It has been shown in economic research that public pay-as-you-go defined-benefit pension plans penalize those who continue to work beyond a certain age by reducing the present discounted value of future retirement benefits. In discussions on the effectiveness of policies aimed at eliminating...

The paper analyzes the convergence dynamics of a log-linearized open-economy neoclassical growth model under the assumptions of large adjustment costs for human capital investment, moderate adjustment costs for physical capital investment, and perfect capital mobility. The model can be...

A new and easily applicable method for estimating risk neutral distributions (RND) implied by American futures options is proposed. It amounts to inverting the Barone-Adesi and Whaley method (1987) (BAW method) to get the BAW-implied volatility smile. Extensive empirical tests show that the BAW...

Prominent analysts argue that the Russian reform process has gone badly because Russian attitudes towards the market mechanism fundamentally differ from those in the West. Others strenuously dispute this. We combine surveys and a double auction experiment to investigate Russian beliefs about how...

This paper investigates the equilibrium exchange rate of the Czech koruna using the reduced form equation of the stock-flow approach advocated, for instance, by Faruqee (1995) and Alberola et al. (1999). We investigate whether or not the observed real exchange rate of the Czech koruna is close...

This paper analyzes a spatial competitive monopolistic model of agglomeration in which households make only one shopping trip per period, and there are several firms in each industry. The model is a version of a model by Fujita (1988), but unlike his, in this model no equilibrium mixed district...

The paper analyzes investment behavior of industrial enterprises in the period immediately following price and foreign trade liberalization in the Czech Republic. It also focuses on the effect of Asoft@ macroeconomic environment on the microeconomic decisions. A dynamic investment function with...

We propose a computational model to study (the evolution of) post-secondary education. "Consumer" who differ in quality shop around for desirable colleges or universities. "Firm" that differ in quality signal the availability of their services to desirable students. Colleges and universities, as...

The main goal of this essay is to analyze the emergence of a barter economy, and the rise of centralized merchants and a barter redistribution system out of a primitive barter system. The environment is a spatial general equilibrium model where exchange is costly. Since exchange becomes more...

The processes that will drive the next stage of the Czech transition are likely to be similar to those promoting real convergence in the EU cohesion countries. We draw on previous modelling research on the cohesion economies to construct and calibrate a small macrosectoral model of the Czech...