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Randomized control trials (RCTs) are recognized as the preferred tool of analysis in modern development economics literature/research and policy evaluation. This may lead to methodologies, including case studies, tabular analysis, simple regressions, taking a back seat. This survey explores the implications of such a methodological hierarchy and the implications of preoccupation with a particular evidence/methodology for research and policy. Similar developments in macroeconomic modelling are also discussed. Major advantages and limitations of RCTs and the attempts to address them are highlighted. The article argues that preoccupation with a methodology can sometimes lead to important inquiries for research and policy getting side-lined on methodological considerations. This leads to inferences favouring a particular technique/methodology or issue. Focusing solely on methodologies that emphasize quantifying the 'effect' may not be appropriate to address all questions relevant to development. As policies involve multiple and conflicting social concerns, methodological pluralism may be preferable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a systematic and critical review of the economics literature on data as an economic good and draws lessons for data governance. We conclude that focusing on data as an economic good in governance efforts is hardwired to only result in more data production and cannot deliver other societal goals contrary to what is often claimed in the literature and policy. Data governance is often a red herring which distracts from other digital problems. The governance of digital society cannot rely exclusively on data-centric economic models. We review the literatures and the underlying empirical and political claims concerning data commons. While commons thinking is useful to frame digital problems in terms of ecologies, it has important limitations. We propose a political-ecological approach to governing the digital society, defined by ecological thinking about governance problems and the awareness of the political nature of framing the problems and mapping their ecological makeup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of legal structure in explaining financial development in twenty-three emerging markets, which has not been explored in institutional economics literature before. This study relied on Pedroni, and Kao cointegration tests, which is followed by the renowned panel cointegration technique. The results of the Pedroni and Kao cointegration tests show that the variables understudy is cointegrated in the long-run. These findings are confirmed by the panel cointegration showing that legal structure (LS) has positive impact on financial development (FIND) in long-run that support Law and Finance, and New Institutional Economics theories in emerging markets. This study is the first to directly examine the long-run impact of LS on FIND in emerging markets, and the result remains consistent across alternative measure of FIND. The findings of this study have important policy implications for emerging markets. Policymakers should focus on creating a legal environment that is conducive to financial development. This includes strengthening the legal framework, improving regulatory regimes, and promoting market autonomy. Additionally, policymakers should work to attract foreign investment, which can help spur economic growth and development in emerging markets. The findings of the study are consistent across battery of robustness testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fishing portfolio diversification has been identified as a mechanism to mitigate risk exposure for harvesters operating in wild-capture fisheries. As in financial markets, however, the benefits from diversification in fisheries will be a function of whether individuals adopt active or passive investment strategies. There is a long history of evidence of the superior performance of passive investment strategies in the financial economics literature, but little is known about the relative performance of these two strategies in fisheries. Here we use a case study of an observed and high-profile climate shock in the California Dungeness crab fishery to estimate the impact of a relatively active investment strategy, in the form of an extreme decision to exit the fishery for the season, in response to the shock. We find robust evidence of negative revenue impacts from an active investment strategy in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the rejection game, designed to formalize the interaction between interlocutors in a Stalnakerian conversation: a speaker who asserts something and a listener who may accept or reject. The rejection game is similar to other signalling games known to the literature in economics and biology. We point out similarities and differences, and propose an application in linguistics. We uncover basic conditions under which the Gricean maxim of quality emerges from incentives among the players, providing evidence for a functionalist understanding of the Gricean program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the contributions of Marxist Dependency Theory (MDT) can provide theoretical insights for the analysis of financialized capitalism dynamics, contribute to the debate about the rise of a globalized working class, and help guide a transformative praxis in the periphery, therefore being relevant for the debate of contemporary imperialism. I discuss which traditions of dependency theories were most featured in economics literature and why I believe that MDT is marginalized and misinterpreted, focusing on the historical and political aspects of that process. Next, I debate some contributions of contemporary imperialism theory, and conclude that MDT has the potential to advance some of its core concepts and formulate a powerful synthesis. JEL Classification: B51, F54 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioural welfare economics has lately been challenged on account of its use of the satisfaction of true preferences as a normative criterion. The critique contests what is taken to be an implicit assumption in the literature, namely that true preferences are context-independent. This assumption is considered not only unjustified in the behavioural welfare economics literature but unjustifiable – true preferences are argued to be, at least sometimes, context-dependent. This article explores the implications of this 'critique of the inner rational agent'. I argue that the critique does not support a wholesale shift away from the use of true preferences as an evaluative standard in normative economics; instead, the critique implies that behavioural welfare economists need to inquire into and establish the 'source' of particular context-dependent choices in individuals' decision-making. The source determines the permissibility of correcting individuals' context-dependent choices and can, in some situations, support decisive welfare judgements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economics literature generally supports a positive theoretical link between income inequality and crime. However, despite this consensus, empirical evidence has struggled to yield definitive conclusions. To address this puzzle, I conducted a meta-analysis based on 1,341 estimates drawn from 43 studies in economics journals. The findings indicate a statistically significant but economically insignificant true effect of inequality on crime, ranging between 0.007 and 0.123 using UWLS FAT-PET and advanced methods. In essence, if there is an impact of inequality on crime, it is, at best, minimal. Additionally, there is some limited evidence suggesting positive publication bias. Results from Bayesian model averaging reveal that inequality does not affect exclusively property crime, as predicted by the rational choice models. Moreover, this analysis shows that inequality measures which are sensitive to changes in income at the middle and top of the distribution are associated with higher coefficients. The study also underscores the biases arising from the exclusion of relevant variables. The implications of this research suggest that inequality may not be the primary motivator for criminal behaviour, with other factors potentially playing more significant roles. Lastly, if inequality does affect crime, it might do so in different ways than those discussed by the majority of the existing empirical studies. • An examination of the relationship between inequality and crime is conducted through a meta-analysis, incorporating 1,341 estimates derived from 43 studies. • Income inequality has a small, if not inexistent, effect on crime. • Some limited evidence of positive publication bias is found. • Inequality metrics which are sensitive to changes in both the middle and upper segments of the income distribution exhibit higher coefficients. • The omission of relevant variables, such as deterrence and income, introduces a notable bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, five of the main design challenges of local flexibility markets (LFMs) for congestion management are identified and discussed based on desirable market properties from economics theory and literature review. The five main design challenges are low market liquidity, reliability, baselines, forecast errors at low aggregation levels, and the high cost of measurements. A comprehensive capacity-limitation based LFM design has been proposed to address the challenges and a simulation example is presented to illustrate the design. The proposed design facilitates market participants' decision making by design elements that improve market liquidity, reliability and handling of forecast errors. Moreover, a new capacity limitation product is proposed that is not defined with respect to a baseline and does not require sub-meter measurements leading to lower costs and conflict-of-interest in delivery validation. Generic algorithms are also proposed for calculating utility and cost of the flexibility product. The proposed design and discussions can contribute to improving the inter-disciplinary area between engineering and economics while helping policy-makers and LFM stakeholders to further understand the problem from a multi-dimensional perspective. • Five common challenges in the design of local flexibility markets are identified. • A product is proposed addressing baseline issues and reducing verfication costs. • Design-related solutions are proposed to increase market liquidity. • An integrated triple-stage market framework is proposed. • Algorithms are proposed for calculating cost and utility of the flexibility product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]