inverted-U Hypothesis Research Articles

Another look at the income elasticity of non-point source air pollutants: a semiparametric approach

In this paper, a semiparametric model is used to examine the relationship between pollution and income for three non-point source pollutants. Statistical tests reject the quadratic specification in favor of the semiparametric model in all cases. However, the results do not support the inverted-U hypothesis for the pollution–income relationship.

A Cross-cultural Study of Precompetition Anxiety and Performance in Diving

1517 Hanin's (1980) Individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF) theory contends that for each individual there exist a specific range, or zone, of state anxiety that is most conductive to superior performance. However, comparable information is not available in junior divers. PURPOSE: The intent of this study was to test the efficacy of Hanin's IZOF theory to explain the relationship between precompetition anxiety (PCA) and performance with 22 junior divers having different nationalities (14 Japanese and 8 American). METHODS: Each diver first completed the state version of the SATI (Japanese or English version, Form X-1) utilizing the standard instructional set, and this served as a baseline measure. Then divers performed retrospective recall of past competition modeled after a protocol described by Hanin. This was achieved by having the divers fill out the state version of SATI three separate time on the basis of how they recall feeling immediately before the:(a) best, (b) worst, (c) best of the most difficult dive during their previous season. RESULTS: The result indicated that PCA was significantly greater than baseline for recall of best, worst, best of the most difficult dive performances (P<0.05). In accordance with IZOF theory, considerable variation was found in the range of recalled best PCA (IZOF) and 72.7% of divers reported performing best at either low or high levels of PCA. In the contrast of cultural difference, while Japanese showed significant elevation in PCA for all recalled conditions, American elevated PCA only in the recalled worst condition (P<0.05). In addition, Japanese possessed higher recalled best PCA than that of American's (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These findings support Hanin's Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning Theory despite of the cultural difference. It possibly imply that coaches and divers should maintain their PCA level within their IZOF to perform best rather than merely lowering PCA levels for all divers that is generally used in relaxation technique based on the Inverted-U hypothesis.

Arousal, Anxiety, and Performance: A Reexamination of the Inverted-U Hypothesis

Until recently, the traditional Inverted-U hypothesis had been the primary model used by sport psychologists to describe the arousal-performance relationship. However, many sport psychology researchers have challenged this relationship, and the current trend is a shift toward a more “multidimensional” view of arousal-anxiety and its effects on performance. In the current study, 104 college-age participants performed a simple response time task while riding a bicycle ergometer. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight arousal groups (between 20 and 90% of heart rate reserve) and were told they were competing for a cash prize. Prior to the task, the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 and Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS) were administered to assess the influence of cognitive and somatic anxiety. As hypothesized, regression analysis revealed a significant quadratic trend for arousal and reaction time. This accounted for 13.2% of the variance, F change (1, 101) = 15.10, p < .001, in performance beyond that accounted for by the nonsignificant linear trend. As predicted by the Inverted-U hypothesis, optimal performance on the simple task was seen at 60 and 70% of maximum arousal. Furthermore, for the simple task used in this study, only somatic anxiety as measured by the SAS accounted for significant variance in performance beyond that accounted for by arousal alone. These findings support predictions of the Inverted-U hypothesis and raise doubts about the utility theories that rely on differentiation of cognitive and somatic anxiety to predict performance on simple tasks that are not cognitively loaded.

Concentration and Innovation in the U.S. Food Industries

We investigate the effect of industrial concentration on productivity growth, a proxy for innovation, in the U.S. food industries. Here, we search for a possible critical level of concentration, i.e., the inverted-U hypothesis beyond which its relationship with productivity can turn negative. Productivity growth is specified as function of growth in concentration and vice versa with conditioning variables. The resulting simultaneous panel model is estimated using a panel (grouped) database comprising of 36 food-processing industries and the 1964-1992 period. Results suggest the conditioned productivity-industrial concentration relationship has an inverted-U shape. The critical level of concentration, where the relationship between growth rates of productivity and concentration turns negative, appears to be 62.3, a 24% increase from the current levels. A mapping of the net effects of an increase in concentration suggests that current deadweight loss of $7.8 billion can be reduced to about $2.8 billion when concentration increases by 18% from its current level. A reassessment of the income distributional effects of concentration suggests that consumers gain from lower food prices and agricultural producers face an increase in demand, albeit in a second-best world.

