We investigate the finite sample performance of a Lagrange Multiplier specification test for competing-risks duration models developed by Pudney and Thomas (1995). In their empirical work they employ a simple form of the test based on the Outer Product of the Gradient approximation (OPG) to the...

This paper investigates the evolution of skill imbalances in the UK labour market over the past two decades. Movements in the relative ease with which firms can recruit skilled workers can affect unemployment, inflation, and productivity. Any assessment of changes in the skill balance is...

In this paper a matching model with variable search intensity that incorporates the inactive is developed and calibrated. The model is used to look at possible explanations for the recent sharp decline in the UK working-age unemployment rate, which has been accompanied by only a moderate...

This paper analyses a model of private unemployment insurance under limited commitment and a model of public unemployment insurance subject to moral hazard in an economy with a continuum of agents and an infinite time horizon. The dynamic and steady-state properties of the optimum private...

Labour market tightness is a phrase often used by commentators and policy-makers, but it is rarely defined. In this paper, the phrase labour market tightness is interpreted as describing the balance between the demand for, and the supply of, labour. A logical consequence of this approach is that...

The paper examines the main issues involved in translating domestic bankruptcy procedures to the sovereign context. It considers some of the principles by which domestic bankruptcy procedures operate, and the extent to which they apply to international lending. Two recent proposals are...

We present an overview of models of long-term self-enforcing labour contracts in which risk sharing is the dominant motive for contractual solutions. A base model is developed which is sufficiently general to encompass the two-agent problem central to most of the literature, including variable...

Abstract: The fluctuations in incomes inherent in rural communities can be attenuated by reciprocal assistance. A model of reciprocal assistance based upon rational action and voluntary participation is presented. Individuals provide assistance only if the costs of so doing are outweighed by the...