to purchase fertilizers and crop protection inputs whenever the opportunity of higher profits is found in those cropping activities requiring a higher intensive use of production’ factors.input use, agricultural intensification, CAP Mid Term Review, Single Farm Payments, cross-compliance., Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Health Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics,

Economics Background Reading

Top 100 books on economics

Long memory in German energy price indices

This study examines the long-memory properties of German energy price indices (specifically, import and export prices, as well as producer and consumer prices) for hard coal, lignite, mineral oil and natural gas adopting a fractional integration modelling framework. The analysis is undertaken using monthly data from January 2000 to August 2011. The results suggest nonstationary long memory in the series (with orders of integration equal to or higher than 1) when breaks are not allowed for. However, endogenous break tests indicate a single break in all series except for producer prices for lignite for which two breaks are detected. When such breaks are taken into account, and with autocorrelated disturbances, evidence of mean reversion is found in practically all cases.This study is partially funded by the Ministry of Education of Spain (ECO2011-2014 ECON Y FINANZAS, Spain) and from a Jeronimo de Ayanz project of the Government of Navarra

Technology Transfer and Spillovers in International Joint Ventures

It is often argued that multinationals are reluctant to transfer technology due to the fear of spillovers. We show that this need not be the case if host country policies like taxation are taken into account. Furthermore, we examine the incentives the multinational and the host country have to engage in an international joint venture. We show why a multinational may agree to enter a joint venture even though this gives rise to spillovers. Surprisingly, we find that a joint venture is sometimes not in the interest of a host country, despite the prospect of spillovers

Health Check der EU-Agrarpolitik - Auswirkungen der Legislativvorschläge: Studie im Auftrag des BMELV

Die Europäische Kommission hat Mitte Mai 2008 Legislativvorschläge zum Health Check (HC) der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik (GAP) vorgelegt. Das Ziel der durchgeführten Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz ist es, die Wirkungen der HC-Vorschläge mit Hilfe des Modellverbundes der vTI-Agrarökonomie sowie mit einer statistischen Auswertung des EU-Testbetriebsnetzes (FADN) zu analysieren. Die Auswirkungen der HC-Vorschläge wurden in einer komparativ-statischen Betrachnmg gegenüber einem Referenzszenario im Zieljahr 2015 analysiert. Nach den Modellberechnungen wird die Milcherzeugung in Deutschland nach Auslaufen der Quotenregelung um 6 % ausgedehnt. Dies impliziert ein Absinken des Marktpreises um 8 %. Die Ausdehnung erfolgt vor allem in Regionen mit hoher Produktionsdichte, so dass sich der regionale Konzentrationsprozess fortsetzt. Die Betriebseinkommen gehen im Bundesdurchschnitt um 5-7 % zurück; in Milchviehbetrieben um ca. 10 %. Höhere Einbußen sind durch die stärkere Kürzung der Direktzahlungen infolge der progressiven Modulation in Großbetrieben zu erwarten. Insgesamt stellen die HC-Vorschläge eine zu bewältigende Herausfordenmg für die deutsche Landwirtschaft dar, wenn die Möglichkeiten zur Ausgestaltung der Begleitmaßnahmen auf nationaler Ebene genutzt werden.In May 2008, the European Commission presented legislative proposals for a Health Check (HC) of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The goal of the study, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, is to analyse the impacts of the HC proposal with the help of the Modelling Network of agricultural economics institutes of vTI, as well as with a statistical evaluation of the EU-wide Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). The impacts of the HC proposal are analysed within a comparative-static approach vs. a reference scenario in the target year 2015. According to the model results, milk production will expand by about 6 % in Germany after elimination of the milk quota regulations. This implies a decline in the market price of 8 %. The expansion of production occurs particularly in high density production areas, so that the regional concentration process continues. Farm income drops on average of 5 %, in dairy farms by about 10 %. Significant income losses can be expected for large farms due to above-average reductions in direct payments as a result of progressive modulation. Overall, the HC proposals present a challenge that German agriculture can cope with, if the possibilities for shaping the accompanying measures at the national level are used accordingly

Will the US Economy Recover in 2010? A Minimal Spanning Tree Study

We calculated the cross correlations between the half-hourly times series of the ten Dow Jones US economic sectors over the period February 2000 to August 2008, the two-year intervals 2002--2003, 2004--2005, 2008--2009, and also over 11 segments within the present financial crisis, to construct minimal spanning trees (MSTs) of the US economy at the sector level. In all MSTs, a core-fringe structure is found, with consumer goods, consumer services, and the industrials consistently making up the core, and basic materials, oil and gas, healthcare, telecommunications, and utilities residing predominantly on the fringe. More importantly, we find that the MSTs can be classified into two distinct, statistically robust, topologies: (i) star-like, with the industrials at the center, associated with low-volatility economic growth; and (ii) chain-like, associated with high-volatility economic crisis. Finally, we present statistical evidence, based on the emergence of a star-like MST in Sep 2009, and the MST staying robustly star-like throughout the Greek Debt Crisis, that the US economy is on track to a recovery.Comment: elsarticle class, includes amsmath.sty, graphicx.sty and url.sty. 68 pages, 16 figures, 8 tables. Abridged version of the manuscript presented at the Econophysics Colloquim 2010, incorporating reviewer comment

Absorptive capacity and the growth and investment effects of regional transfers : a regression discontinuity design with heterogeneous treatment effects

Researchers often estimate average treatment effects of programs without investigating heterogeneity across units. Yet, individuals, firms, regions, or countries vary in their ability, e.g., to utilize transfers. We analyze Objective 1 Structural Funds transfers of the European Commission to regions of EU member states below a certain income level by way of a regression discontinuity design with systematically heterogeneous treatment effects. Only about 30% and 21% of the regions - those with sufficient human capital and good-enough institutions - are able to turn transfers into faster per-capita income growth and per-capita investment. In general, the variance of the treatment effect is much bigger than its mean