This paper analyzes price fixing by the Joint Executive Committee railroad cartel from 1880 to 1886 and develops tests of two game-theoretic models of tacit collusion. The first model, due to Abreu, Pearce and Stacchetti (1986), predicts that price will switch across regimes according to a...

The method of simulated scores (MSS) is presented for estimating LDV models with flexible correlation structure in the unobservables. We propose simulators that are continuous in the unknown parameter vectors, and hence standard optimization methods can be used to compute the MSS estimators that...

This paper studies the sampling distribution of the conventional t-ratio when the sample comprises independent draws from a standard Cauchy (0,1) population. It is shown that this distribution displays a striking bimodality for all sample sizes and that the bimodality persists asymptotically. An...

Two specification tests for switching regimes disequilibrium models are developed. The first is an asymptotically locally optimal Lagrange multiplier test of endogeneity of a set of regressors, which takes the convenient form of a LM significance-test of certain regression residuals. The second...

This paper employs panel-data econometric techniques to explore the relations between measures of credit worthiness and the debt discounts on the secondary markets. It investigates empirically whether the secondary market discounts reflect a history of past repayments problems or whether they...

In this paper we propose a modelling approach for labor supply and consumption decisions that is firmly grounded within a utility maximizing framework and allows for a role of such institutional constraints as limited access to borrowing and involuntary unemployment. We report estimations for a...

This chapter discusses simulation estimation methods that overcome the computational intractability of classical estimation of limited dependent variable models with flexible correlation structures in the unobservable stochastic terms. These difficulties arise because of the need to evaluate...

An extensive literature in econometrics and in numerical analysis has considered the computationally difficult problem of evaluating the multiple integral representing the probability of a multivariate normal random vector constrained to lie in a rectangular region. A leading case of such an...

This paper discusses estimation methods for limited dependent variable (LDV) models that employ Monte Carlo simulation techniques to overcome computational problems in such models. These difficulties take the form of high dimensional integrals that need to be calculated repeatedly but cannot be...

This paper considers a dual approach to the problem of maximizing lifetime utility subject to liquidity constraints in a discrete time setting. These constraints prohibit the decision maker from borrowing against future endowment income. The dual approach allows us to exploit directly the...