Featured Researches

General Economics

A study into the impact of anti-extradition bill protests on Bangladeshi immigration into Hong Kong

Consequences from the 2019 anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong have been studied in many facets, but one topic of interest that has not been explored is the impact on the immigration of Bangladeshi immigrants into the city. This paper explores the value add of Bangladeshis to the Hong Kong, how the protests affected their mentality and consequently their immigration, and potentially longer-term detrimental effects on the city.

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General Economics

A survey of some recent applications of optimal transport methods to econometrics

This paper surveys recent applications of methods from the theory of optimal transport to econometric problems.

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General Economics

A test for Heckscher-Ohlin using value-added exports

Empirical evidence for the Heckscher-Ohlin model has been inconclusive. We test whether the predictions of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem with respect to labor and capital find support in value-added trade. Defining labor-capital intensities and endowments as the ratio of hours worked to the nominal capital stock, we find evidence against Heckscher-Ohlin. However, taking the ratio of total factor compensations, and thus accounting for differences in technologies, we find strong support for it. That is, labor-abundant countries tend to export value-added in goods of labor-intensive industries. Moreover, differentiating between broad industries, we find support for nine out of twelve industries.

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General Economics

Absentee and Economic Impact of Low-Level Fine Particulate Matter and Ozone Exposure in K-12 Students

High air pollution levels are associated with school absences. However, low level pollution impact on individual school absences are under-studied. We modelled PM2.5 and ozone concentrations at 36 schools from July 2015 to June 2018 using data from a dense, research grade regulatory sensor network. We determined exposures and daily absences at each school. We used generalized estimating equations model to retrospectively estimate rate ratios for association between outdoor pollutant concentrations and school absences. We estimated lost school revenue, productivity, and family economic burden. PM2.5 and ozone concentrations and absence rates vary across the School District. Pollution exposure were associated with as high a rate ratio of 1.02 absences per ug/m 3 and 1.01 per ppb increase for PM2.5 and ozone, respectively. Significantly, even PM2.5 and ozone exposure below regulatory standards (<12.1 ug/m 3 and <55 ppb) was associated with positive rate ratios of absences: 1.04 per ug/m 3 and 1.01 per ppb increase, respectively. Granular local measurements enabled demonstration of air pollution impacts that varied between schools undetectable with averaged pollution levels. Reducing pollution by 50% would save $452,000 per year districtwide. Pollution reduction benefits would be greatest in schools located in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. Exposures to air pollution, even at low levels, are associated with increased school absences. Heterogeneity in exposure, disproportionately affecting socioeconomically disadvantaged schools, points to the need for fine resolution exposure estimation. The economic cost of absences associated with air pollution is substantial even excluding indirect costs such as hospital visits and medication. These findings may help inform decisions about recess during severe pollution events and regulatory considerations for localized pollution sources.

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General Economics

Agent-based Computational Economics in Management Accounting Research: Opportunities and Difficulties

Agent-based computational economics (ACE) - while adopted comparably widely in other domains of managerial science - is a rather novel paradigm for management accounting research (MAR). This paper provides an overview of opportunities and difficulties that ACE may have for research in management accounting and, in particular, introduces a framework that researchers in management accounting may employ when considering ACE as a paradigm for their particular research endeavor. The framework builds on the two interrelated paradigmatic elements of ACE: a set of theoretical assumptions on economic agents and the approach of agent-based modeling. Particular focus is put on contrasting opportunities and difficulties of ACE in comparison to other research methods employed in MAR.

