We study the workings of the factor analysis of high-dimensional data using arti…cial series generated from a large, multi-sector dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. The objective is to use the DSGE model as a laboratory that allow us to shed some light on the practical...

In this paper we examine long-run house price convergence across US states using a novel econometric approach advocated by Pesaran (2007) and Pesaran et al. (2009). Our empirical modelling strategy employs a probabilistic test statistic for convergence based on the percentage of unit root...

Long-run income convergence is investigated in the US context. We employ a novel pair-wise econometric procedure based on a probabilistic definition of convergence. The time-series properties of all the possible regional income pairs are examined by means of unit root and non-cointegration tests...

Post-Secondary Education in Canada: Can Ability Bias Explain the Earnings Gap Between College and University Graduates? Using the Canadian General Social Survey we compute returns to post-secondary education relative to high-school. Unlike previous research using Canadian data, our dataset...

The aim of this paper is to identify empirically the factors that influence the duration of the temporary exhibitions, distinguishing between prolonged and non prolonged ones. We use a sample of 259 exhibitions that took place in Italy over the period 2002-2005. The empirical evidence allows for...

An optimal weighting scheme is proposed to construct a new index of environmental quality for different countries using an approach that relies on consistent tests for stochastic dominance efficiency. The test statistics and the estimators are computed using mixed integer programming methods....

Many economic models (such as the new-Keynesian Phillips curve, NKPC) include expected future values, often estimated after replacing the expected value by the actual future outcome, using Instrumental Variables or Generalized Method of Moments. Although crises, breaks and regime shifts are...

A weighting scheme is proposed to construct a new index of environmental quality based on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for different countries using an approach that relies on consistent tests for stochastic dominance (SD) efficiency. The benchmark is an index that is based on the average...

imports and exports and asymmetries in the adjustment of the US current account over the study period 1960Q4-2007Q2. We find evidence in favour of cointegration through the application of the standard Johansen methodology. Employing the Trace test procedure recursively, two distinct regimes are...

The recent financial crisis has raised numerous questions about the accuracy of value-at-risk (VaR) as a tool to quantify extreme losses. In this paper we present empirical evidence from assessing the out-of-sample performance and robustness of VaR before and during the recent financial crisis...