It is well established that the shocks driving many key macro-economic and financial variables display time-varying volatility. In this paper we consider estimation and hypothesis testing on the coefficients of the co-integrating relations and the adjustment coefficients in vector...

This paper addresses heterogeneity in determinants of economic growth in a data-driven way. Instead of defining groups of countries with different growth characteristics a priori, based on, for example, geographical location, we use a finite mixture panel model and endogenous clustering to...

This paper contributes to the productivity literature by using results from firm-level productivity studies to improve forecasts of macro-level productivity growth. The paper employs current research methods on estimating firm-level productivity to build times-series components that capture the...

Some 2000 years ago, the average annual distance a person would normally travel, was approximately 500 km. The action radius of most people remained rather stable, but it rose gradually after the industrial revolution to some 1820 km (by car, bus, railway or aircraft) in the year 1960. Then, a...

See the article in <I>Computers Environment and Urban Systems</I> (2013). Volume 38, pages 67-77.<P> This paper aims to provide a new methodological and empirical contribution to the rising literature on the relative performance and benchmarking of large cities in a competitive world. On the basis of a...</p></i>

Several studies have identified the impact of trade liberalization in developing countries on the return to education within a Mincerian framework through a difference-in-difference estimator or with industry-level measures of trade openness. These studies have typically estimated the return to...

We decompose capital flows--both debt and equity--into public and private components and study their relationship with productivity growth. This exercise reveals that international capital flows are mainly shaped by government decisions and sovereign to sovereign transactions. Specifically, we...

See also the article in <I>Cities</I> (2013). Volume 30, pages 59-67.<P> This paper introduces a new measure to approach the accessibility of places in the frame of the digital economy. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet are not equally spread around places and this...</p></i>

This discussion paper resulted in a publication in <I>Environment, Development and Sustainability</I>, 2010, 12(1), 49-62.<P> What is a 'sustainable nation’ and how can we identify and rank ‘sustainable nations’? Are nations producing and consuming in a sustainable way? Aggregate indicators have...</p></i>

This paper discusses the value that data from mobile phone providers can bring into urban analysis. The novel argument is that the pervasiveness of mobile phone telephony has transformed mobile phones from a communications device to a tool for socio-spatial research. Put simply, mobile phone...