Spatial Dynamic Variations of Regional Inequality in Korea and Japan

This study attempts to illustrate the patterns of regional inequality and their dynamic variations in Korea and Japan where economic development levels differ. In order to present a reasonable demonstration of such patterns, the study starts with and further develops Williamson's inverted-U hypothesis and Amos' augmented inverted-U hypothesis through a detailed empirical analysis of the interplay between regional dynamics and regional income inequality in the cases of both Korea and Japan. The primary conclusions of this study can be stated as: (1) Korea and Japan are moving into the spatial restructuring phase from the preceding polarization reversal phase after 1996 and 1978, respectively; (2) Regional dynamics applied to widespread regional growth and decline becomes very clear by portraying of the dynamic variation of inequality in geographical space.

EFFECTS OF NOISE, HEAT AND INDOOR LIGHTING ON COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE AND SELF-REPORTED AFFECT

Theoretical and practical concerns guided the design of an experiment on how ventilation noise (38 and 58 dBA), air temperature (21 and 27°C), and illuminance (300 and 1500 lx) combine or interact in their effects on cognitive performance. Self-reports of affective states were taken with an affect circumplex measure (Larsen & Diener, 1992; Knez & Hygge, in press) to study the mediation from the environmental variables over affect to cognitive performance.Arousal models (e.g., Broadbent, 1971) would predict that increased levels of noise and illuminance increase activation and/or affect levels and that mild heat decreases it. The inverted U-hypothesis would further predict that intermediate levels of perceived arousal improve attention, memory and problem solving performance. A distinction was made between synergetic and antagonistic interactions in order to differentiate arousal and nonarousal mediated effects on cognitive performance.The results showed that attention worked faster in noise but at the cost of lesser accuracy, which supports the Speed-Accuracy-Trade-Off hypothesis (Hockey, 1984). Interactions were found between noise and heat on the long-term recall of a text, and between noise and light on the free recall of emotionally toned words. These effects on cognitive performance could not be explained as mediated by the affective states, and were not consistent with an arousal model and the inverted-U hypothesis.

The Kuznets inverted-U hypothesis: panel data evidence from 96 countries

Regression results from a panel data set of high-quality comparable data on Gini coefficients, income quintiles and real GDP per capita in 96 countries over the postwar period, suggest that the relation between income inequality and development corresponds to an inverted-U, as hypothesized by Kuznets.

Inter-Country Inequiality in Social Indicators of Development

In 1955 Kuznets developed a hypothesis about the relationshipbetween the degree of personal income inequality within a countryand the level of economic development of the country. Thishypothesis suggests that with economic growth, interpersonalincome inequality first increases but after a certain pointstarts to decline. This is known as the inverted-U hypothesis. In1965, Williamson applied this inverted-U hypothesis to the widelyobserved pattern of intra-country regional inequality witheconomic development. This hypothesis was later extended tointer-country inequality in Per Capita Gross National Product(PCGNP) by Ram (1989). The paradigm of development economics hasrecently been shifted from PCGNP to human well-being and it hasbeen broadly accepted that economic growth does not automaticallytranslate into human well-being. The present study is an attemptto extend the application of the inverted-U hypothesis to explainthe relationship between inter-country inequality in socialindicators of development and economic growth.

Income distribution in the United States: Kuznets' inverted-U hypothesis and data non-stationarity

The hypothesis that income distribution follows an inverted-U pattern with respect to economic growth has been tested against US time-series data by several authors, and rejected. We reconsider this issue, paying special attention to data non-stationarity, and the use of ‘unbalanced’ Seemingly Unrelated Regressions estimation. We also reject the hypothesis, but find that minimum income inequality occurred at different times for different ethnic groups, and at later dates than suggested by previous studies.

Information, the Dual Economy, and Development

We examine the interactions between different institutional arrangements in a general equilibrium model of a modernizing economy. There is a modern sector, where productivity is high but information asymmetries are large, and a traditional sector where productivity is low but information asymmetries are small. Consequently, agency costs in the modern sector make consumption lending difficult, while such lending is readily done in the traditional sector. The resulting trade-off between credit availability and productivity implies that not everyone will move to the modern sector. In fact, the laissez-faire level of modernization may fail to maximize net social surplus. This situation may also hold in the long run: in a dynamic version of the model, a trickle-down effect links the process of modernization with reduction in modern sector agency costs. This effect may be too weak and the economy may get stuck in a trap and never fully modernize. The two-sector structure also yields a natural theoretical testing ground for the Kuznets inverted-U hypothesis: we show that even within the sectoral shifting class of models, this phenomenon is not robust to small changes in model specification.

