The German meat market is facing considerable changes. Along with the boom of case-ready and discount stores, butchers and smaller retailers loose market shares, and private labels become widely accepted. The consumers' preferences are often neglected by these trends. This contribution discusses...

We propose a model of the interbank money market with an explicit role for central bank intervention and periodic reserve requirements, and study the interaction of profit-maximizing banks with a central bank targeting interest rates at high frequency. The model yields predictions on biweekly...

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) is a key source of forecasts of global economic conditions. It is therefore important to review the performance of these forecasts against both actual outcomes and alternative forecasts. This paper conducts a series of statistical tests to evaluate the quality of...

This paper presents a robust estimation of two income distribution models using Spanish data for the period 1990-91 under three different concepts of income. The effect on the estimates of the Theil index due to the choice of the definition of income and of the estimation method is also analysed.

The least squares estimator is probably the most frequently used estimation method in regression analysis. Unfortunately, it is also quite sensitive to data contamination and model misspecification. Although there are several robust estimators designed for parametric regression models that can...

Empirical evidence on the distribution of relative price changes almost invariably reveals high kurtosis and a tendency toward right-skewness. Simple mixed distribution models including volatile and infrequently adjusted prices can account for these and other common features, such as correlation...

The least squares estimator is probably the most frequently used estimation method in regression analysis. Unfortunately, it is also quite sensitive to data contamination and model misspecification. Although there are several robust estimators designed for parametric regression models that can...

Customer satisfaction and retention are key issues for organizations in today’s competitive market place. As such, much research and revenue has been invested in developing accurate ways of assessing consumer satisfaction at both the macro (national) and micro (organizational) level,...