We use a multivariate hazard model for the analysis of data on the timing of ratifications of different conventions. The model accounts for two random effects, one at the country level and the other at the convention level. We use a semi-parametric Bayesian approach, based on the partial...

Child labour has always been one of the core concerns of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In this paper, we investigate whether ILO conventions have contributed to reducing the scale of the problem. We use two approaches to answering the question. Evidence based on country-level data...

The paper examines the applicability of GDP-linked bonds for the financing of developing countries and emerging markets. GDP-linked bonds are bonds of which the coupon and/or redemption payments are tied to the GDP of the issuing country. The study encompasses a detailed empirical analysis of...

We know that euro-area member countries have absorbed asymmetric shocks in ways that are inconsistent with a common nominal anchor. Based on a reformulation of the gravity model that allows for such bilateral misalignment, we disentangle the conventional trade cost channel and trade effects...

This paper investigates the long-term trend and the underlying determinants of public sector centralization in Germany from 1871 until today. The institutional and the quantitative review of the German history provides no conclusive evidence for a continuous process of government centralization...

This paper analyses the level of relative specialisation in terms of gross fixed capital formation in EU regions for the period between 1985 and 1994. Controlling for heteroscedasticity and potential endogeneity problems, we get consistent econometric results. Larger market and regional sizes...

The main characteristic of the implementation of the European Monetary Union (EMU) is the transition from various national currencies to the Euro, the common European currency. A final fixing of the individual bilateral exchange rates of all European countries involved in the Monetary Union...

Under the world dollar standard, a discrete appreciation by a dollar creditor country of the United States, such as China or Japan, has no predictable effect on its trade surplus. Currency appreciation by the creditor country will slow its economic growth and eventually cause deflation but...

This study analyses relative sectoral specialisation of EU regions on the basis of investment and employment patterns. Controlling for heteroscedasticity and potential endogeneity in the econometric analysis, we find that relative specialisation in manufacturing sectors is higher in central...

This paper analyses the level of relative specialisation in terms of gross fixed capital formation in EU regions. Larger market and regional sizes diminish; a higher unemployment rate, population density, the fact of being a central region, the distance to the economic centre, and economic...