Economics

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    The effects of global uncertainty factors, local financial variables, and global financial market variables on the CDS of PIIGS countries
    (2023) Whelan, Thomas; Binder, Carola Conces
    This paper seeks to find the variables most responsible for causing fragmentation of bond and CDS spreads in the Eurozone. It analyzes the fragmented economies of the Eurozone, the PIIGS countries, and sets of global uncertainty variables, local financial variables, and global financial market variables. This paper uses daily data on these variables from 30 September 2014 to 20 May 2022. A panel regression and a series of single country regressions are used to analyze this data. In the panel regression only the OVX produces significant results; this is likely due to results having mixed results for the other variables. The individual country regressions find that nearly every variable is significant with variety in the effects of each variable on each country. The relationship between Greek CDS spreads and the US 10-year treasury rate as well as the relationship between debt/GDP and Greek and Irish CDS spreads.
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    Soccer Transfers and Performance in the Premier League: How Popularity affects Transfer Fees
    (2023) Ward, Benjamin A.; Lambie-Hanson, Timothy
    This paper evaluates the key determinants of transfer fees in the Premier League from June 2016 to January 2021. An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression shows that performance, popularity, the remaining length in a player’s contract, and buying club characteristics are all significant determinants of transfer fees. Additional results illustrate the explanatory power of popularity and the role it plays in determining transfer fees.
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    An Analysis of Business Combinations within the Automobile Manufacturing Industry: The Effects of Mergers, Acquisitions, and Alliances on Firm Performance and Value
    (2023) Smith, Ashton G.; Arredondo-Chavez, Alberto
    This paper analyzes business combinations among automobile manufacturers from 1979 to the present, a subset of the automotive industry that provides consumers with personal transportation. It is designed to assess the effects of mergers, acquisitions, and alliances (termed “events”) between and among automobile manufacturers on company performance and value. To do so, this paper will calculate the effect of these events on (i) the affected companies’ performance, as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (“EBITDA”), and (ii) the value of the affected companies’ publicly-issued stock outstanding held by the general public (the “public float”). Because events typically cause changes in the number of employees who work for the affected companies, the analysis also considers the effect on performance per worker by dividing company EBITDA by the number of employees. Similarly, events typically cause changes in the public float, so measuring the effect on company value also needs to account for this change. Understanding the relationship between events and company performance and events and company value will help determine whether business combinations in the automobile industry have been effective or ineffective, both in aggregate and concerning a particular company’s merger, acquisition, or alliance. The results of this analysis show a strong statistically significant negative effect of business combinations on valuations for automobile manufacturers. However, the results of such business combinations on performance are inconclusive. Further research will be needed to fully understand the factors that contribute to the conditions for a successful business combination.
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    Preferences Among NFL Fans: Skin Tone and Merchandise Sales
    (2023) Mutai, Kennedy Kiplangat; Parameswaran, Giri
    This paper investigates discrimination against black NFL players by looking at sales of licensed merchandise from the year 2013 to 2021. When controlling for player and team performance, results strongly show that black players are less likely to be among the top merchandise sellers. Using a structural model, I find that for every level of merchandise sales, white players are 84% more likely to achieve sales above that level compared to black players.
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    An Examination of Discrimination in the Premier League
    (2023) Page, Celia; Preston, Anne Elizabeth
    This paper examines potential discrimination against non-white players through a study of yellow and red cards awarded to players in the English Premier League throughout the 2010- 11 to 2020-21 seasons. In addition, this paper investigates the effect of explicit monitoring technology, the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) in Premier League soccer, to see if referee bias exists or diminishes. I ultimately find that non-white players are less likely to receive yellow cards than white players, reducing their predicted probability of receiving a yellow card by 1.02 percentage points which is statistically significant; this translates to about a 10% reduction. The test for red cards revealed that non-white players receive slightly more red cards than white players, however none of these specifications yielded statistically significant results. The VAR analysis showed that explicit monitoring technology can reduce the probability of referees awarding yellow cards by 1.39 percentage points, which is statistically significant. Further, the lower probability of yellow cards for non-white players disappears in the post VAR period. Finally, position level analyses reveal that all the significant results are driven by issuing of yellow cards to both forwards and defenders.