Abstract. This paper proposes a penalized quantile regression estimator for panel data that explicitly considers individual heterogeneity associated with the covariates. We provide conditions under which the estimator is asymptotically Gaussian, and the harshness of the penalization can be determined by minimizing asymptotic mean squared error. We investigate finite sample and asymptotic perfor...

A number of recent papers have found evidence of interdependencies in utility functions, in that, ceteris paribus, individual well-being falls as others' income or consumption increases. This paper asks if, in addition, the distribution of income in the reference group matters. I consider full-time employees in eleven waves of British panel data, and take life satisfaction and the GHQ-12 as mea...

This paper aims to reveal the nexus for sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission and income, as well as the effects of technical progress on SO2 emission in China based on environment Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. The spatial panel technique is used in case the coefficient estimates are biased due to the negligence of spatial dependence. With the provincial panel data of China from 2004 to 2014, this is...

Income mobility is often thought to equalize permanent incomes and thereby to improve social welfare. The welfare analysis of mobility often fails, however, to account for the cost of the variability of periodic incomes around permanent incomes. This paper assesses the net welfare benefit of mobility by assuming both a social aversion to inequality in permanent incomes and an individual aversio...