The production, trade, and consumption of meat products and their movement around the planet were essential to the development of global markets during the first wave of globalization. This article analyzes the main changes in the ownership structure and profile of the beef industry in South America from the late nineteenth century until 1930 and how this process was reflected in certain macroeconomic variables. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the drivers of success of the meat-producing regions of Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, and Patagonia (both the Argentine and Chilean sides), and also examined the failure cases of Venezuela and the Colombian Caribbean.

There is existing evidence that many individuals have preferences regarding selection of numbers in lottery games. Lottery data indicate that the percentage of players who choose their numbers, instead of having numbers randomly assigned, varies widely by lottery game. Differences in number selection mechanisms between games and an expected return maximization motive only present for parimutuel games are both reasons that can explain the variation. Differences in the payoff distributions between lottery games could also be contributing to the observed variation, a novel proposition. An experiment is designed to control for differences in number selection mechanisms and remove the expected return maximization motive, to test for the presence of distribution-dependent number preferences. Results indicate that 40% to 50% of subjects may display such preferences. It is therefore possible that distribution-dependent number preferences contribute to the empirical variation in number selection percentages in lottery games.

Belief network analysis (BNA) has enabled major advances in the study of belief systems, capturing Converse’s understanding of the interdependence among multiple beliefs (i.e., constraint) more intuitively than many conventional statistics. However, BNA struggles with representing political divisions that follow a spatial logic, such as the “left–right” or “liberal-conservative” ideological divide. We argue that Response Item Networks (ResINs) have important advantages for modeling political cleavage lines as they organically capture belief systems in a latent ideological space. In addition to retaining many desirable properties inherent to BNA, ResIN can uncover ideological polarization in a visually intuitive, theoretically grounded, and statistically robust fashion. We demonstrate the advantages of ResIN by analyzing ideological polarization with regard to five hot-button issues from 2000 to 2020 using the American National Election Studies (ANES), and by comparing it against an equivalent procedure using BNA. We further introduce system-level and attitude-level polarization measures afforded by ResIN and discuss their potential to enrich the analysis of ideological polarization. Our analysis shows that ResIN allows us to observe much more detailed dynamics of polarization than classic BNA approaches.

Smartphones, as more sophisticated versions of mobile phones, are expected to significantly influence how rural households manage their farms. This paper examines the extent to which smartphone ownership affects the adoption of modern agricultural inputs and technologies at the extensive margin. Using a rich, nationally representative household-level dataset from Nigeria and appropriate identification strategies, we find that smartphone ownership increases the likelihood of hiring labor, using phytosanitary inputs, and operating tractors. These findings suggest that promoting the diffusion of modern digital tools in rural areas can complement traditional agricultural input support programs, offering a promising avenue to enhance agricultural productivity and livelihoods in Nigeria.

Commodity grades seem like innocuous measures of quality and thereby escape scrutiny as to their origin, purpose, and effect. Drawing on the National Live Stock and Meat Board’s executive meeting minutes and US Food Administration (USFA) records, this essay contextualizes and politicizes government beef grading. The USFA played a key role in the lead-up to government beef grading and in the creation of the Meat Board. USFA messaging as well as a post war depression curtailed consumption of feedlot-derived beef. In response, industry leaders formed a trade association called the Meat Board that acted as a liaison between industry and public sector scientists and helped bring about government beef grading. Beef grading emerged in the broader context of a campaign launched by the USFA to modernize meat retailers. At the same time, breeders, feeders, and western ranchers pushed for government beef grading in response to low prices and as a panacea. The Meat Board also cooperated with agricultural scientists in coordinating research to boost feedlot-derived beef. Rather than industry cooptation of science, this essay shows an alignment of vision in a mutually beneficial relationship. These actors, furthermore, used government beef grading to protect the feedlot system of production.

We experimentally study how individuals strategically disclose multidimensional information to a Naive Bayes algorithm trained to guess their characteristics. Subjects’ objective is to minimize the algorithm’s accuracy in guessing a target characteristic. We vary what participants know about the algorithm’s functioning and how obvious are the correlations between the target and other characteristics. Optimal disclosure strategies rely on subjects identifying whether the combination of their characteristics is common or not. Information about the algorithm functioning makes subjects identify correlations they otherwise do not see but also overthink. Overall, this information decreases the frequency of optimal disclosure strategies.

This article examines how the ideological outlook of the British worker co-operative movement gradually assumed a neoliberal character. Drawing on methods from conceptual history, it traces the evolution of the movement’s key ideas and explores the changing language in which they were expressed. Central to this shift was the emergence of a social-enterprise discourse that reframed an earlier New Left commitment to pursuing worker control “in and against the market” as a conviction that such control could be achieved only “in and through” market participation. The study centres on the Industrial Common Ownership Movement (ICOM), a national federation of worker co-operatives active in Britain between 1971 and 2001. It uses items published by ICOM, material from numerous archives, and oral interviews conducted with some of those involved in the federation’s final years.

