The introduction of a centralized institution for trading production rights in quota-regulated agricultural sectors can dramatically improve the flow of information among market pareticipants and increase efficiency. On the other hand, prevailing conditions in these small markets can provide...

I characterize the performance of the Québec economy over the last quarter century: 1981-2007. Many indicators are presented: GDP, GDP per capita, population, job creation, employment rates, average weekly earnings, private investments, productivity, trade and commerce, debt, R&D. In spite of...

Without denying particular dimensions of the decentralisation in Sub-Saharan countries, this paper applies standard reasoning from the fiscal federalism literature to a developing country and tests the existence of strategic interactions among local Beninese governments, called communes'. We...

We review the econometric literature on measuring the returns to R&D. The theoretical frameworks that have been used are outlined, followed by an extensive discussion of measurement and econometric issues that arise when estimating the models. We then provide a series of tables summarizing the...

This paper examines the impact of securities regulation and exchange listing standards on the valuation of venture capital-backed IPOs in Canada and the United States. We use a sample of IPOs in both countries matched by size and sector over the 1986-2007 period. The data strongly indicate...

This paper uses asymmetric heteroskedastic normal mixture models to fit return data and to price options. The models can be estimated straightforwardly by maximum likelihood, have high statistical fit when used on S&P 500 index return data, and allow for substantial negative skewness and time...

Au courant des années 1990, plusieurs pays de l'OCDE ont connu un déclin significatif de l'épargne du secteur privé telle que mesurée par le taux d'épargne, ce déclin étant concentré principalement chez les ménages . Ce phénomène a généré une littérature abondante (parmi laquelle...

We propose estimators for the parameters of a linear median regression without any assumption on the shape of the error distribution including no condition on the existence of moments allowing for heterogeneity (or heteroskedasticity) of unknown form, noncontinuous distributions, and very...

In this paper, we provide evidence on two alternative mechanisms of interaction between returns and volatilities: the leverage effect and the volatility feedback effect. We stress the importance of distinguishing between realized volatility and implied volatility, and find that implied...