In this paper we present a non altruistic model of demand for children in the presence of uncertainty about children's survival. Children are seen as assets, as they provide help during old age. Theoretical predictions relating to the change in the mean and variance of the survival rate are...

In this paper, the Partial Distribution (PD) and multivariate Partial Distribution (MPD) are presented in their concepts, properties and applications, and PD is compared with the lognormal and the levy distribution. Though the levy distribution is better to describe the exchange returns in...

Classical regression analysis uses partial coefficients to measure the influences of some variables (regressors) on another variable (regressand). However, a descriptive point of view shows that these coefficients are very bad measures of influence. Their interpretation as an average change of...

We discuss martingales, detrending data, and the efficient market hypothesis for stochastic processes x(t) with arbitrary diffusion coefficients D(x,t). Beginning with x-independent drift coefficients R(t) we show that Martingale stochastic processes generate uncorrelated, generally...

We propose residual based tests for cointegration using local GLS detrending (Elliott, Rothemberg and Stock (1996), ERS) to eliminate separately the deterministic components in the series. We consider two cases, one where only a constant is included and one where a constant and a time trend are...

Traditionally an old concern among economists has referred to the effects that specific financial systems may have on economic performance. Here we investigate the “stylised facts” among financial systems and banking crises by using individual and principal-components indicators and sets of...

Based on the theoretical models of Helpman and Krugman (1985), Falvey and Kierzkowski (1987) and Flam and Helpman (1987) and on the empirical studies of Greenaway, Hine and Milner (1994) and Hummels and Levinsohn (1995), we use a static and dynamic panel data approach to test the...

Recent geography and trade empirical studies based on monopolistic competition [Hanson, 1998 ; Head and Ries, 1999 ; Hummels, 1999], suggest high levels of trade price elasticities (between 3 and11). However, direct estimations of price-elasticities in trade equations, using price indexes at...

Recent economic geography and trade empirical studies based on monopolistic competition suggest high levels of trade price elasticities (between 3 and 11). However, price elasticity estimations in trade equations using unit values as price proxies usually lead to lower values of around unity. We...

We propose a structural econometric evaluation for auctions with discrete increments. Although very common in practice, this kind of mechanism raises many theoretical difficulties. First, there are no closed form equilibriumstrategies. Thus the econometrician cannot rely on a single formula to...