We present a new method for imposing and testing concavity of a cost function using asymptotic least squares, which can easily be implemented even for cost functions which are nonlinear in parameters. We provide an illustration on the basis of a (generalized) Box-Cox cost function with six...

Modern systems of official statistics require the timely estimation of area-specific densities of sub-populations. Ideally estimates should be based on precise geo-coded information, which is not available due to confidentiality constraints. One approach for ensuring confidentiality is by...

Für Unternehmensdaten existieren im Gegensatz zu Personendaten keine einheitlichen Regeln zur Erstellung von Scientific-Use-Files, d.h. eines anonymisierten Datenfiles zur wissenschaftlichen Nutzung. Verschiedene Anonymisierungsmethoden werden hier vorgestellt. Um Mikrodaten einer breiten...

We study the relationship between overconfidence and the political and financial behavior of a nationally representative sample. Consistent with theoretical predictions, our findings indicate that excessive confidence in one's judgment is associated with lower portfolio diversification, greater...

The US labour market is characterized by a high skill wage mark-up and low unemployment, while the German labour market has a low skill wage mark-up and a high, mainly unskilled unemployment rate. This paper adds an innovative labour supply explanation to the discussion how these distinct labour...

Many studies of producer behavior consider cost and input demand functions de-rived from microeconomic theory and estimate them on the basis of aggregate data. If firms' characteristics differs, the neglect heterogeneity can lead to estimation bias. An alternative is to restrict individual...