This paper uses daily hotel occupancy data to examine the effects of a wide variety of political and sporting events on the hotel room market of Charlotte, North Carolina from 2005 to 2014. Two political conventions and NASCAR auto races are associated with large increases in hotel occupancy, prices, and revenue, but many other events have no discernable effect on Charlotte's hotel market. The results also indicate that occupancy effects before or after most events are modest at best. Back‐of‐the‐envelope calculations show incremental hotel‐tax receipts fall short of the debt service incurred in constructing and maintaining the city's sports venues. (JEL H71, Z23, Z28)

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Data quality in the Penn World Tables varies systematically across countries that have different growth rates and are at different stages of economic development, thus introducing measurement error correlated with variables of economic interest. We explore this problem with three examples from the literature, showing that the problem appears to be minor in growth convergence regressions but serious in estimating the effect of income volatility on growth and in a cross-country test of the Permanent Income Hypothesis. The results suggest, at the least, a need for performing appropriate sensitivity tests before drawing conclusions from analyses based on these data. JEL Classification: E21, O47Information économique versus variation de qualité dans les données transversales pour plusieurs pays. La qualité des données dans les Penn World Tables varie systématiquement d'un pays à l'autre selon les taux de croissance et les stages de développement. Cela injecte des erreurs de mesure qui sont reliées aux variables économiques. Les auteurs examinent ce genre de problème à l'aide de trois exemples tirés de la littérature spécialisée. Ces exemples montrent que le problème semble mineur dans les études de convergence de la croissance, mais qu'ils paraîssent sérieux quand on calibre l'effet de la volatilité du revenu sur la croissance et dans les tests transversaux pour plusieurs pays de l'hypothèse du revenu permanent. Les resultats de ces analyses montrent qu'il faut faire les tests de sensitivité appropriés avant de tirer des conclusions à partir des analyses utilisant ces données.

Using 1981-2009 data for the 50 states, this article examines the relationship between economic freedom and the unemployment rate, the labor force participation rate, and the employment-population ratio. After controlling for a variety of state-level characteristics, the results from most specifications indicate that economic freedom is associated with lower unemployment and with higher labor force participation and employment-population ratios. (JEL J68, K31, O43)

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We present evidence on the relationship between output volatility and growth using state data. No evidence of such a relationship is found once other correlates of growth are incorporated into the analysis. This finding contradicts published results using international data; some possible explanations for the contradictory results are discussed.

In the aftermath of the Florida debacle in the 2000 Presidential election, there has been an emphasis on replacing voting equipment perceived as inferior (e.g., punch card ballots) with more technologically advanced voting methods. It is possible, however, that not all voters will be comfortable with high-tech voting devices. Elderly voters, for example, might be familiar with the old voting machines but apprehensive about computerized voting. If this is the case, the fear of new voting technology might cause the turnout of elderly voters to decrease. We test for this effect by analyzing the change in voter turnout across Georgia counties in the two most recent gubernatorial elections, as it relates to the share of the counties’ populations that is over the age of 65 years. Consistent with the hypothesis that computers scare the elderly, we find a significantly negative relationship between the change in voter turnout and the elderly share of the population. An additional 1% of the population that is elderly is associated with a 0.3–0.4% decrease in turnout. The hypothesis that elderly voters were apprehensive about the change in voting technology is also supported by the increase in absentee balloting. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005