This paper is aimed to provide an economic interpretation on the emergence and evolution of the specialised middlemen whose duty is to facilitate the transactions of goods and services in an economy. In a general equilibrium framework, the emergence and evolution of the specialised middlemen...

We study the role of institutional development as a causal mechanism of history affecting current economic performance. Several indicators capturing different dimensions of early development in 1500 AD are used to remove the endogenous component of the variations in institutions. These...

Exponential smoothing, often used for sales forecasting in inventory control, has always been rationalized in terms of statistical models that possess errors with constant variances. It is shown in this paper that exponential smoothing remains the appropriate approach under more general...

This paper studies the relationship between three measures of relative earnings and firm performance based on data of 664 listed manufacturing companies in China over the period 2005-2012. It finds that (1) capital earnings relative to labor earnings and the overall average wage level relative...

In this paper, we propose a panel data semiparametric varying-coefficient model in which covariates (variables affecting the coefficients) are purely categorical. This model has two features: first, fixed effects are included to allow for correlation between individual unobserved heterogeneity...

This paper provides parametric estimates of technical change, efficiency change, economies of scale, and total factor productivity growth for large banks (those with assets in excess of $1 billion) in the United States, over the period from 2000 to 2005. This is done by estimating an output...

In the case of input demand systems based on specification of technology by a Translog cost function, it is common to estimate either a system of share equations alone, or to supplement them by the cost function. By adding up, one of the share equations is excluded. In this paper it is argued...

In this paper we make a first attempt to explore the relationship between computer use and productivity in French manufacturing and services industries.

This paper finds that technology stocks and spillovers, have significantly affected the output of Indian manufacturing firms, over the period 1994 to 2006. The technology of a firm is measured, as embodied in its recent stock of plant & machinery, as well as generated through its own R&D....