Gerschenkron (1962) argued that public institutions such as the State Bank of the Russian Empire spurred the country’s industrialization. We test this assertion by exploiting plant-level variation in access to State Bank branches using a unique geocoded factory data set. Employing an identification strategy based on geographical distances between banks and factories, our results show improved access to public banking encouraged faster growth in factory-level revenue, mechanization, and labor productivity. In line with theories of late industrialization, we also find evidence that public credit mattered more in regions where commercial banks were fewer and markets were smaller.

Air pollution remains a major challenge, especially in developing countries, requiring joint efforts from governments and society. This study examines how mass media, through its emotional tone, functions as an informal regulator of air pollution in China’s “war on air pollution”. Using daily data on media sentiment, air quality and related variables across Chinese cities, we find that negative emotional tones in environmental news are significantly associated with lower pollution levels. We identify mechanisms through which media influence public awareness, trigger government responses and pressure firms to reduce emissions. Our findings highlight the media’s role beyond information dissemination to shape agendas and social norms, even in contexts with restricted press freedom. This study offers new insights into how emotional framing in mass media contributes to environmental governance in developing countries.

Precision agriculture technology (PAT) is often viewed as a potential driver of future efficiency gains in farming. Using within-farm variation from an unbalanced panel of Kansas farms, this study examines the impact of PAT bundles on efficiency in generating gross revenue. On average, we find little evidence that these technologies improve efficiency. However, among less efficient farms, several bundles are linked to notable efficiency gains, underscoring the importance of accounting for farm heterogeneity.

Social media has become a strategic driver of sponsorship effectiveness in major sporting events. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, digital platforms transformed how sponsorship relationships are formed, sustained, and activated for audience engagement. Yet, the mechanisms through which social media management influences sponsorship outcomes remain underexplored. This study examines the mediating role between core sponsorship antecedents – sport involvement, event attachment, brand familiarity, and sponsor-event congruence – and engagement outcomes. A quantitative survey of 7,412 Greek spectators was analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the proposed framework integrating sponsorship management and digital strategy. Results confirm that social media substantially amplifies the impact of sponsorship factors, fostering stronger sponsor–spectator connections and enhancing sponsorship returns. This is the first empirical model to link social media usage as a mediating variable between sponsorship antecedents and engagement outcomes in the context of mega-events, with a focus on the Paris 2024 Olympics. The research contributes to theory by positioning social media as a critical mediator in sponsorship strategy and offers actionable insights for managers seeking to optimize sponsorship effectiveness across diverse cultural and event contexts.

Cross-country regressions suggest that protectionism supported industrialization. I leverage novel and highly granular data covering Swedish manufacturing firms to estimate the impact of Sweden’s shift toward protectionism after 1891 on establishment-level development. Using mainly two-way fixed effects regressions, I show that tariff increases had a heterogeneous impact across establishments: initially low-productivity establishments increased their productivity, while initially high-productivity establishments experienced a relative decline. I suggest that tariffs differentially shaped the incentives of managers in low- and high-productivity establishments to innovate and (re)organize production. Consistent with modern trade theory, heterogeneous establishment-level dynamics underlie a potential tariff-growth paradox.

This research examines migration in Linares during the third quarter of the nineteenth century, focusing on migration chains. The city experienced a significant increase in population due to the mining boom, which led to an almost sixfold increase in the population over a period of 30 years. Using data from the 1873 population register, which includes more than 22,500 individuals, this study confirms the effectiveness of the migration chain framework in analyzing internal migration during the preindustrial and early industrialization periods. This approach has revealed the significant influence of this form of social capital in determining migratory flows to Linares, highlighting the importance of places of origin in the spatial distribution of the city and in the occupational specialization of the migrant population. The findings suggest that migratory chains played a key role in providing information about opportunities at the destination, as well as in reducing the costs associated with the search for employment and housing.

Este trabajo vincula la evolución del poder de mercado de la banca española con la liberalización financiera entre 1970 y 1990. Se realiza una cronología de las medidas de desregulación y se mide empíricamente el poder de mercado, para lo que se ha elaborado un indicador directo, el índice Lerner. Se comprueba que la desregulación bancaria no fue lineal, y las entidades bancarias compitieron incluso antes de la liberación completa. Se aprecia que el poder de mercado disminuyó en los años 70, por la mayor competencia a través de la red de oficinas, seguido por un aumento en los 80, coincidiendo con un parón en las medidas liberalizadoras. Desde 1988, la competencia se intensificó de nuevo con la consolidación de las medidas liberalizadoras. Además, los resultados permiten descartar la tesis de las reformas financieras consideradas como un pacto entre la banca y las autoridades que no alteró el marco competitivo permitiendo a los grandes bancos cartelizar el sector.