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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of labor market freedom on state-level cost of living differentials in the USA using cross-sectional data for 2016 after allowing for the impacts of economic and quality of life factors.

The study uses two-stage least squares estimation controlling for factors contributing to cost of living differences across states.

The results reveal that an increase in labor market freedom reduces the overall cost of living.

The study can be extended using panel data and alternative measures of labor market freedom.

In general, the finding that less intrusive government and greater labor freedom are associated with a reduced cost of living should not be surprising. This is because less government intrusion and greater labor freedom both inherently allow markets to be more efficient in the rationalization of and interplay with forces of supply and demand.

The findings of this and future related studies could prove very useful to policy makers and entrepreneurs, as well as small business owners and public corporations of all sizes – particularly those considering either location in, relocation to, or expansion into other markets within the USA. Furthermore, the potential benefits of the National Right-to-Work Law currently under consideration in Congress could add cost of living reductions to the debate.

The authors extend the literature on cost of living differentials by investigating whether higher amounts of state-level labor market freedom act to reduce the states’ cost of living using the most recent annual data available (2016). That labor freedom has a systemic efficiency impact on the state-level cost of living is a significant finding. In our opinion, it is likely that labor market freedom is increasing the efficiency of labor market transactions in the production and distribution of goods and services, and acts to reduce the cost of living in states. In addition, unlike previous related studies, the authors investigate the impact of not only overall labor market freedom on the state-level cost of living, but also how the three sub-indices of labor market freedom, as identified and measured by Stansel et al. (2014, 2015), impact the cost of living state by state.

The purpose of the study is to examine the long-run convergence properties of condominium prices based on the ripple effect for five major US metropolitan areas (Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco). Specifically, we test for both overall convergence in condominium prices and the possibility of distinct convergence clubs to ascertain the interdependence of geographically dispersed metropolitan condominium markets.

Our analysis uses two approaches to identify the convergence properties of condominium prices: the Lee and Strazicich (2003) unit root test with endogenous structural breaks and the Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009) time-varying nonlinear club convergence tests.

The Lee and Strazicich (2003) unit root tests identify two structural breaks in 2006 and 2008 with the rejection of the null hypothesis of a unit root and long-run convergence in condominium prices in the cases of Boston and New York. The Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009) club convergence test reveals the absence of overall convergence in condominium prices across all metropolitan areas, but the emergence of two distinct convergence clubs with clear geographical segmentation: on the east coast with Boston and New York and the west coast with Los Angeles and San Francisco while Chicago exhibits a non-converging path.

The results highlight the distinct geographical segmentation of metropolitan condominium markets, which provides useful information to local policymakers, financial institutions, real estate developers and real estate portfolio managers. The limitations of the research are the identification of the underlying sources for the convergence clubs identified due to the availability of monthly data for a number of potential variables.

The absence of overall convergence in condominium prices, but the emergence of distinct convergence clubs that reflects the geographical segmentation of metropolitan condominium markets raises the potential for portfolio diversification.

Unlike previous studies that have focused on single-family housing, this is the first study to examine the convergence of metropolitan area condominium prices.

Given the absence of a formal forecasting model of property insurance surtax revenue for the state of Kentucky, this paper presents the insample and out-of-sample forecasts of four models: Holt linear trend algorithm, autoregressive model, linear trend/autoregressive model, and economic activity model based on annual fiscal year data from 1984 to 2001. The Holt linear trend algorithm and the linear trend/autoregressive model were reasonably close in their respective forecasting performance for both the in-sample and out-ofsample forecast horizons. However, the linear trend/autoregressive model exhibited some evidence of instability for the period 1992 to 1994. With respect to the out-of-sample forecasts, the Holt linear trend algorithm provided a better fit to the actual surtax data. Moreover, as time passes and additional data on the surtax becomes available, the models presented can easily be updated and reevaluated.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature on the entrepreneurship-unemployment nexus to the case of Croatia.

The study uses the Toda-Yamamoto causality test within a vector autoregressive model to determine the causal dynamics between the self-employment rate (SER), unemployment rate (UR), industrial production, and credit in the case of Croatia from March 1998 to December 2016.

The results reveal support for the recession-push hypothesis. Specifically, the authors find that an increase in the UR Granger causes an increase in the SER.

Due to data availability, a more detailed analysis of self-employment by industry was prohibitive.

The results emphasize the importance of recognizing business cycle dynamics and the availability of credit when evaluating the causal relationship between entrepreneurship and unemployment.

As policy makers view entrepreneurship as a potential remedy for unemployment, particular attention needs to be given to both the phases of the business cycle and credit availability to support entrepreneurial ventures in the design of policy.

