This paper provides a survey of three families of flexible parametric probability density functions (the skewed generalized t, the exponential generalized beta of the second kind, and the inverse hyperbolic sine distributions) which can be used in modeling a wide variety of econometric problems....

The most popular general univariate polarization indexes for discrete and continuous variables are extended and combined to describe the extent of polarization between agents in a distribution defined over a collection of many discrete and continuous agent characteristics. A formula for the...

This paper studies the regional convergence of sub-national states in the case of Mercosur from 1961 to 2005 by using a non-parametric technique of clustering under the concept of \regime of performance". In the first section, a review in interregional convergence is shown for the Mercosur case....

Empirical applications for assessing the efficiency in cultural organizations are still scarce. In this paper, we use a non-radial, output-oriented, DEA model for assessing the efficiency of a sample of 292 Musical Societies in the Valencian Community. The interest in this type of cultural...

“Matching” is a statistical technique used to evaluate the effect of a treatment by comparing the treated and non-treated units in an observational study. Matching provides an alternative to older estimation methods, such as ordinary least squares (OLS), which involves strong assumptions...

We evaluate the individual employment effects of four types of short-term training for immigrants and natives in the German welfare system and identify differences in the effects determined by unobservable factors. Based on comprehensive and unique administrative data, we apply propensity score...

This study estimates the impact of migrants' remittances on households' spending decisions in Ecuador. Applying both parametric and semiparametric techniques, we find strong evidence that remittances enhance expenditures on education, health, and housing, but decrease expenditures on food. This...

This study intends to understand how disaster is related to countries' production efficiency using a sample of 137 countries over 1980 - 2011. We analyze the effect of the number of man-made and natural disaster occurrences on countries' technological change (swift of the frontier) and...

The transferable utility hypothesis underlies important theoretical results in household economics. We provide a revealed preference framework for bringing this (theoretically appealing) hypothesis to observational data. We establish revealed preference conditions that must be satisfied for...

Die Lissabon-Agenda sieht eine Steigerung der Ausgaben für Forschung und Entwicklung bis zum Jahr 2010 auf drei Prozent des Bruttoinlandsprodukts vor. Europa will damit zu einem der wettbewerbsfähigsten und dynamischsten Wirtschaftsräume werden. Wesentlich für die Zukunftsfähigkeit eines...