The theory of precautionary saving is shown in this paper to be isomorphic to the Arrow-Pratt theory of risk aversion, making possible the application of a large body of knowledge about risk aversion to precautionary saving, and more generally, to the theory of optimal choice under risk In particular, a measure of the strength of precautionary saving motive analogous to the Arrow-Pratt measure of risk aversion is used to establish a number of new propositions about precautionary saving, and to give a new interpretation of the Oreze-Modigliani substitution effect

Precautionary Saving in the Small and in the Large

United Nations Population Division

This paper tests for the presence of habit formation using household data. A simple model of habit formation implies a condition relating the strength of habits to the evolution of consumption over time. When the condition is estimated with food consumption data from the Panel Study on Income Dynamics, the results yield no evidence of habit formation at the annual frequency. This finding is robust to a number of changes in the specification. It also holds for several proxies for nondurables and services consumption created by combining PSID variables with weights estimated from Consumer Expenditure Survey data.

Habit Formation in Consumer Preferences: Evidence from Panel Data

The existence of home advantage in football is a well known and well documented fact. However the precise causes and the way in which they affect performance are still not clear. A comprehensive review is made of published re- search under the main hypothesized explanations for home advantage in football which are: crowd effects, travel effects, familiarity, referee bias, territoriality, specific tactics, rule factors and psychological factors. Their interactions, and other factors that need to be taken into account when investigating home advantage, are considered. Home advantage in football has long been established as an important factor in determining the result of a game. Its existence is certain to affect the attitude of players, coaches, referees, fans and the media alike. Surprisingly, and despite over 25 years of research, the precise causes of home advan- tage and the way in which they operate are still not well un- derstood. A review of the evidence for and against plausible explanations needs to be set against a background of the fol- lowing basic facts. Home advantage has been in existence at least since the start of organized football at the end of the 19th century. It is a worldwide phenomenon, but varies con- siderably from country to country. It has declined in the ma- jor leagues in Europe over the last 15 years. It tends to be greater in football than in other team sports. The first report and quantitative description of home ad- vantage in football was by Morris in 1981 (1). This was soon followed by Dowie (2) and by Pollard (3) who gave a de- tailed quantitative description of home advantage in football and outlined the main hypothesized causes. This paper has been recently updated (4,5). These explanations are now examined in the context of a comprehensive review of pub- lished research on home advantage as it relates specifically to football. The scope of this paper does not allow a detailed critical review of each publication, but should facilitate a literature review for any future research study on a specific aspect of football's home advantage.

/pdf/home-advantage-in-football-a-current-review-of-an-unsolved-3tk9dafbf1.pdf

Home Advantage in Football: A Current Review of an Unsolved Puzzle

Home advantage in team sports has an important role in determining the outcome of a game. The aim of the present study was to identify the soccer game- related statistics that best discriminate home and visiting teams according to the team quality. The sample included all 380 games of the Spanish professional men's league. The independent variables were game location (home or away) and the team quality. Teams were classified into four groups according to their final ranking at the end of the league. The game-related statistics registered were divided into three groups: (i) variables related to goals scored; (ii) variables related to offense and (iii) variables related to defense. A univariate (t-test and Mann-Whitney U) and multivariate (discriminant analysis) analysis of data was done. Results showed that home teams have significantly higher means for goal scored, total shots, shots on goal, attacking moves, box moves, crosses, offsides committed, assists, passes made, successful passes, dribbles made, successful dribbles, ball possession, and gains of possession, while visiting teams presented higher means for losses of possession and yellow cards. In addition, the findings of the current study confirm that game location and team quality are important in determining technical and tactical performances in matches. Teams described as superior and those described as inferior did not experience the same home advantage. Future research should consider the influence of other confounding variables such as weather conditions, game status and team form. Key pointsHome teams have significantly higher figures for attack indicators probably due to facilities familiarity and crowd effects.The teams' game-related statistics profile varied according to game location and team quality.Teams described as superior and those described as inferior did not experience the same home advantage.

Game location and team quality effects on performance profiles in professional soccer.

