A generalization of the Probit model is presented, with the extended skew-normal cumulative distribution as a link function, which can be used for modelling a binary response variable in the presence of selectivity bias. The estimate of the parameters via ML is addressed, and inference on the parameters expressing the degree of selection is discussed. The assumption underlying the model is that...

This paper determines the properties of standard generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators, tests, and confidence sets (CSs) in moment condition models in which some parameters are unidentified or weakly identified in part of the parameter space. The asymptotic distributions of GMM estimators are established under a full range of drifting sequences of true parameters and distributions. The...

Analysis of adjustment loans often overlooks their repetition to the same country. Repetition changes the nature of the selection problem. None of the top 20 recipients of repeated adjustment lending over 1980–99 were able to achieve reasonable growth and contain all policy distortions. About half of the adjustment loan recipients show severe macroeconomic distortions regardless of cumulative a...

Instrumental variable models for discrete outcomes are set, not point, identifying. The paper characterises identi…ed sets of structural functions when endogenous variables are discrete. Identi…ed sets are unions of large numbers of convex sets and may not be convex nor even connected. Each of the component sets is a projection of a convex set that resides in a much higher dimensional space ont...

The paper provides probability estimates of the state of the GDP growth. A regime-switching model defines the probability of the Greek GDP being in boom or recession. Then probit models extract the predictive information of a set of explanatory (economic and financial) variables regarding the state of the GDP growth. A contemporaneous, as well as a lagged, relationship between the explanatory v...

Mortality hazard and length of time until death are widely used as health outcome measures and are themselves of fundamental demographic interest. Considerable research has asked whether labor force retirement reduces subsequent health and its mortality measures. Previous studies have reported positive, negative, and null effects of retirement on subsequent longevity and mortality hazard, but i...

The Ovum Pick Up-In vitro Production (OPU-IVP) of embryos is an advanced reproductive technology used in cattle production but the complex biological mechanisms behind IVP outcomes are not fully understood. In this study we sequenced RNA of granulosa cells collected from Holstein cows at oocyte aspiration prior to IVP, to identify candidate genes and biological mechanisms for favourable IVP-rel...

Systems of m PDEs of Adv-Diff-React type have the following form, where the dependent variables (unknowns) are u = (u j (x, t)) m j=1 : Systems of m PDEs of Adv-Diff-React type have the following form, where the dependent variables (unknowns) are u = (u j (x, t)) m j=1 : ∂ ∂t u j + ∇ · (a j u j) = ∇ · (D j ∇u j) + f j , These PDEs model a lot of important phenomena, see These PDEs model a lot o...

Intravaginal practices (IVP) are common among African women and are associated with HIV acquisition. A behavioral intervention to reduce IVP is a potential new HIV risk-reduction strategy. Fifty-eight HIV-1-uninfected Kenyan women reporting IVP and 42 women who denied IVP were followed for 3 months. Women using IVP attended a skill-building, theory-based group intervention occurring weekly for ...

This paper addresses two issues. Firstly, because the coarse­scale model inevitably misses out sub­grid heterogeneity, physical dispersion is ignored in the simulation. Secondly, the small­scale heterogeneity is not explicitly known and can only be inferred by history­matching. To solve these problems, local features in the coarse­scale relative permeability curves were adjusted in history­matc...