We use a general Markov switching model to examine the relationships between returns over three different asset classes: financial assets (U.S. stocks and Treasury bonds), commodities (oil and gold) and real estate assets (U.S. Case-Shiller index). We confirm the existence of two distinct...

We apply the Berry, Levinsohn and Pakes (1995) market equilibrium model (BLP) to data from 30 brands of beers sold in 12 U.S. cities over 20 quarters (1988-92) to estimate the consumers’ taste for beer characteristics (price, alcohol content, and calories) as well as for the cultural region of...

Since the 1960s, the field of open economy macroeconomics has been largely dominated by the Mundell-Fleming model and its perfect-foresight extension of Dornbusch (1976). When dealing with classical issues of international macroeconomics, including for instance the international transmission of...

Firms and investors often operate in environments with market imperfections and agency frictions. It is common wisdom that the effects of these microeconomic frictions are amplifed or mitigated by the quality of economic institutions in a country. Yet little is known about the precise channels...

Diese kumulative Dissertation besteht aus drei Abschnitten. I. Geopolitics, Aid and Growth Wir untersuchen den Effekt kurzfristiger politischer Motive auf die Effektivität von Entwicklungshilfe. Dabei testen wir, ob der Effekt der Hilfe auf Wirtschaftswachstum reduziert wird durch den Anteil...

Evento: V Conferencia Anual del BIS

The 2007-09 credit crunch has not only created problems for the UK’s public finances in meeting the costs of bailing out commercial banks and dealing with recession but also for providing better public services. This paper analyses the causes of the credit crunch, government policies to...

Over the last decade, the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) has become preferred government option for the provision of different services to the public. In PFI procurement, private companies take on the obligation to build and manage a facility but provide only a small fraction of the project?s...