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General Economics

Aggregate Modeling and Equilibrium Analysis of the Crowdsourcing Market for Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential of reshaping the human mobility in a wide variety of aspects. This paper focuses on a new possibility that the AV owners have the option of "renting" their AVs to a company, which can use these collected AVs to provide on-demand ride services without any drivers. We call such a mobility market with AV renting options the "AV crowdsourcing market". This paper establishes an aggregate equilibrium model with multiple transport modes to analyze the AV crowdsourcing market. The modeling framework can capture the customers' mode choices and AV owners' rental decisions with the presence of traffic congestion. Then, we explore different scenarios that either maximize the crowdsourcing platform's profit or maximize social welfare. Gradient-based optimization algorithms are designed for solving the problems. The results obtained by numerical examples reveal the welfare enhancement and the strong profitability of the AV crowdsourcing service. However, when the crowdsourcing scale is small, the crowdsourcing platform might not be profitable. A second-best pricing scheme is able to avoid such undesirable cases. The insights generated from the analyses provide guidance for regulators, service providers and citizens to make future decisions regarding the utilization of the AV crowdsourcing markets for serving the good of the society.

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General Economics

Aggression in the workplace makes social distance difficult

The spread of new coronavirus (COVID-19) infections continues to increase. The practice of social distance attracts attention as a measure to prevent the spread of infection, but it is difficult for some occupations. Therefore, in previous studies, the scale of factors that determine social distance has been developed. However, it was not clear how to select the items among them, and it seemed to be somewhat arbitrary. In response to this trend, this paper extracted eight scales by performing exploratory factor analysis based on certain rules while eliminating arbitrariness as much as possible. They were Adverse Conditions, Leadership, Information Processing, Response to Aggression, Mechanical Movement, Autonomy, Communication with the Outside, and Horizontal Teamwork. Of these, Adverse Conditions, Response to Aggression, and Horizontal Teamwork had a positive correlation with Physical Proximity, and Information Processing, Mechanical Movement, Autonomy, and Communication with the Outside had a negative correlation with Physical Proximity. Furthermore, as a result of multiple regression analysis, it was shown that Response to Aggression, not the mere teamwork assumed in previous studies, had the greatest influence on Physical Proximity.

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General Economics

Airport Capacity and Performance in Europe -- A study of transport economics, service quality and sustainability

The purpose of this dissertation is to present an overview of the operational and financial performance of airports in Europe. In benchmarking studies, airports are assessed and compared with other airports based on key indicators from a technical and an economic point of view. The interest lies primarily in the question, which key figures can best measure the perception of quality of service from the point of view of the passenger for the services at an airport.

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General Economics

All Things Equal? Social Networks as a Mechanism for Discrimination

I study labor markets in which firms can hire via job referrals. Despite full equality in the initial time period (e.g., equal ability, employment, wages, and network structure), unequal wages and employment still emerge over time between majority and minority workers, due to homophily---the well-documented tendency for people to associate more with others similar to themselves. This inequality can be mitigated by minority workers having more social ties or a "stronger-knit" network. Hence, this paper uncovers a direct mechanism for discriminatory outcomes that neither relies on past inequality nor on discriminatory motives (i.e., neither of the prevailing economic models of taste-based and statistical discrimination). These findings introduce multiple policy implications, including disproving a primary justification for "colorblind" policies---namely disproving the position that such policies are inherently merit-enhancing.

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General Economics

An Effort to Measure Customer Relationship Performance in Indonesia's Fintech Industry

The availability of social media simplifies the companies-customers relationship. An effort to engage customers in conversation networks using social media is called Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM). Social Network Analysis helps to understand network characteristics and how active the conversation network on social media. Calculating its network properties is beneficial for measuring customer relationship performance. Financial Technology, a new emerging industry that provides digital-based financial services utilize social media to interact with its customers. Measuring SCRM performance is needed in order to stay competitive among others. Therefore, we aim to explore the SCRM performance of the Indonesia Fintech company. In terms of discovering the market majority thought in conversation networks, we perform sentiment analysis by classifying into positive and negative opinion. As case studies, we investigate Twitter conversations about GoPay, OVO, Dana, and LinkAja during the observation period from 1st October until 1st November 2019. The result of this research is beneficial for business intelligence purposes especially in managing relationships with customers.

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