This paper studies the duration pattern of …xed-term contracts and the determinants of their conversion into permanent ones in Spain, where the share of …xed-term employment is the highest in Europe. We estimate a duration model for temporary employment, with competing risks of terminating...

In the mid-1980s, many European countries introduced fixed-term contracts. Since then their labor markets have become more dynamic. This paper studies the implications of such reforms for the duration distribution of unemployment, with particular emphasis on the changes in the duration...

We propose a new econometric estimation method for analyzing the probability of leaving unemployment using uncompleted spells from repeated cross-section data, which can be especially useful when panel data are not available. The proposed method-of-moments-based estimator has two important...

This paper examines unemployed workers' declared willingness to work for a wage lower than the one warranted by their qualification. We analyze which personal and economic characteristics determine this willingness and how it changes as unemployment spells lengthen. Moreover, we also study the...

This paper considers a job search model where the environment is not stationary along the unemployment spell and where jobs do not last forever. Under this circumstance, reservation wages can be lower than without separations, as in a stationary environment, but they can also be initially higher...

We derive a new inequality for uniform deviations of averages from their means. The inequality is a common generalization of previous results of Vapnik and Chervonenkis (1974) and Pollard (1986). Using the new inequality we obtain tight bounds for empirical loss minimization learning.

We consider the application of normal theory methods to the estimation and testing of a general type of multivariate regression models with errors--in--variables, in the case where various data sets are merged into a single analysis and the observable variables deviate possibly from normality....

This paper proposes to estimate the covariance matrix of stock returns by an optimally weighted average of two existing estimators: the sample covariance matrix and single-index covariance matrix. This method is generally known as shrinkage, and it is standard in decision theory and in empirical...

We propose new spanning tests that assess if the initial and additional assets share the economically meaningful cost and mean representing portfolios. We prove their asymptotic equivalence to existing tests under local alternatives. We also show that unlike two-step or iterated procedures,...

This paper demonstrates that all rank test statistics are functions of implicit null space estimators. The paper proposes a novel theory of null space estimation that allows for standard asymptotics, polynomial regressions, and cointegration asymptotics. The paper proves that the behaviour of...