Article history: Received 15 January 2013 Received in revised form 18 April 2014 Accepted 22 April 2014 Available online xxxx JEL classification: C33 D3 D91 J31

Using a panel of international student test scores, 1980 – 2000, panel fixed effects estimates suggest that government spending decentralization is conducive to student performance. The effect does not appear to be mediated through levels of, or decentralization in, educational spending. JEL codes: C33; H2; I2, H40

Unemployment Persistence: How Important Are Non-Cognitive Skills? Using a random effects dynamic panel data model and the 2000-2008 waves of the German SOEP this paper shows that non-cognitive skills have a predictive power on unemployment transitions. JEL Classification: C33, J64

This paper presents a version of the proportionally calibrated almost ideal demand system (PCAIDS) model, useful for merger simulations, which can be econometrically estimated using price data for two firms in a market. The model is then applied to a database of the Argentine gasoline market, and its results are compared to the ones obtained with other alternative specifications. JEL Classifica...

We consider the estimation of the usual Gravity model of trade, which involves flows of trade, say exports, from country i to country j in time period t. We suggest an easy-to-impliment generalised method of moments estimator that avoids the issues associated with the usual fixed effects treatment of the unobserved heterogeneity in this type of models and at the same time provides consistent pa...

This paper introduces model specifications that can be used to explain response incentive effects that might occur with discrete response contingent valuation data when follow-up responses are collected. The models allowfor possible random response shocks, structural ships in willingness to pay betweenpayment questionsand heteroskedasticity between and within responses. Three well-known conting...

The paper explores the effect of technological specialisation on economic growth within a balance-of-payments-constrained growth model. We find that countries that are specialised in fast-growing technologies experience above average rates of growth due to the positive effects on international competitiveness. Moreover, we find that innovation, imitation and investment affect countries’ perform...

Recent evaluations of the impact of Turkish healthcare reforms on the efficiency of public hospitals suffer from simultaneous structural changes in the healthcare sector as well as from lack of data on some of the key ingredients of the reform. In this note, we analyze the major obstacles in a fair evaluation of the efficiency of public hospitals taking Sulku(2011)’s data envelopment analysis a...

This paper proposes a new unit root test in the context of a random autoregressive coefficient panel data model, in which the null of a unit root corresponds to the joint restriction that the autoregressive coefficient has unit mean and zero variance. The asymptotic distribution of the test statistic is derived and simulation results are provided to suggest that it performs very well in small s...


 Since the growing interest in study of dynamics tourism and its implications for economic growth, this paper explores Latin America Caribbean case. From regimes’ conception time series symbolization, we perform a cluster analysis posterior causality relationship estimation between growth performance 22 countries considering period 1995 2015. Results show existence two clusters with simil...