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Study: States need economic freedom to benefit from natural resources
States with small governments, low taxes and labor market freedom enjoy greater benefits from natural resource development than states with large and intrusive government policies, according to a new study by a Florida State University researcher.
“The size of government and level of regulation are two of the cornerstones of economic freedom,” said Joab Corey, the study’s author and a lecturer in Florida State’s Department of Economics and the Gus A. Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education. “When it comes to resource development, research shows that states with higher levels of economic freedom enjoy greater benefits from resource development.”
Louisiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming are singled out as states with high levels of economic freedom that have benefited from resource development. On the other hand, Alaska, Montana and West Virginia have failed to fully benefit from their natural resources, due in part to government policies that limit economic freedom, according to Corey’s peer-reviewed study, “Development in U.S. States, Economic Freedom, and the ‘Resource Curse.’ Read the rest of this entry »
Investors need not lose sleep over daylight saving
The changeover to and from daylight saving does not have a detrimental effect on financial markets, according to new research.
While previous studies suggested stock markets weakened on the Monday after daylight saving began or finished, possibly due to the effect on investors’ sleep patterns, Massey finance specialists and a Dutch research colleague have produced a paper showing there is no discernable impact.
Associate Professor Russell Gregory-Allen, Professor Ben Jacobsen and Wessel Marquering of Erasmus University in the Netherlands found that sharemarket returns in 22 countries were no different from any other day.
“The results reject earlier conclusions that a change in the mood of investors as a result of changes in sleep patterns significantly affects stock returns,” Dr Gregory-Allen says. Read the rest of this entry »
Toy recall of 2007 hurt innocent companies, shows research
The well-publicized toy recalls of 2007 took potentially harmful toys off the shelves and affected the companies that made them.
But a new study also shows that even companies not targeted by the recalls got hurt in the resulting consumer backlash, sometimes worse than the offenders. Meanwhile offending companies did not generally see other product categories affected.
In 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled 276 toys and other children’s products – more than an 80% increase over the previous year. Almost all of the recalls involved toys made in China and many involved paint with elevated levels of lead.
The study looked at the effects that the recalls had on sales of Infant and Preschool toys during the subsequent Christmas season. The authors found that Christmas sales for similar products by manufacturers named in the recalls were down by about 30% compared to other products that these manufacturers sold. But, these manufacturers’ sales of toys that were sufficiently dissimilar to those named in the recalls did not seem to be affected. In other words, consumers did not “punish” offending manufacturer more generally. Read the rest of this entry »