How to Organize Sequential Auctions: Results of a Natural Experiment by Christie's

In empirical studies of sequential auctions of identical objects prices have been found to decline.We study auctions of ancient Chinese porcelain recovered from shipwrecks.In these auctions there are very long sequences of lots of identical objects.We find that the average price decline is smaller in long sequences.It is especially large for the first pair of lots auctioned; it is also larger when the price of the previous lot was larger than (the upper bound of the range of) the pre-sale estimate of the previous lot and when the number of items in lots that follow each other increases.As a consequence, it appears that sellers may have some control over the sequence of prices and therefore on their revenue.Our results point to the fact that a sequence of lots each of which contains the same number of items generates more revenue than lots with varying number of items.auctions;prices;estimation

Does it Pay to do Well in Competitions? The case of the Queen Elizabeth Piano Competition

Pianists who achieve high scores in the Queen Elizabeth musical competition are rewarded by subsequent success.It is not clear whether this is caused by the score itself or because those who have high scores are better pianists anyway. Since the timing and the order of appearance are good instrumental variables for the nal ranking, our data on eleven subsequent competitions make it possible to distinguish between the two alternative explanations.We find that high scores have an impact on later success.job performance;competition

Voting on the choice of core languages in the European Union

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in European Journal of Political Economy. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2008 Elsevier B.V.Extensive multilingualism is one of the most important and fundamental principles of the European Union (EU). However, a large number of languages (currently 23) hinders communication and imposes substantial financial and legal costs. On the other hand, the reduction of the number of languages would disenfranchise some or many EU citizens. We use the results of a survey on languages and argue that even though a linguistic reform reducing the number of languages is unlikely to gain sufficient political support today, this may change in the future since young people are more proficient at speaking foreign languages

La disponibilité des diplômés universitaires sur le marché du travail québécois

Entre 1971 et 1981, il s’est produit une dégradation sensible de la situation du Québec, relativement à celle du Canada, en ce qui touche le nombre des diplômés universitaires au sein de la main-d’oeuvre. Des quatre grandes régions du Canada, c’est le Québec qui accusait le plus lent taux de croissance, tant par le nombre absolu de diplômés que par le nombre relatif de diplômés par millier de personnes dans la population active. Cette diminution relative de l’offre de diplômés universitaires au sein de la main-d’oeuvre québécoise avait deux causes. En premier lieu, les universités québécoises ont octroyé un nombre relativement faible de diplômés par rapport à la population d’âge universitaire. En second lieu, un nombre important de diplômés universitaires ont quitté la province. En effet, pour la période 1975-1981, on estime l’émigration nette des diplômés à quelgue 21 200, soit 19,6 % des diplômes conférés au cours de cette période. Étant donné l’influence qu’exercent les universitaires sur la croissance économique, dans les industries de haute technologie en particulier, il serait souhaitable que le gouvernement du Québec reconsidère les réductions qu’il se propose d’apporter aux budgets des universités

Linguistic Diversity and Its Impact on Economic Policies and Political Decisions

The paper addresses the issue of linguistic diversity and its impact on economic policy and political decisions. Importance of the topic is illustrated by examination of optimal sets of official languages in the European Union. It is shown that alternative estimation methods of language disenfranchisement alter the order in which the languages enter the list of the official ones. Also, we present an overview of gametheoretic models of language acquisition, where individuals weigh costs and benefits of studying new languages. These models are used to predict actual distribution of language skills in a society and to compare it with the first-best outcome. The paper ends with estimation of our predictions on the basis of empirical analysis of European data.Game theory, linguistic models, communication benefits, costs of studying, official languages of the European Union, Nash equilibrium, public efficiency

Returns to Foreign Language Skills in a Developing Country: The Case of Turkey

Foreign language skills represent a form of human capital that can be rewarded in the labor market. Drawing on data from the Adult Education Survey of 2007, this is the first study estimating returns to foreign language skills in Turkey. We contribute to the literature on the economic value of language knowledge, with a special focus on a country characterized by fast economic and social development. Although English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Turkey, we initially consider the economic value of different foreign languages among the employed males aged 25 to 65. We find positive and significant returns to proficiency in English and Russian, which increase with the level of competence. Knowledge of French and German also appears to be positively rewarded in the Turkish labor market, although their economic value seems mostly linked to an increased likelihood to hold specific occupations rather than increased earnings within occupations. Focusing on English, we also explore the heterogeneity in returns to different levels of proficiency by frequency of English use at work, birth-cohort, education, occupation and rural/urban location. The results are also robust to the endogenous specification of English language skills