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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Ana Aizcorbe; David M. Byrne; Daniel E. Sichel |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses two measurement issues for mobile phones. First, we develop a new mobile phone price index using hedonic quality-adjusted prices for smartphones and a matched-model index for feature phones. Our index falls at an average annual rate of 17 percent during 2010-2018, close to the rate of decline in the price index used in the GDP Accounts. Given relatively flat average prices over this period, our index points to substantial quality improvement. Second, we propose a methodology to disentangle purchases of phones and wireless services when they are bundled together as part of a long-term service contract. Getting the allocation right is especially important for real PCE because the price deflators for phones and wireless services exhibit very different trends. Our adjusted estimates suggest that real PCE spending currently captured in the category Cellular Phone Services increased 4 percentage points faster than is reflected in published data. |
| JEL: | E01 E21 E31 O33 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25645&r=all |
| By: | Hinnosaar, Marit; Hinnosaar, Toomas; Kummer, Michael; Slivko, Olga |
| Abstract: | Do contributions to online content platforms induce a feedback loop of ever more user-generated content or will they discourage future contributions? To assess this, we use a randomized field experiment which added content to some pages in Wikipedia while leaving similar pages unchanged. We find that adding content has a negligible impact on the subsequent long-run growth of content. Our results have implications for information seeding and incentivizing contributions, implying that additional content does not generate sizable externalities, neither by inspiring nor by discouraging future contributions. |
| Keywords: | knowledge accumulation; User-generated content; Wikipedia |
| JEL: | C93 L17 L86 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13575&r=all |
| By: | Jha, Saakshi; Sahu, Sohini; Chattopadhyay, Siddhartha |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how inflation expectations of individuals are formed in India. We investigate if the news on inflation plays a role in the formation of inflation expectations following the epidemiology-based work by Carroll (2003). The standard literature on this topic considers news coverage by the print and audio-visual media as the sources of formation of inflation expectations. Instead, we consider the Internet as a potential common source of information based on which agents form their expectations about future inflation. Based on data extracted from Google Trends, our results indicate that during the period 2006 to 2018, the Internet has indeed been a common source of information based on which agents have formed their expectations about future inflation, and the Internet search sentiment has had some impact on inflation expectations. Additionally, based on the inflation expectations series derived from the Google Trends data, we find that there is presence of “information stickiness” in the system since only a small fraction of the population update their inflation expectations each period. |
| Keywords: | Inflation expectations, Epidemiology, Internet search, Google Trends, India. |
| JEL: | D84 E31 E58 |
| Date: | 2019–03–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92666&r=all |
| By: | Robert Wolfe |
| Abstract: | It is a truth universally acknowledged that every ambitious 21st century trade agreement is in want of a chapter on electronic commerce. One of the most politically sensitive and technically challenging issues is personal privacy, including cross-border transfer of information by electronic means, use and location of computing facilities, and personal information protection. States are learning to solve the problem of state responsibility for something that does not respect their borders while still allowing 21st century commerce to develop. A comparison of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) allows us to see the evolution of the issues thought necessary for an e-commerce chapter, since both include Canada, and to see the differing priorities of the U.S. and the EU, since they are each signatory to one of the agreements, but not of the other. I conclude by seeking generalizations about why we see a mix of aspirational and obligatory provisions in free trade agreements. I suggest that the reasons are that governments are learning how to work with each other in a new domain, and learning about the trade implications of these issues. |
| Keywords: | digital trade, electronic commerce, trade agreements |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2018/27&r=all |
| By: | Niklas Potrafke |
| Abstract: | Using the new macro data on risk aversion and patience by Falk et al. (2018), I show that risk aversion and patience are related to intelligence: high-IQ populations are more patient and more risk averse than low-IQ populations. The correlation between patience and intelligence corroborates previous results based on micro data. Intelligent people tend to be patient because they have long time horizons. The correlation between risk aversion and intelligence supports new micro data studies based on dynamically optimized sequential experimentation (Chapman et al. 2018). |
