Using Bluetooth technology for COVID-19 contact tracing
Jann, Ole; Kocourek, Pavel; Steiner, Jakub
2020 - English The coronavirus is transmitted indiscriminately through proximity, which makes tracing infections difficult. Bluetooth tracing apps can reliably record transmission possibilities even when the participants do not know each other and do not remember the interaction. This can be done with a high degree of privacy. A well-designed app provides a similar level of privacy to not using an app at all. Decentralized data storage means that the privacy and security of the system is highly resilient against exploitation by any powerful actor (such as a government). A disadvantage of protecting privacy through decentralization is that tracing apps need to be taken up by the population one person at a time. Their use cannot be checked remotely and hence cannot be effectively mandated by governments or health authorities. A very high degree of take-up is necessary to make them an effective weapon against the virus. The eRouška app by COVID19cz follows these principles and offers a very high degree of privacy protection. Specifically, it does not collect any data except the phone numbers of non-infected users, and only collects anonymized meeting data (and no location or other metadata) of infected users – this data is only available to a hygienist after voluntary data transmission by the user. No data is transmitted to the server without explicit user agreement. Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 contact tracing Fulltext is available at external website. Using Bluetooth technology for COVID-19 contact tracing

The coronavirus is transmitted indiscriminately through proximity, which makes tracing infections difficult. Bluetooth tracing apps can reliably record transmission possibilities even when the ...

Jann, Ole; Kocourek, Pavel; Steiner, Jakub
Národohospodářský ústav, 2020

Globalization of science: evidence from authors in academic journals by country of origin
Macháček, Vít
2020 - English Keywords: globalization of science; academic journals Available at various institutes of the ASCR Globalization of science: evidence from authors in academic journals by country of origin

Macháček, Vít
Národohospodářský ústav, 2020

Avoiding root-finding in the Krusell-Smith algorithm simulation
Bakota, Ivo
2020 - English This paper proposes a novel method to compute the simulation part of the Krusell-Smith (1997, 1998) algorithm when the agents can trade in more than one asset (for example, capital and bonds). The Krusell-Smith algorithm is used to solve general equilibrium models with both aggregate and uninsurable idiosyncratic risk and can be used to solve bounded rationality equilibria and to approximate rational expectations equilibria. When applied to solve a model with more than one financial asset, in the simulation, the standard algorithm has to impose equilibria for each additional asset (find the market-clearing price), for each period simulated. This procedure entails root-finding for each period, which is computationally very expensive. I show that it is possible to avoid this rootfinding by not imposing the equilibria each period, but instead by simulating the model without market clearing. The method updates the law of motion for asset prices by using Newton-like methods (Broyden’s method) on the simulated excess demand, instead of imposing equilibrium for each period and running regressions on the clearing prices. Since the method avoids the root-finding for each time period simulated, it leads to a significant reduction in computation time. In the example model, the proposed version of the algorithm leads to a 32% decrease in computational time, even when measured conservatively. This method could be especially useful in computing asset pricing models (for example, models with risky and safe assets) with both aggregate and uninsurable idiosyncratic risk since methods which use linearization in the neighborhood of the aggregate steady state are considered to be less accurate than global solution methods for these particular types of models. Keywords: portfolio choice; heterogeneous agents; Krusell-Smith Fulltext is available at external website. Avoiding root-finding in the Krusell-Smith algorithm simulation

This paper proposes a novel method to compute the simulation part of the Krusell-Smith (1997, 1998) algorithm when the agents can trade in more than one asset (for example, capital and bonds). The ...

