Applied Economics

Applied Economics

Published by Taylor & Francis

Online ISSN: 1466-4283

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Print ISSN: 0003-6846

Journal websiteAuthor guidelines

Top-read articles

119 reads in the past 30 days

How does financial literacy affect farmers' agricultural investments? A study from the perspectives of risk preferences and time preferences

February 2024

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1,621 Reads

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5 Citations

Guihua Liu

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The growth of the agricultural economy is inseparable from agricultural investments among farmers. Sadly, Chinese farmers are generally under-invested, and the factors affecting agricultural investments need to be identified. Using data from the China Land Economic Survey (CLES) in 2021, this study examines the effects of farmers' financial literacy on two types of agricultural investments. The results are as follows: (1) Financial literacy has positive effects on both liquid investments and fixed investments. (2) The effects of financial literacy on liquid investments and fixed investments vary among farmers due to differences in farmland size and insurance purchase. (3) Risk preferences mediate the effects of financial literacy on liquid investments and fixed investments. By contrast, time preferences only play a mediating role in the effect of financial literacy on fixed investments. Therefore, it is necessary to improve financial education in rural areas, notice the investment willingness of different farmer groups, improve their risk resistance and time tolerance, and thus promote agricultural investments.

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101 reads in the past 30 days

Peers in puppy love and student academic performance in middle school: quasi-experimental evidence from China

August 2024

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206 Reads

In the ongoing debate regarding the impact of puppy love on adolescents’ personal development, the existing literature has paid insufficient attention to the externalities of students experiencing puppy love in classrooms. By using a nationally representative survey of middle school students in China, we employed random student-classroom assignment as a quasi-experiment to investigate the causal effect of classroom peers experiencing puppy love on students’ academic performance. We found that classroom peers in puppy love had an adverse impact on students’ academic performance, which is proven to be reliable by a series of robustness checks, including instrumental variable(IV)estimation, removing extreme observations, placebo tests, and adding other control variables. Mechanism analysis indicated that this negative peer effect was caused by students’ lower learning effort, lower expectations for the future, further peer effect of student friends and teachers’ lack of responsibility and patience. Furthermore, this negative effect was more pronounced among boys, students with high family income, and medium or low cognitive ability.

Aims and scope


Applies economic analysis to both public and private sector related problems, particularly quantitative and empirical studies with practical applications.

  • Applied Economics is a peer-reviewed journal encouraging the application of economic analysis to specific problems in both the public and private sectors.
  • It particularly fosters quantitative and empirical studies, the results of which are of use in the practical field, and thus helps to bring economic theory nearer to reality.
  • Contributions which make use of the methods of mathematics, statistics and operations research will be welcomed, provided the conclusions are factual and properly explained.
  • Applied Economics accepts the following types of article: original articles.
  • Please note that this journal only publishes manuscripts in English.
  • Peer review policy: Taylor & Francis is committed to peer-review integrity and upholding the highest standards of review. Once your paper has been assessed for suitability by the editor, it will then be single blind peer-reviewed by independent, anonymous expert referees.
  • Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.

For a full list of the subject areas this journal covers, please visit the journal website.

Recent articles


Set-aside auctions and small businesses’ participation in public procurement: an empirical analysis
  • Article

February 2025

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2 Reads

Gegam Shagbazian

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Paola Valbonesi

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Andrey Tkachenko

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Elena Shadrina








Figure 1. Parallel trend test.
Figure 2. Placebo test for random randomly selecting firms as part of the treatment group.
Figure 3. (a) Caliper match(1:3). (b) Caliper match(1:4).
Summary statistics.
Social insurance contribution and digitalization transformation.

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Social insurance contribution and firms’ digital transformation: Evidence from China
  • Article
  • Full-text available

January 2025

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137 Reads

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2 Citations

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Wenlong Liu

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[...]

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Jiapeng An

We examine the relationship between social insurance contribution and firms’ digital transformation by using the data of Chinese firms listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHSE) and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) from 2007 to 2017. We find that social insurance contribution has increased the degree of firms’ digitalization transformation. We also explore two important mechanisms through which the Social Insurance Law (SIL) affects firms’ digital transformation: cash flow effect and factor substitution effect. The results indicate that the positive impact of the social insurance contribution on firms’ digitalization is more significant for firms that are not stateowned, have smaller sizes, labour intensive, with low tax burden, low financial leverage, and low productivity. One important implication of our study is that firms’ digitalization can be a strategic choice made by labour intensive firms to overcome rising cost of labour as a result of the SIL.


Bilateral Risk in Savings and Loan Holding Companies: An Econophysics Framework for Analyzing Network Resilience

January 2025

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46 Reads

Using an econophysics framework, this study applies actor-network theory to analyze bilateral risk in Savings and Loan Holding Companies (SLHCs). We construct intercompany funding and exposure networks using intercompany assets and liabilities data by utilizing a maximum entropy model on the annual balance sheets of 147 US SLHCs from 2013 to 2023. Two algorithms are employed to extract core-periphery network features, which allow us to assess optimal linkages and disruptions from external shocks. Our findings show that external shocks lead to network shrinkage, thus increasing vulnerability to contagion. Furthermore, negative degree assortativity values indicate a tendency for small SLHCs to connect with large SLHCs preferentially rather than other small ones. Simulating the removal of core nodes from the core-periphery structure in weighted graphs reveals that direct interconnections between SLHCs are the primary drivers of systemic risk. In contrast to the findings in commercial bank systems, intercompany exposure and funding networks in SLHCs display similar connectivity patterns, likely due to their limited branch networks and narrower business focus. This study expands on previous research to evaluate the robustness and resilience of SLHC networks to shocks by incorporating additional core-periphery network features, providing a more comprehensive understanding of SLHCs' risk dynamics. 2 Keywords maximum entropy model; bilateral risk analysis; core-periphery network features; Savings and Loan Holding Companies (SLHCs); actor-network theory; risk management JEL C15 C44 C61 D85 G21






Economic uncertainty, monetary policy, and global commodity price dynamics: the role of "China factors"

January 2025

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15 Reads

This paper aims to investigate the role of 'China factors' in the dynamics of global commodity prices from an interaction perspective. We employ a nonlinear Interacted-VAR to model the interaction between economic uncertainty and monetary policy. Our findings indicate that the response of global commodity prices to China's economic uncertainty is stronger and more persistent when monetary policy is in the loose regime. These results are shown not to be driven by China's business cycles, and remain robust across a variety of alternative model specifications. Counterfactual analysis further suggests that failing to take into account their interaction in the model could lead to incorrectly assessing the impact of commodity price determinants. Moreover, the responses of commodity prices to uncertainty shocks differ substantially across sectors, highlighting the heterogeneity in the reactions of commodities to 'China factors'. Additionally, the response of commodity prices to policy-specific uncertainty shocks exhibits more similarities than differences across various uncertainty categories. Our paper gains insight into the interaction between economic uncertainty and monetary policy, as well as the role of 'China factors' in the global commodity market.













Journal metrics


1.8 (2023)

Journal Impact Factor™


41%

Acceptance rate


3.8 (2023)

CiteScore™


56 days

Submission to first decision


0.900 (2023)

SNIP


0.590 (2023)

SJR

Editors