Nominal data currently lack a correlation coefficient, such as has already defined for real data. A measure is possible using the determinant, with the useful interpretation that the determinant gives the ratio between volumes. With M a m × n contingency table and n ≤ m the suggested measure...

This article investigates the personal saving ratio in the US economy in the last two decades. We examine whether the mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW) mechanism – the cash out from refinancing home mortgage conditions – is useful for explaining the saving ratio’s declining pattern....

Abstracts: This paper considers the principal approaches used for modelling trends in economic time series. Deterministic, stochastic, and segmented trends models with dates of break determined endogenously are considered. Also, a review of Quandt/Andrews/Bain method to identify structural...

We develop a rational expectations model of financial bubbles and study how the risk-return interplay is incorporated into prices. We retain the interpretation of the leading Johansen-Ledoit-Sornette model: namely, that the price must rise prior to a crash in order to compensate a representative...

I study the consumption responses of heterogeneous households following changes in both house prices and interest rates. I show the common assumption that household period utility is separable in housing and consumption can be consistent with the observed co-movement between these two series...

Recently, microfinance has come under increasing criticism raising questions of the validity of iconic studies which have justified the microfinance phenomenon. This paper applies propensity score matching (PSM), which has become widely used for the analysis of observational data, to the study...

Obesity and diabetes are increasingly attributed to environmental factors, however, little attention has been paid to influence of the 'local' food economy. This paper examines the association of measures relating to the built environment and the ‘local’ food economy with county-level...

This paper investigates the causal relationships between volatility in Saudi stock market and banks credit for equity investments. Our finding indicate there is a bi-directional feedback effects between the stock price volatility and banks credit loans. In other words, volatility in private...

The essay defines the essence of the National Statistical Information System and principal directions reforming the informational statistics system and it harmonization on the European standards. The author presents the functional scheme of the statistical information system and formulated the...

The hedge funds industry was partly blamed for the global financial crisis that started in 2007, especially in Europe. If one analyses the performance of hedge funds during this period, it becomes clear that the hedge fund industry did not necessarily fare well. Some funds gained, but many...