The paper analyzes the impact of the initial observation on the problem of testing for unit roots. To this end, we derive a family of optimal tests that maximize a weighted average power criterion with respect to the initial observation. We then investigate the relationship of this optimal...

In this paper we discuss the main taxation related problems which arise from internet commerce. Additionally, a survey of the economic literature about this problem is provided. This literature mainly deals with the United States. First, effects on indirect taxation are discussed. Then, we deal...

Switzerland, traditionally a ‘zero unemployment’ economy, has seen an unprecedented rise in joblessness in the 1990s although unemployment fell again to a rather low level after 1997. This paper tests whether Switzerland experienced a negative relative net demand shock against the low...

Tests for stationarity are routinely applied to highly persistent time series. Following Kwiatkowski, Phillips, Schmidt and Shin (1992), standard stationarity employs a rescaling by an estimator of the long-run variance of the (potentially) stationary series. This paper analytically investigates...

Propensity score matching is widely used in treatment evaluation to estimate average treatment effects. Nevertheless, the role of the propensity score is still controversial. Since the propensity score is usually unknown and has to be estimated, the efficiency loss arising from not knowing the...

The three-door problem is an astounding example of a systematic violation of a key rationality postulate. In this seemingly simple individual decision task, most people initially fail to correctly apply Bayes’ Law, and to make the payoff-maximizing choice. Previous experimental studies have...

This paper considers the problem of the identification of causal effects using instrumental variables. We are interested in the effects of some treatments on certain outcomes. First, we consider that a participation in a treatment or a program is only possible one time but we have the choice...

Venture capitalists, representing informed capital, screen, monitor and advise start-up entrepreneurs. The paper reports three new results on venture capital (VC) finance. First, there is an optimal number of companies in the VC portfolio with a trade-off between the number of companies and the...

The evidence from many experiments suggests that people are heterogeneous with regard to their abilities to make rational, forward looking, decisions. This raises the question when the rational types are decisive for aggregate outcomes and when the boundedly rational types shape aggregate...

We introduce a new empirical methodology that takes account of liquidity risk in a Value-at-Risk framework, and quantify liquidity risk premiums for portfolios and individual stocks traded on the automated auction market Xetra which operates at various European exchanges. When constructing...