The entropy principle yields, for a given set moments, a density that involves the smallest amount of prior information. We first show how entropy densities may be constructed in a numerically efficient way as the minimization of a potential. Next, for the case where the first four moments are...

The Gram-Charlier expansion, where skewness and kurtosi directly appear as parameters, has become popular in Finance as a generalization of the normal density. We show how positivity constraints can be numerically implemented, thereby guaranteeing that the expansion defines a density. The...

The entropy principle yields, for a given set moments, a density that involves the smallest amount of prior information. We first show how entropy densities may be constructed in a numerically efficient way as the minimization of a potential. Next, for the case where the first four moments are...

Gram-Charlier expansion have become popular in Finance as a generalization over the normality assumption. Even though Gram-Charlier expansions allow for a certain flexibility over skewness and kurtosis they have the unfortunate drawback of sometimes yielding negative densities. The goal of this...

This study explores the factors driving the observed movements of the profit share in several major industrialised countries (France, Germany, United States, United Kingdom and Japan) over the period 1970-2000. Within the group of countries we study, both the level and the fluctuations of the...

This study is to our knowledge the first attempt to infer the consequences on productivity entailed by anticompetitive regulations in product and labor markets through their impacts on production prices and wages. Results are encouraging showing that changes in production prices and wages at...

This study presents a GDP per capita level and growth comparison across 17 main advanced countries and over the 1890-2013 long period. It proposes also a comparison of the level and growth of the main components of GDP per capita through an accounting breakdown and runs Philips-Sul (2007)...

In order to examine innovation diffusion and convergence processes, we study productivity trends, trend breaks and levels for 13 advanced countries over 1890-2012. We highlight two productivity waves, a big one following the second industrial revolution and a small one following the ICT...

ICT productive performances have slowed down since the beginning of the 2000s, before the current crisis. This diagnosis could be due, at least partly, to some statistical mis-measurements of ICT improvements. Nevertheless, improvements in ICT performances will probably be positively impacted,...

This study compares labor and total factor productivity (TFP) in France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States in the very long (since 1890) and medium (since 1980) runs. During the past century, the United States has overtaken the United Kingdom and become the leading world economy....