The way in which market participants form expectations affects the dynamic properties of financial asset prices and therefore the appropriateness of different econometric tools used for empirical asset pricing. In addition to standard rational expectations models, this thesis studies a class of...

We estimate a panel vector autoregressive model to analyze the highly disputed relationship between debt and growth. Using data on 20 developed countries, we find no evidence for a robust effect on debt to growth, even for higher levels of sovereign debt. We do find a significant negative...

The VAR approach for testing present value models is applied to a nonlinear asset pricing model with three types of agents, using historical US stock prices and dividends. Besides rational long-term investors, that value assets according to expected dividends, the model includes rational and...

There is hope for the generalized method of moments (GMM). Lanne and Saikkonen (2011) show that the GMM estimator is inconsistent, when the instruments are lags of noncausal variables. This paper argues that this inconsistency depends on distributional assumptions, that do not always hold. In...

Stock prices often diverge from measures of fundamental value, which simple present value models fail to explain. This paper tries to find causes for these long-run price movements and their persistence by estimating a STAR model for the price-earnings ratio of the S&P500 index for 1961Q1 -...

Misspecification of agents' information sets or expectation formation mechanisms maylead to noncausal autoregressive representations of asset prices. Annual US stock prices are found to be noncausal, implying that agents' expectations are not revealed to an outside observer such as an...

This paper discusses different approaches to the measurement of global interpersonal in equality. Trends in global interpersonal inequality during 1975-2005 are measured using data from UNU-WIDER’s World Income Inequality Database. In order to better understand the trends, global interpersonal...

This paper investigates the Vietnamese Socio-economic Development Plan (2006-10) using the 2003 Merged Model for Vietnam, which was developed in Jensen & Tarp (2007). Initialization and calibration of the model is based on a financial 2003 SAM framework and an auxiliary 2002-2003 data set....

Quantitative project analysis drifted out of focus in academia during the 1980’s. Nevertheless, discrete projects remain the bulk of international development assistance. The present state of affairs is outlined: the application of basic principles is examined in case-context; and serious...

This study estimates the capital or stock value of Vietnam’s natural resources. Natural resources are special economic goods because they are not produced. As a consequence, natural resources yield economic profits—rents—if properly managed. These rents can be an important source of...