This paper compares the forecasting performance of three different econometric models for the Eurozone and the USA: a vector auto regression (VAR), a Bayesian vector auto regression (BVAR), and a structural vector error correction model (SVEC). The forecast evaluation is based on 19 vintages of...

The paper studies the persistence of the high-growth phenomenon in Austria using social security data for the years 1985 to 2007. The Eurostat-OECD definition is used to identify high-growth firms and a modified Birch Index to identify high-impact firms. Bringing the definitions to the data...

Sick workers in many countries receive sick pay during their illness-related absences from the workplace. In several countries, the social security system insures firms against their workers' sickness absences. However, this insurance may create moral hazard problems for firms, leading to the...

The EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) that covers emitters from industry and the energy sector representing 40 percent of the EU's total greenhouse gas emissions is the biggest implementation worldwide of a cap-and-trade scheme. The EU ETS has been the core instrument of European climate...

This paper analyses openness to trade, migration and foreign direct investment (FDI) using panel data. The focus is on the relationship between 15 EU countries (EU 15) as destination countries, and 71 trading partner countries which send migrants and receive FDI outflows, where only those...

The relationship between government size and growth has received an enormous attention in the economics literature, and the recent financial crisis has forced this topic back on the agenda. A highly controversial debate in this respect is whether large governments are harmful for growth....

In this paper I analyse the export behaviour of firms located in different Central European countries (Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia) with respect to migration. Ever since the seminal article by Gould (1994) on immigrant links to their home country and due to empirical research...

I analyse the skill and age structure of commuters in 14 EU countries. Theory implies that commuters can be either more or less able than stayers, but are always less able than migrants and that they are also always older than migrants but younger than stayers. Empirically all types of commuters...

Using local labour systems data, this work aims at assessing the effects of sectoral shifts and industry specialisation patterns on regional unemployment in Italy over the years 2004-2008, when huge worker reallocation caused by changes in the international division of labour occurred. Italy...

This paper analyses the impact of agglomeration effects, labour market conditions and other determinants on the location choice of MNEs in transition economies. We compare data from 33 regions in East Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland using a conditional logit model on a sample of 4,343...