The following dissertation is a collection of four stand-alone research papers. The common theme of all papers is the analysis of the decision of heterogeneous individuals about investing in education. The first paper analyses how these decisions affect the impact of globalisation or...

Portfolio choice and the implied asset pricing are usually derived assumingmaximization of expected utility. In this Paper, they are derived from risk-value models that generalize the Markowitz-model. We use a behaviourally-based risk measure with an endogenous or exogenous benchmark...

User needs for a given product type can be quite heterogeneous. Segmenting the market and providing solutions for average user needs in each segment is a partial answer that will typically leave many dissatisfied - some seriously so....

It is well known that the class of strong (Generalized) AutoRegressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (or GARCH) processes is not closed under contemporaneous aggregation. This paper provides the dynamics followed by the aggregate process when the individual persistence parameters are drawn from...

This paper investigates the implications of cross-country heterogeneity within the euro area for the design of optimal monetary policy. We build an optimizing-based multi-country model (MCM) describing the euro area in which differences between structural parameters across countries are allowed....

This paper analyzes the relationship between the diffusion of new technologies and the decentralization of firms. Centralized control relies on the information of the principal, which we equate with publicly available information. Decentralized control, on the other hand, delegates authority to...

The New Keynesian Phillips Curve is at the center of two raging empirical debates. First, how can purely forward looking pricing account for the observed persistence in aggregate inflation. Second, price-setting responds to movements in marginal costs, which should therefore be the driving force...

We consider a simple CAPM with heterogenous expectations on assets mean returns while keeping the assumption of homogenous expectations on the covariance of returns. Our first result derives the security market line as an aggregation result without using the two-fund-separation property. In...

Der Beitrag arbeitet die Heterogenität von Unternehmen innerhalb von Branchen hin-sichtlich ihrer technischen Effizienz heraus. Datengrundlage sind die Mikro-Daten der Kostentrukturerhebung im Verarbeitenden Gewerbe in Deutschland. Die technische Effizienz wird im Rahmen der Schätzung einer...

Over the last decade, many countries have experienced dramatic increases in university enrolment, which, when not matched by compensating increases in other inputs, have resulted in larger class sizes. Using administrative records from a leading UK university, we present evidence on the effects...