Testing the inverted-U hypothesis for US hazardous waste: An application of the generalized gamma model

Using cross-sectional US county data, we demonstrate the inverted-U relationship between hazardous waste and per capita income. We use the generalized gamma model and two separate dependent variables: (1) tons of hazardous waste scaled by waste generators; and (2) total hazardous waste sites scaled by manufacturing establishments.

Coercion and Protest: An Empirical Test in Two Democratic States

Theory: The theory of protest under varying levels of coercion forms the context for an investigation of the data on protest coercion in Germany and Northern Ireland for 11 years (1982-92), aggregated weekly. Hypotheses: The standard inverted-U hypothesis is tested against competing unstable (protest and coercion diverge and oscillate); backlash (coercion increases protest); and adaptation (protesters change tactics after coercion) hypotheses. Methods: Three forms of the biological predator-prey model are estimated with twoand three-stage least squares and supplemented with a Bayesian updating test. Results: The predator-prey mechanism fits the German data well, even in a context of low coercion. The results cast doubt on the inverted-U hypothesis, support the backlash hypothesis and strengthen the evidence that protesters adapt. Northern Ireland's terror-based protest and coercion did not conform as well to the predatorprey model, but protesters did adapt in a separate test of Bayesian updating.

The inverted-U relationship between stress and performance: A field study

Abstract To investigate the shape of the relationship between stress resulting from excessive demand and performance, 306 officer cadets in the Israel Defence Forces completed stress questionnaires during their training. Stress was consistently negatively related to various measures of performance. The prediction derived from the inverted-U hypothesis, that those whose ability exceeded demand and those who felt that demands taxed their ability would perform worse than those whose ability matched their demands, was not supported. Until all the requisite conditions for testing the inverted-U hypothesis are met, the authors propose relegating it to the laboratory.

Variability in precompetition anxiety and performance in college track and field athletes

The influence of anxiety on sport performance was examined using the inverted-U hypothesis and Zone of Optimal Function (ZOF) theory. Sixty-seven collegiate track and field athletes completed versions of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to determine baseline state anxiety, recalled best anxiety, and precompetition anxiety. Precompetition state anxiety was determined 1 h before competition in four meets. Three variants of the inverted-U hypothesis were examined: 1) task-specific anxiety, 2) individualized median precompetition anxiety, and 3) mean precompetition anxiety. For ZOF, optimal anxiety was established from anxiety scores based on recalled best performance. Subjects were grouped as either inside or outside of optimal anxiety levels according to inverted-U or ZOF criteria. Mean group performance was determined by transforming individual results using intra- and interindividual standards. ANOVA revealed that subjects possessing optimal anxiety according to inverted-U criteria performed no better (P > 0.05) than cases outside optimal. Subjects with precompetition anxiety values within their individual ZOF performed significantly (P < 0.05) better than cases with anxiety outside ZOF for all contrasts. The largest(P < 0.05) performance decrements resulted when anxiety was within a 1 SD range above or below ZOF. These results indicate that ZOF theory was more efficacious than the variants of the inverted-U hypothesis examined.

Variability in precompetition anxiety and performance in college track and field athletes.

The influence of anxiety on sport performance was examined using the inverted-U hypothesis and Zone of Optimal Function (ZOF) theory. Sixty-seven collegiate track and field athletes completed versions of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to determine baseline state anxiety, recalled best anxiety, and precompetition anxiety. Precompetition state anxiety was determined 1 h before competition in four meets. Three variants of the inverted-U hypothesis were examined: 1) task-specific anxiety, 2) individualized median precompetition anxiety, and 3) mean precompetition anxiety. For ZOF, optimal anxiety was established from anxiety scores based on recalled best performance. Subjects were grouped as either inside or outside of optimal anxiety levels according to inverted-U or ZOF criteria. Mean group performance was determined by transforming individual results using intra- and interindividual standards. ANOVA revealed that subjects possessing optimal anxiety according to inverted-U criteria performed no better (P > 0.05) than cases outside optimal. Subjects with precompetition anxiety values within their individual ZOF performed significantly (P < 0.05) better than cases with anxiety outside ZOF for all contrasts. The largest (P < 0.05) performance decrements resulted when anxiety was within a 1 SD range above or below ZOF. These results indicate that ZOF theory was more efficacious than the variants of the inverted-U hypothesis examined.

