With the availability of a rich data set, we will develop a new method of conducting structural analysis of ascending auctions under the simplest valuation paradigm, the symmetric IPV model. The data set allows us to adopt a nonparametric approach and make strong interpretation of observed bids,...

We introduce a new approximation method for the distribution of functions of random variables that are real-valued. The approximation involves moment matching and exploits properties of the class of normal inverse Gaussian distributions. In the paper we we examine the how well the different...

This paper considers a factor model in which independent component analysis (ICA) is employed to construct common factors out of a large number of macroeconomic time series. The ICA has been regarded as a better method to separate unobserved sources that are statistically independent to each...

This paper provides a necessary and sufficient condition for weak exogeneity in vector error correction models. An interesting property is that the statistics involved in the sequential procedure for testing this condition are distributed as ?ariables and can therefore easily be calculated with...

This paper adopts Friedman’s Plucking Markov Switching Model to decompose G7 real GDPs into common permanent components, common transitory components, infrequent Markov Switching negative shock and domestic idiosyncratic components. The findings show that the common components explain a...

The stochastic volatility (SV) models had not been popular as the ARCH (autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity) models in practical applications until recent years even though the SV models have close relationship to financial economic theories. The main reason is that the likelihood of...

Extending recent theoretical contributions on sources of inflation inertia, we argue that monetary uncertainty accounts for sluggish expectations adjustment to nominal disturbances. Estimating a model in which rational individuals learn over time about shifts in U.S. monetary policy and the...

Mezzeti and Dinopoulos (1991) show that a free trade agreement (trade liberalization) decreases wage rate. However, Naylor (1998) shows that trade liberalization increases wage rate. Both papers consider tariff as exogenously given. In this paper we show that these conflicting results can be...

We provide maximum likelihood estimators of term structures of conditional probabilities of bankruptcy over relatively long time horizons, incorporating the dynamics of firm-specific and macroeconomic covariates. We find evidence in the U.S. industrial machinery and instruments sector, based on...

This paper studies the costs and benefits of a mixed educational regime in which tax-financed public schools and tuition-financed private schools coexist. In the model, households are not allowed to borrow for education, but have a choice to educate their children in a public or a private...