Bakota, Ivo
Národohospodářský ústav, 2020

A human capital theory of structural transformation
Gillman, Max
2019 - English The paper presents a human capital based theory of the sectoral transformation along the balanced growth path equilibrium. Allowing a small upward trend in the productivity of the human capital sector, combined with differential human capital intensity and constant productivity across sectors, output gradually shifts over time from relatively less human capital intensive sectors towards more human capital intensive sectors. Sectors intensive in the factor that is becoming relatively more plentiful find their relative prices falling, their “effective productivities” rising at differential rates inversely to their relative price decline, and their relative outputs expanding. Adding more sectors of greater human capital intensity causes labor time to decrease across existing sectors, and by relatively more in the least human capital sectors. Keywords: human capital intensity; sectoral allocation; labor shares Fulltext is available at external website. A human capital theory of structural transformation

The paper presents a human capital based theory of the sectoral transformation along the balanced growth path equilibrium. Allowing a small upward trend in the productivity of the human capital ...

Gillman, Max
Národohospodářský ústav, 2019

Worker heterogeneity and the asymmetric effects of minimum wages
Luna Alpizar, Jose Luis
2019 - English This paper explores the notion that minimum wages affect different lowskilled workers aszmmetrically due to productivity differences. In a search model with worker heterogeneity, a rising minimum wage lowers the employment and labor force participation of the least productive workers by pricing them out of the market, while having the opposite effect on other low-skilled workers that remain hirable. CPS data supports these predictions, a rise in the minimum reduces the employment and labor force participation of teenagers with less than high school education, but has the opposite effect on prime-age workers with high school attainment. The calibrated model requires small firm surpluses to match these observations. If firm surplus is small due to high nonmarket activity values, a moderate rise in the minimum improves aggregate welfare even when the worker's bergaining weight is high. Keywords: minimum wages; search and matching; unemployment Fulltext is available at external website. Worker heterogeneity and the asymmetric effects of minimum wages

This paper explores the notion that minimum wages affect different lowskilled workers aszmmetrically due to productivity differences. In a search model with worker heterogeneity, a rising minimum wage ...

Luna Alpizar, Jose Luis
Národohospodářský ústav, 2019

Predatory publications in Scopus: evidence on cross-country differences
Macháček, Vít; Srholec, Martin
2019 - English The paper maps the infiltration of so-called “predatory” scholarly journals into the citation database Scopus. Using the names of “potential, possible, or probable” predatory journals and publishers on Beall’s lists, we derived ISSNs of the respective journals from Ulrichsweb and searched Scopus with it. A total of 324 matched journals with 164 thousand documents indexed in Scopus over 2015-2017, making up a share of 2.8 % of the total articles have been identified. An analysis of cross-country differences in the tendency to publish in these journals reveals that overall the most affected are middle-income countries in Asia and North Africa. Kazakhstan is the country with the largest tendency to publish in predatory journals (18 %). More than 5 % is reported in 20 countries, including large countries such as Indonesia (18 %), Malaysia (11 %), India (10 %), or Nigeria (7 %). Neither developed countries are resistant to predatory publishing. More than 16 000 “potentially predatory” articles were published by authors from United States (0.67 %). Keywords: predatory journals; Beall's list; open access Available at various institutes of the ASCR Predatory publications in Scopus: evidence on cross-country differences

The paper maps the infiltration of so-called “predatory” scholarly journals into the citation database Scopus. Using the names of “potential, possible, or probable” predatory journals and publishers ...

Macháček, Vít; Srholec, Martin
Národohospodářský ústav, 2019

Do minorities misrepresent their ethnicity to avoid discrimination?
Kudashvili, Nikoloz; Lergetporer, P.
2019 - English Discrimination against minorities is pervasive in many societies, but little is known about strategies minorities may apply to minimize discrimination. In our trust game with 758 highschool students in the country of Georgia, ethnic Georgian trustors discriminate against the ethnic Armenian minority group. We introduce an initial signaling stage to investigate Armenians’ willingness to hide their ethnicity to avoid expected discrimination. 43 percent of Armenian trustees untruthfully signal that they have a Georgian name. Signaling behavior is driven by expected transfers and non-pecuniary motives. This strategic misrepresentation of ethnicity increases Georgian trustors’ expected back transfers and eliminates their discriminatory behavior.\n Keywords: discrimination; trust game; experiment Fulltext is available at external website. Do minorities misrepresent their ethnicity to avoid discrimination?

