This paper quantifies the contributions of sectoral productivity growth and structural change to aggregate productivity convergence. Existing evidence is inconclusive because it focuses on convergence within sector and its methodology depends sensitively on the conversion factor used to compare sectoral productivity levels across countries. Thus, a methodology – β-decomposition – is proposed to...

This paper applies an established bid-ask spread decomposition model to short-term interest rate (STIR) futures to assess the impact of both the migration from floor to electronic trading and European Monetary Union (EMU). Additionally, the paper presents and tests a modified decomposition model which is specifically adapted to the features of order-driven markets. The latter model provides muc...

In this paper, we propose a model based on multivariate decomposition of multiplicative— absolute values and signs—components of several returns. In the m-variate case, the marginals for the m absolute values and the binary marginals for the m directions are linked through a 2m-dimensional copula. The approach is detailed in the case of a bivariate decomposition. We outline the construction of ...

This paper applies an established bid-ask spread decomposition model to spot foreign exchange market in order to assess the impact of European Monetary Union (EMU). Additionally, the paper presents and tests a modified decomposition model which is specifically adapted to the features of order-driven markets. The latter model provides much improved performance. Price clustering is introduced as ...

This paper uses a randomized experiment to compare to methods of implementing an early primary literacy program in Northern Uganda. Our first treatment group receives the program as implemented by the organization that designed it; the second treatment group received a reduced-cost version of the program that was designed to simulate it might be scaled up. The full version of the program has ex...

Diffuse competition due to niche overlap between actors without (direct) ties with each other, constrains their structural autonomy. This is not dealt with in Burt’s mathematical model of his well-known structural holes theory. We fix his model by introducing a network measure of niche overlap. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: L0; L1

In this paper we apply the method of inferred causation for macroeconomic analysis. First we introduce briefly the theory of inferred causation developed by Pearl and Verma (1991). We apply this method to the identification of structural vector autoregression (SVAR) models. In an example of monetary policy analysis we demonstrate how causal information embedded in the data can be used to identi...

We quantify the role of population aging in structural transformation process. Household-level data from United States show that fraction expenditures devoted to services increases with household age. use a shift-share decomposition and quantitative model US accounted for about fifth observed increase service share consumption between 1982 2016. The contribution rise is same size as real income...

The authors describe the principal results obtained from a new method applied to the estimation of potential U.S. GDP. This method derives from the work of Rennison (2002), which suggests that the joint use of extended multivariate filters and structural vector autoregression models is optimal for estimating potential output. The authors use this approach to estimate the two components of poten...

The German Economy is not only affected by the Unification of Germany but by a significant influx of immigrants from abroad and huge migration from East to West Germany around the date of unification. Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (GSOEP) allows to disentangle those effects by decomposition of the Theil I (0)-Index of inequality. In addition, the paper offers insights in the t...