We present a structural framework for the evaluation of public policies intended to increasejob search intensity. Most of the literature defines search intensity as a scalar that influencesthe arrival rate of job offers; here we treat it as the number of job applications that workerssend out....

This paper discusses a set of statistics for examining and comparing labor market dynamicsbased on the estimation of continuous time Markov transition processes. It then uses these toestablish stylized facts about dynamic patterns of movement using panel data fromArgentina, Brazil and Mexico...

Based on administrative data from the federal employment office in Germany, we apply matching techniques to estimate the stepping-stone function of temporary agency work for the unemployed, i.e. its short-run and long-run effects on their future employment prospects. Our results show that...

Implied volatility is one of the key issues in modern quantitative finance, since plain vanilla option prices contain vital information for pricing and hedging of exotic and illiquid options. European plain vanilla options are nowadays widely traded, which results in a great amount of...

A primary goal in modelling the implied volatility surface (IVS) for pricing andhedging aims at reducing complexity. For this purpose one fits the IVS each dayand applies a principal component analysis using a functional norm. This approach, however, neglects the degenerated string structure of...

We use a new and exceptionally rich administrative data set for Germany to evaluate theemployment effects of a variety of public sponsored training programs in the early 2000s.Building on the work of Sianesi (2003, 2004), we employ propensity score matching methodsin a dynamic, multiple...

Based on a sequence of reforms in the Norwegian unemployment insurance (UI) system, weshow that activity-oriented UI regimes – i.e., regimes with a high likelihood of requiredparticipation in active labor market programs, duration limitations on unconditional UIentitlements, and high sanction...

Turning unemployment into self-employment has become a major focus of German activelabour market policy (ALMP) in recent years. If effective, this would not only reduceGermany’s persistently high unemployment rate, but also increase its notoriously low selfemploymentrate. Empirical evidence on...

In light of nonstationary search theory (van den Berg, 1990), this paper estimates the effectsof benefit entitlement periods and the size of unemployment benefits on unemploymentdurations and post-unemployment earnings in West Germany...

Our paper introduces a new estimation method for arbitrary temporal heterogeneityin panel data models. The paper provides a semiparametric method for estimatinggeneral patterns of cross-sectional specific time trends. The methods proposed in thepaper are related to principal component analysis...