SVAR models that include a single world price (such as the terms-of-trade) predict that world shocks explain a small fraction of movements in domestic output (typically less than 10 percent). This paper presents an empirical framework in which multiple commodity prices transmit world...

We model the life expectancy function for the Czech Republic using three types of explanatory variables: socio-economic, healthcare and environmental pollution factors. The paper presents the first life expectancy model of the Czech Republic and contributes to the existing literature also by the...

Do people end up in financial trouble simply because of adverse shocks to income and wealth, or is financial trouble related to persistent differences in financial attitudes and behavior that may be transmitted from generation to generation? We address this question using a new administrative...

This paper argues that the number of deaths in a conflict can be a measure of duration and demonstrates that there are information gains to this approach. The well-known conflict database of International Peace Research Institute is compared with the database of Center for Systemic Peace which...

This paper aims to compare the effectiveness of constant hedge ratio estimates (obtained through OLS and VECM methods) and time-varying hedge ratio estimates (obtained via M-GARCH method) for future contracts of ISE-30 index of TurkDEX. We use portfolio variance reduction as the measure of...

This study investigates the Granger-causality relationship between real per capita GDP and transportation of EU-15 countries using a panel data set covering the period 1970-2008. Our findings indicate that the dominant type of Granger-causality is bidirectional. Accordingly, we conclude that...

We exploit a discontinuity in Brazilian municipal election rules to investigate whether political competition has a causal impact on policy choices. In municipalities with less than 200,000 voters mayors are elected with a plurality of the vote. In municipalities with more than 200,000 voters a...

This paper explores the experience of information sharing, coordination, and integration of actions of the Civil and Military Polices in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the context of the IGESP program. The IGESP is based on the introduction of information management systems and...

Entrepreneurship is usually indentified as an important determinant of aggregate productivity and long-term growth. The determinants of entrepreneurship, nevertheless, are not entirely understood. A recent literature has linked entrepreneurship to the development of the justice system. This...

This paper investigates the impact of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs on crime. Making use of a unique dataset combining detailed school characteristics with time and geo-referenced crime information from the city of São Paulo, Brazil, we estimate the contemporaneous effect of the...