| Keywords: | risk aversion, patience, intelligence |
| JEL: | D00 D81 D90 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7546&r=all |
| By: | Leung, B. T. K. |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the information processing behavior of a decision maker (DM) who can only process a subset of all the information he receives: before taking an action, the DM receives sequentially a number of signals and decides whether to process or ignore each of them as it is received. The model generates an information processing behavior consistent with that documented in the psychological literature: first, the DM chooses to process signals that are strong; second, his processing strategy exhibits confirmation bias if he has a strong prior belief; third, he tends to process signals that suggest favorable outcomes (wishful thinking). As an application I analyze how the Internet and the induced change in information availability affects the processing behavior of the DM. I show that providing more/better information to the DM could strengthen his confirming bias. |
| Keywords: | limited ability, information overload, information avoidance, confirmation bias, wishful thinking, polarization |
| JEL: | D83 D90 |
| Date: | 2018–12–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1891&r=all |
| By: | Baulch, Emma; Pramiyanti, Alila |
| Abstract: | This article studies uses of Instagram by members of Indonesia’s Hijabers’ Community. It shows how hijabers employ Instagram as a stage for performing middle-classness, but also for dakwah (“the call, invitation or challenge to Islam”), which they consider one of their primary tasks as Muslims. By enfolding the taking and sharing of images of Muslimah bodies on Instagram into this Quranic imperative, the hijabers shape an Islamic-themed bodily esthetic for middle class women, and at the same time present this bodily esthetic as a form of Islamic knowledge. The article extends work on influencer culture on Instagram, which has considered how and whether women exert control over their bodies in post-feminist performances of female entrepreneurship and consumer choice on social media. In it, we argue that examining the “enframement” of hijaberness on Instagram show it to be both a Muslim variant of post-feminist performances on social media, and a female variant of electronically-mediated Muslim preaching. That is, hijabers’ performances of veiled femininity structure and are structured by two distinct fields - a dynamic global digital culture and a changing field of Islamic communication – and point to a “composite habitus,” similar to that identified by Waltorp. |
| Keywords: | dakwah, hijabers, Instagram, Indonesia, post-feminism, microcelebrity |
| JEL: | D83 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92758&r=all |
| By: | Febriani, Luna; Saputra, Putra Pratama |
| Abstract: | Kelulut Honey is one of the new commodities in Lubuk Subdistrict and has been developed by many local people. The development of this honeyed honey indirectly affects the income sector for the community and also has an impact on the development of tourism in the village. This study aims to identify and analyze social capital that is used by the Lubuk Sub-district community in developing the commodity of honey honey. The research method used to conduct this study is a qualitative method that emphasizes the deepening of a meaning and phenomenon. In analyzing this research, the concept and theory of social capital will be used by Robert Putnam. The results of the study show that there is the use of social capital in the effort to develop honey honey as a sector of the community's income and tourism sector. Social capital used includes: trust, networks and norms of the local community, so that the optimal use of social capital makes honey honey as a commodity in Lubuk District. |
| Keywords: | Kelulut Honey, Social Capital, Bangka Tengah |
| JEL: | R11 Z1 Z13 |
| Date: | 2018–12–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92782&r=all |
| By: | Elias Carroni; Leonardo Madio; Shiva Shekhar |
| Abstract: | This article studies incentives for a premium provider (Superstar) to offer exclusive contracts to competing platforms mediating the interactions between consumers and firms. When platform competition is intense, more consumers subscribe to the platform hosting the Superstar exclusively. This mechanism is self-reinforcing as firms follow consumer decisions and (some) join exclusively the platform with the Superstar. Exclusivity always benefits firms and may benefit consumers. Moreover, when the Superstar is integrated with a platform, non-exclusivity becomes more likely than if the Superstar was independent. This analysis provides several implications for managers and policy makers operating in digital and traditional markets. |
| Keywords: | exclusive contracts, platforms, two-sided markets, ripple effect, content providers, market power |
| JEL: | L13 L22 L86 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7535&r=all |