The paper presents a new method to solve DSGE models with a great number of heterogeneous agents. Using tools from systems and control theory, it is shown how to reduce the dimension of the state and the policy vector so that the reduced model approximates the original model with high precision....

This paper asks the question: Why has the ?general-to-specific? cointegrated VAR approach as developed in Europe had only limited success in the US as a tool for doing empirical macroeconomics, where what might be called a ?theory comes first? approach dominates? The reason this paper highlights...

First and higher order digits in data sets of natural and socio-economic processes often follow a distribution called Benford's law. This phenomenon has been used in many business and scientific applications, especially in fraud detection for financial data. In this paper, we analyse whether...

The discussion about the use of semiparametric analysis in empirical research in economics is as old as the methods are. This article can certainly not be more than a small contribution to the polemic question how useful is non- or semiparametric statistics for applied econometrics. The goal is...

Dieser Beitrag stellt ausgew ahlte Ergebnisse des vom Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW) im Auftrag des IAB und des Ministeriums für Arbeit und Soziales Rheinland-Pfalz bearbeiteten Forschungsprojekts "Arbeitsplatzeffekte gemeinnütziger Arbeitnehmerüberlassungen in...

The economic analysis of corporate governance is en vogue. In addition to a host of theoretical papers, an increasing number of empirical studies analyze how ownership structure, capital structure, the structure of the board and the market for corporate control influence firm performance. This...

This paper discusses a tool for optimization of econometric models based on genetic algorithms. First, we briefly describe the concept of this optimization technique. Then, we explain the design of a specifically developed algorithm and apply it to a difficult econometric problem, the...

Die Anwendung neuronaler Netzwerke ist ein extrem kontrovers diskutiertes Thema. In dem einen Extrem erhoffen die Verfechter neuronaler Netzwerke, daß diese als Produkt der 'künstlichen Intelligenz' in der Lage sind, Aufgaben zu lösen, die bislang als unlösbar oder nur schwer lösbar galten....

The aim of this paper is to introduce a new model selection mechanism for cross sectional spatial models. This method is more flexible than the approach proposed by Florax et al. (2003) since it controls for spatial dependence as well as for spatial heterogeneity. In particular, Bayesian and...

This paper systematically studies the use of mixed-frequency data sets and suggests that the use of high frequency data in forecasting economic aggregates can improve forecast accuracy. The best way of using this information is to build a single model, for example, an ARMA model with missing...