Nonlinear regression with measurement error is important for estimation from microeconomic data. One approach to identification and estimation is a causal model, where the unobserved true variable is predicted by observable variables. This paper is about estimation of such a model using simulated moments and a flexible disturbance distribution. An estimator of the asymptotic variance is given f...

A Martingale Representation for Matching Estimators Matching estimators are widely used in statistical data analysis. However, the distribution of matching estimators has been derived only for particular cases (Abadie and Imbens, 2006). This article establishes a martingale representation for matching estimators. This representation allows the use of martingale limit theorems to derive the asym...

Assume individuals are treated if a latent variable, containing a continuous instrument, lies between two thresholds. We place no functional form restrictions on the latent errors. Here unconfoundedness does not hold and identification at infinity is not possible. Yet we still show nonparametric point identification of the average treatment effect. We provide an associated root-n consistent est...

Using cross-country data from a sample of low, middle and high-income countries, the paper provides the first empirical test of the empirical relationships between national measures of social capital (civic and public), social divergence and social capacity upon various indicators of national environmental performance. The results indicate a possible link between public social capital (democrac...

The paper analyzes how social barriers to communication affect economy-wide productivity and factor accumulation. Using a dynamic model of an economy that includes a reproducible capital stock (physical or human) and effective labor, a negative relationship is shown to exist between social barriers to communication and total factor productivity (TFP), per capita consumption and reproducible cap...

We model unobserved preference heterogeneity in demand systems as random Barten scales in utility functions. These Barten scales appear as random coefficients multiplying prices in demand functions. Consumer demands are nonlinear in prices and may have unknown functional structure. We therefore prove identification of additive Generalized Random Coefficients models, defined as additive nonparam...

Unlike the federal government, most state governments in the U.S. formally operate under statutory or constitutional constraints which limit their ability to run budget deficits and resort to debt financing. A priori, one would expect to find evidence in favor of an intertemporally balanced budget, or fiscal sustainability, among states, especially those that are characterized by a high degree ...

Price-based interventions can be corrective where users extract from a common resource, but may also impact existing social norms, often crowding them out. In contrast, I find a pumping tax implemented by a group of irrigators in Southern Colorado effectively crowded-in pro-conservation norms, enhancing the financial incentive’s impact. Using a unique, spatially oriented panel-data set of groun...

In this paper we explore the application of Generalised Additive Models of Location, Scale and Shape for the analysis of conditional income distributions in Germany following the reunification. We find that conditional income distributions can generally be modelled using the three parameter Dagum distribution and our results hint at an even more pronounced effect of skill-biased technological c...

One theory argues that state ownership of infrastructure is greater in poor countries because the social returns from investment exceed the private returns by a wider margin. Another theory argues that state ownership is greater when legal and political institutions provide weak enforcement of private property rights or weak limits on government excess. I test these theories using cross-country...