The algorithms discussed in this paper may be used as a construction set to model the stochastic relation of variables. If for a subset of variables there is a domain theory on their causal dependency this should be formulated as probabilistic rules. For other subsets of variables there may be only an unspeciied association that can be modelled by a neural network with hidden variables. The cor...

Financial development is vulnerable to social conflict. Conflict reduces the demand for domestic currency as a medium of exchange and a store of value. Conflict also leads to poor quality governance, including weak regulation of the financial system, thereby undermining the sustainability of financial institutions. Conflict therefore reduces the social return to financial liberalization and oth...

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This Discussion Paper is issued within the framework of IZA's research areas 0RELOLW\\DQGG)OH[LELOLW\\ RII /DERUU 0DUNHWV 7KHH :HOIDUHH 6WDWHH DQGG /DERUU 0DUNHWV DQGG *HQHUDOO /DERUU (FRQRPLFV Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of the institute. Research disseminated by IZA may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy pos...

Fostering Within-Family Human Capital Investment: An Intragenerational Insurance Perspective of Social Security We develop a general equilibrium stochastic OLG model with heterogenous households. Households differ with respect to their productivity. Productivity depends stochastically on parents' unobservable investment in their child's human capital and an aggregate productivity shock. We intr...

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Does Future PC Use Determine Our Wages Today? Evidence from German Panel Data Using 1985–1999 data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (GSOEP) to analyze wages confirms the hypothesis that existing computer wage premiums are determined by individual ability or other unobserved individual characteristics rather than by productivity effects. While a rather large personal computer (PC) wage...