We provide an analysis of the effect of physician payment methods on their hospital patients' length of stay and risk of readmission. To do so, we exploit a major reform implemented in Quebec (Canada) in 1999. The Quebec Government introduced an optional mixed compensation (MC) scheme for...

In this paper, we address the dynamics associated with living-arrangement decisions of sick, elderly individuals. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Parental Health Supplement, we construct the complete living-arrangement histories of elderly individuals in need of care....

In Canada, a policy aiming at helping single parents on social assistance become self-reliant was implemented on an experimental basis. The Self-Sufficiency Entry Effects Demonstration randomly selected a sample of 4 134 single parents who had applied for welfare between January 1994 and March...

We propose estimators for the parameters of a linear median regression without any assumption on the shape of the error distribution including no condition on the existence of moments allowing for heterogeneity (or heteroskedasticity) of unknown form, noncontinuous distributions, and very...

Many non- and semi- parametric estimators have asymptotic properties that have been established under conditions that exclude the possibility of singular parts in the distribution. It is thus important to be able to test for absence of singularities. Methods of testing that focus on specific...

In this paper we propose a generic procedure for estimating and pricing options in the context of stochastic volatility models using simultaneously the fundamental price and a set of option contracts. We appraise univariate and multivariate estimation of the model in terms of pricing and hedging...

Unlike European-type derivative securities, there are no simple analytic valuation formulas for American options, even when the underlying asset price has constant volatility. The early exercise feature considerably complicates the valuation of American contracts. The strategy taken in this...

Many continuous time term structure of interest rate models assume a factor structure where the drift and volatility functions are affine functions of the state variable process. These models involve very specific parametric choices of factors and functional specifications of the drift and...

Understanding the dynamics of interest rates and the term structure has important implications for issues as diverse as real economic activity, monetary policy, pricing of interest rate derivative securities and public debt financing. Our paper follows a longstanding tradition of using factor...

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new class of jump diffusions which feature both stochastic volatility and random intensity jumps. Previous studies have focussed primarily on pure jump processes with constant intensity and log-normal jumps or constant jump intensity combined with a one...