Using threshold autoregressive specifications, this paper extends the Enders and Granger (1998) framework for parametric tests of level asymmetry. In particular it develops bootstrap likelihood ratio statistics to test the symmetry null against sign and amplitude asymmetries or a combination of...

This paper assesses empirically two competing accounts of high unemployment, the structuralist and persistence theories. It identifies one structural break in UK and German unemployment around 1980 which is more severe in both absolute and relative terms than that for the US in 1973. This offers...

We read all newspaper articles to measure the pre-IPO media tone for 1,068 Chinese book-built IPOs issued from 2005–2013. We document significant and robust evidence that media tone is related to high IPO first-day returns and low long-run abnormal returns. One positive newspaper article can...