Discrimination against minorities is pervasive in many societies, but little is known about strategies minorities may apply to minimize discrimination. In our trust game with 758 highschool students ...

Kudashvili, Nikoloz; Lergetporer, P.
Národohospodářský ústav, 2019

Granger predictability of oil prices after the great recession
Benk, S.; Gillman, Max
2019 - English Real oil prices surged from 2009 through 2014, comparable to the 1970ís oil shock period. Standard explanations based on monopoly markup fall short since ináation remained low after 2009. This paper contributes strong evidence of Granger (1969) predictability of nominal factors to oil prices, using one adjustment to monetary aggregates. This adjustment is the subtraction from the monetary aggregates of the 2008-2009 Federal Reserve borrowing of reserves from other Central Banks (Swaps), made after US reserves turned negative. This adjustment is key in that Granger predictability from standard monetary aggregates is found only with the Swaps subtracted. Keywords: oil price shocks; granger predictability; monetary base Fulltext is available at external website. Granger predictability of oil prices after the great recession

Real oil prices surged from 2009 through 2014, comparable to the 1970ís oil shock period. Standard explanations based on monopoly markup fall short since ináation remained low after 2009. This paper ...

Benk, S.; Gillman, Max
Národohospodářský ústav, 2019

Prioritized examination and its impact on commercialization of patents
Hrendash, Taras
2019 - English Patents play an important role in facilitating transfers of knowledge, and enable commercialization of innovative ideas by reducing information asymmetry between potential buyers and sellers on the market for technology. The crucial question, however, is how quickly innovative ideas can be patented. Previous research has shown that the probability of commercialization for pending\napplications peaks immediately after the patent allowance event (Gans, Hsu & Stern, 2008). But does the length of pendency of an application at a patent office also affect the overall saleability of a technology and create some frictions on the market for technology? In this paper, we exploit the introduction of the USPTO’s Prioritized Examination (Track One) Program to capture the impact of shortened pendency on the likelihood that a pending or granted patent will be commercialized via the transfer of property rights. Using the differencein-differences approach, we compare the average saleability of patents, which we assign into three groups according to their predicted propensity for prioritization before and after the program start date. We find that introduction of the Track One program has significantly increased the probability of commercial reassignment of applications that were more likely to be prioritized. Our results suggest that the policy implemented by the USPTO and shortened pendency of applications, in general, may reduce frictions on the market for technology and facilitate commercialization of innovations. Keywords: experimental economics; government transfers Fulltext is available at external website. Prioritized examination and its impact on commercialization of patents

Patents play an important role in facilitating transfers of knowledge, and enable commercialization of innovative ideas by reducing information asymmetry between potential buyers and sellers on the ...

Hrendash, Taras
Národohospodářský ústav, 2019

Attentional role of quota implementation
Matveenko, Andrei; Mikhalishchev, S.
2019 - English This paper introduces a new role of quotas, e.g., labor market quotas: the attentional role. We study the effect of quota implementation on the attention allocation strategy of a rationally inattentive (RI) agent. Our main result is that an RI agent who is forced to fulfill a quota never hires the candidates without acquiring information about them, unlike an unrestricted RI agent\nwho in some cases bases her decision on prior belief only. We also show that in our context quotas are equivalent to other types of affirmative policies such as subsidies and blind resume policy. We show how our results can be used to set a quota level that increases the expected value of the chosen candidate and also decreases statistical discrimination and discrimination in terms of how much attention is paid to each applicant. At the same time, quota implementation could be destructive if the social planner has imperfect information about the parameters of the model.\n Keywords: discrete choice; rational inattention; multinomial logit Fulltext is available at external website. Attentional role of quota implementation

This paper introduces a new role of quotas, e.g., labor market quotas: the attentional role. We study the effect of quota implementation on the attention allocation strategy of a rationally ...

Matveenko, Andrei; Mikhalishchev, S.
Národohospodářský ústav, 2019