This paper presents new evidence on the role of cognitive skills in promoting economic growth rate, using a within country dataset (Brazilian municipalities’ dataset) and nonparametric kernel regression estimation with mixed data.

This article generalizes the conditional stochastic kernel developed by Quah (1997, 1998) for multiple and more general conditioning schemes using nonparametric conditional density estimation. We utilize this methodology to analyze conditional convergence in income for Brazilian municipalities...

We show that persistence of conditional volatility in large samples could be exaggerated by the existence of structural breaks in the ARCH and GARCH parameters. Our results suggest that extreme persistence frequently observed in index volatility does not necessarily indicate the same level of...