Home advantage is known to play an important role in the outcome of professional soccer games and to vary considerably worldwide. In the Turkish Super League over the last 12 years, 61.5% of the total points gained have been won by the home team, a figure similar to the worldwide average and to the Premier League in England. It is lower (57.7%) for games played between teams from Istanbul and especially high for games involving teams from cities in the more remote and ethnically distinct parts of Turkey (Van and Diyarbakir). Match performance data show that although home teams in Turkey take 26% more shots at goal than away teams, the success rates for shots do not differ. For fouls and disciplinary cards, home and away teams do not differ significantly in Turkey, a finding that differs from games in England, perhaps due to less referee bias.

/pdf/home-advantage-in-turkish-professional-soccer-4owhcxmer7.pdf

Home advantage in Turkish professional soccer.

This paper examines the nature of the differences in the wage gap between Canadian born males and immigrant males in Quebec and in the rest of Canada (ROC) over the period 1980–2000. Relative to Canadian born individuals, immigrants in the ROC have been consistently, and increasingly, faring better in terms of wages than immigrants in Quebec. We cannot conclude that this is a consequence of Quebec having different immigration policies than the ROC, as the wage gap would be even larger if Quebec attracted the same immigrants as the ROC, nor can we conclude that immigrants are more discriminated against in Quebec. We find that the increased differential in the Quebec-ROC immigrant wage gap mostly reflects changes in the premium earned by immigrants who become citizens over those who remain landed immigrants; this premium virtually disappeared in Quebec while remaining stable in the ROC over the period.

The Immigrant Wage Gap in Canada: Quebec and the Rest of Canada

http://cirano.qc.ca/pdf/publication/2000s-40.pdf

Consumption-Leisure Choice with Habit Formation

Although the market for Canadian paintings is now of substantial magnitude, with several works having recently been sold for well over a million dollars, it remains true that with very few exceptions, the works of Canadian painters are bought and sold only in Canada and seem to be held only by Canadian collectors. This market can thus be viewed as largely local, and it is therefore not clear whether there should be any linkage between price movements for Canadian art and those for the mainstream international market in old master, impressionist, and modern art. This article investigates the presence and nature of such time series dependence econometrically, both in terms of long-term trends as reflected in the co-integrating relationship between Canadian and the international market, and in terms of short-run co-movements as represented in correlations. The possibility that the local market “follows” the international one is also considered through an analysis of Granger causality. For Canadian art prices, we use a new hedonic index that has been computed using an updated version of the dataset of Hodgson and Vorkink (Can J Econ 37:629–655, 2004), while for the international prices, we use an index provided by Mei and Moses (Am Econ Rev 92:1656–1668, 2002).

/pdf/dynamic-price-dependence-of-canadian-and-international-art-2i0xk98u84.pdf

Dynamic price dependence of Canadian and international art markets: an empirical analysis

The literature on art auctions has overlooked the market for classical music manuscripts, and this paper explores, for the first time, the determinants of ‘hammer’ prices for about 360 classical music manuscripts auctioned at Sotheby’s (London) during the 1998–2009 period. We use hedonic price regressions in order to explain the price of classical music manuscripts by several characteristics. The paper shows that the ‘trace’ of the composer (e.g. whether the manuscript is fully or partly in the hand of the composer or in a scribal hand), the artistic value of the composition, the number of pages, the period (Baroque, Classical, etc.), and of course the name of the composer and the relative scarcity of his manuscripts, are all characteristics that contribute to explain the hammer price of these manuscripts. However, parameter estimates for characteristics such as the type of music (symphony, opera, etc.) and whether the manuscript is the complete work or some fragment (say, one movement) are not statistically significant. The paper also estimates a hedonic price index that provides a measure of the average returns and (high) risk of collecting and investing in music manuscripts.

Aylin Seckin

Papers

Home advantage in Turkish professional soccer.

The Immigrant Wage Gap in Canada: Quebec and the Rest of Canada

Consumption-Leisure Choice with Habit Formation

Dynamic price dependence of Canadian and international art markets: an empirical analysis

Black notes and white noise: a hedonic approach to auction prices of classical music manuscripts