Regional Income Disparities in Canada: Implications for Theories of Regional Convergence

Traditional regional convergence theory has come under serious scrutiny in view of the recent divergence in regional incomes in the U.S. during the eighties. Neither the neoclassical theory of a steady decline in regional disparities over time nor Kuznets’ inverted-U hypothesis can satisfactorily explain regional divergence in an advanced industrial nation. Alternative theories that emphasize spatial restructuring of economic activity have been offered to explain rising regional inequality in the U.S. In this paper, we caution against a hasty approach to new theorizing based on the U.S. experience alone. We study the Canadian experience with regional economic convergence to see how, if at all, it parallels the experience of the United States, Europe, and Australia, with respect to regional growth. By examining provincial data at the industry level, we seek to detect if there are any leading sectors of spatial concentration as in the U.S. We find that, unlike the U.S., European, and Australian experience, Canada has been characterized by consistent, albeit gradual, economic convergence, including in the 1980s. No leading sectors of regional importance emerge, but based on available data, federal programs of regional equalization may be at least partly responsible for continued regional convergence in Canada.

Income Distribution and Growth: The Kuznets Hypothesis Revisited

This study develops a general equilibrium model in which the evolution of income inequality and output conforms with the Kuznets hypothesis. The paper presents a novel endogenous mechanism that generates the inverted-U relation between income inequality and per capita output, and captures the reciprocal influence between the two. Unlike previous attempts for a comprehensive theoretical modelling of this phenomenon, the evolution of the economy is consistent with another important empirical observation: namely, that output growth is accompanied in the early stages of development by a widening wage differential between skilled and unskilled labour, whereas in a later stage this wage differential declines. This study develops a general equilibrium model in which the evolution of income inequality and output conforms with the Kuznets hypothesis. The paper presents a novel endogenous mechanism that generates the inverted-U relation between income inequality and per capita output, and captures the reciprocal influence between the two. Unlike previous attempts for a compre- hensive theoretical modelling of this phenomenon, the economic evolution is consistent with another important empirical observation: namely, that output growth is accompanied in early stages of development by a widening wage differential between skilled and unskilled labour, whereas in a later stage this wage differential declines. The relationship between the distribution of income and economic growth has been a focus of research for several decades. In a seminal contribution, Kuznets (1955) explored the historical evolution of income distribution and per capita output. His study demonstrated that income inequality widens in the early phase of economic growth and narrows in the later stage of development. Kuznets's inverted-U hypothesis has been debated in the last few decades, and has been confirmed by a large number of cross-section empirical studies and refuted by others.' Time-series analysis indicates that the hypothesis is consist- 2 ent with the experience of most of the developed world. Furthermore, these studies suggest that output growth is accompanied in early stages of develop- ment by a widening wage differential between skilled and unskilled labour and that in a later stage this wage differential declines (see e.g. Williamson 1985). Throughout the years, the link between income distribution and economic growth has been interpreted mostly as a causal relation from growth to income distribution. Recently, however, the nature of this link has been re-examined and attention has been paid to the causality in the other direction. Galor and Zeira (1993) have demonstrated that, owing to borrowing constraints, income

Felt Arousal, Thoughts/Feelings, and Ski Performance

This study examined the relationship between felt arousal, thoughts/feelings, and ski performance based on recent arousal and affect conceptualizations. An eclectic integration of these perspectives suggests that to understand the arousal-performance relationship, researchers need to examine not only a felt arousal continuum (i.e., intensity or level ranging from low to high), but also a concomitant thoughts and feelings continuum (i.e., ranging from positive to negative). Recreational slalom ski racers completed a self-report measure examining felt arousal and thoughts/feelings prior to several ski runs. Results demonstrated a significant relationship between felt arousal level, thoughts/feelings, and subjective ski performance ratings, but not for actual ski times. In contrast to the inverted-U hypothesis for subjective performance ratings, high felt arousal is not associated with poor performance ratings if it is accompanied by positive thoughts and feelings.

Kuznets's inverted-U hypothesis revisited

Kuznets's inverted-U hypothesis revisited

The spatial and temporal dynamics of US regional income inequality, 1950–1989

The inverted-U hypothesis which so influenced research on regional income inequality is obsolete and does not predict or explain the recent rise in regional inequality. We argue that the regional dynamics literature on polarization, polarization reversal and spatial restructuring offers more powerful explanations to changes in regional income inequality. In addition to the conventional approach of measuring systemic inequality, the empirical analysis in this paper emphasizes inequality variations, which put into focus the interplay between regional dynamics and regional income inequality. The findings highlight the impact of sectoral shifts and global spatial restructuring on the US regional economy, where new cores of growth and renewed growth are emerging.