This paper provides a comprehensive Monte Carlo comparison of different finite-sample biascorrection methods for autoregressive processes. We consider situations where the process is either mildly explosive or has a unit root. The case of highly persistent stationary is also studied. We compare...

The use of informal finance is primarily discussed in the context of developing countries and start-up businesses. Survey data used in this study, however, shows that ``Family and Friends'' (F\&F) finance is also remarkably widespread among established firms in Germany, a highly developed...

Sequences of active labour market programmes (ALMPs) may be part of an intensified activation strategy targeting hard-to-place individuals who may be long-term unemployed and who may encounter extreme difficulty in finding jobs. Such sequences are very common among welfare recipients in Germany,...

The majority of published studies about the relation between institutional and entrepreneurial factors lack of an adequate empirical study. Due to the importance that the institutional environment has acquired in the last few years, we consider necessary a rigorous analysis using quantitative...

In this paper the analysis of the collective risk model assuming Erlang loss, when the claim frequency follows the discrete generalized Lindley distribu- tion, is considered. After providing some new results of this discrete model, analytical expressions for the aggregate claim size distribution...

We model the mortality behavior of the general population in Mexico using data from 1990 to 2009 and compare it to the mortality assumed in the tables used in Mexico for insured lives. We fi a Lee-Carter model, a Renshaw-Haberman model and an Age-Period-Cohort model. The data used are drawn from...

It has become orthodox in economics research to interpret the association between hourly earnings and working hours as the expression of the preferences of workers. This convention originated in H. Gregg Lewis' explanation for the decline in hours of work since the nineteenth century. His...

This paper is motivated by our attempt to answer an empirical question: how is private health insurance take-up in Australia affected by the income threshold at which the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) kicks in? We propose a new difference de-convolution kernel estimator for the location and size...

We develop a macroeconomic portfolio stress test that is specifically geared towards small and medium-sized banks. We combine a credit risk stress test which simulates credit impairments via a CreditMetrics type multi-factor portfolio model with an income stress test in the form of dynamic panel...

This paper investigates empirically whether uncertainty about volatility of the market portfolio can explain the performance of hedge funds both in the cross-section and over time. We measure uncertainty about volatility of the market portfolio via volatility of aggregate volatility (VOV) and...