Previous studies on the causal dynamics between entrepreneurship and unemployment pertain to OECD countries. This is the first study to examine a transition economy recently admitted to the European Union.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of asymmetries in the budgetary adjustment process.

The paper uses the TAR and MTAR models, set forth by Enders and Siklos, for the period 1957 to 2009.

Short‐run results indicate unidirectional causality from revenues to expenditures. Long‐run results indicate asymmetric responses by both revenues and expenditures to budgetary disequilibria. With respect to asymmetric adjustment, revenues respond only when the budget is improving whereas expenditures respond faster (in absolute terms) to a worsening budget than for an improving budget.

Contrary to other studies, the results presented in the paper lend support for the tax‐spend hypothesis.

We find evidence that the runs on banks and trust companies in the Panic of 1907 were linked to the Bank of England’s contractionary monetary policy actions taken in 1906 and 1907 through the medium of copper prices. Results from our vector autoregressive models and copper stockpile data support our argument that a copper commodity price channel may have been active in transmitting the Bank’s policy to the New York markets. Archival evidence suggests that the plunge in copper prices may have partially triggered both the initiation and the failure of an attempt to corner the shares of United Copper, and in turn, the bank and trust company runs related to that transaction’s failure. We suggest that the substantial short-term uncertainties accompanying the development of the copper-intensive electrical and telecommunications industries likely played a role in the plunge in copper prices. Additionally, we find evidence that the copper price transmission mechanism was also likely active in five other countries that year. While we do not argue that copper caused the 1907 crisis, we suggest that it was an active policy transmission channel amplifying the classic effect that was already spreading through the money market channel. If the bust in copper prices partially triggered the 1907 panic, then it provides additional evidence that contractionary monetary policy may have had an unintended, adverse consequence of contributing to a bank panic and, therefore, supports other recent findings that monetary policy deliberations might benefit from considering the policy impact on asset prices.

The rational expectations‐permanent income hypothesis (REPIH) is nothing new. The initial REPIH of Hall (1978) suggested that no other variable observed in earlier periods, given the inclusion of consumption lagged one period, should have any explanatory power for current consumption (Hall, p.972). The Hall version does not eliminate inclusion of current income in the explanation of consumption. Later work by Flavin (1981) finds that current income contains information about future income by providing signals to changes in permanent income. The means to reveal the innovation of current income signaling changes in permanent income has been to decompose current income into its anticipated and unanticipated components. Flavin suggests that unanticipated changes in current income may affect consumption by signaling changes in current income while anticipated changes in current income are included in the formation of permanent income thus having no affect on consumption.

This survey of the literature on the convergence of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions informs researchers on areas for future research by summarizing the countries examined, the types of convergence tested and the methodological approaches undertaken.

This survey examines peer-reviewed empirical studies of CO₂ emissions convergence with respect to country coverage and alternative approaches to test for various types of convergence.

For large multicountry studies, the support for convergence is quite limited. However, studies focused exclusively on a subset of countries defined by income classification, geographic region or institutional structure reveal the finding of convergence is more prevalent. Studies at the subnational level have primarily been in the cases of the US and China with the exception of two studies across industry sectors in Portugal and Sweden.

This study focuses exclusively on peer-reviewed published studies.

This study is relevant to the design of mitigation strategies to reduce CO₂ emissions and the assumption of convergence underlying climate change models.

As a major component of greenhouse gas emissions, CO₂ emissions is of global importance in its impact on the environment and climate change.

This study provides the most recent and comprehensive survey of the empirical literature on the convergence of CO₂ emissions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the short-run monetary policy response to five different types of natural disasters (geophysical, meteorological, hydrological, climatological and biological) with respect to developed and developing countries, respectively.

An augmented Taylor rule monetary policy model is estimated using systems generalized method of moments panel estimation over the period 2000–2018 for a panel of 40 developed and 77 developing countries, respectively.

In the case of developed countries, the greatest nominal interest rate response originates from geophysical, meteorological, hydrological and climatological disasters, whereas for developing countries the nominal interest rate response is the greatest for geophysical and meteorological disasters. For both developed and developing countries, the results suggest the monetary authorities will pursue expansionary monetary policies in the short-run to lower nominal interest rates; however, the magnitude of the monetary response varies across the type of natural disaster.

First, unlike previous studies, which focused on a specific type of natural disaster, this study examines whether the short-run monetary policy response differs across the type of natural disaster. Second, in relation to previous studies, the analysis encompasses a much larger panel data set to include 117 countries differentiated between developed and developing countries.

This paper examined the cointegrating properties of narrow money demand. Results suggest income and interest rate are sufficient for the formulation of a long‐run stable demand for money in Australia, Austria, Finland, Italy, UK, and US. However, for Canada, Germany, and Switzerland, the nominal effective exchange rate should be incorporated.