In this paper we study the factors that influence both dropout and degree completion (4 or 5 years to earn a degree) at university using survival analysis. In particular, we apply the set of discrete-time methods for competing risks event history analysis described in Scott and Kennedy (2005)....

This paper offers a quantitative evaluation of the distribution of the welfare of a water privatization experience in Mali among the key economic agents. The assessment is based on an index number inspired by Bennet (1920). The main results are as follows. First, taxpayers are the main losers as...

Next to the taking of lives and the destruction of infrastructure, violent conflict also affects the long-term growth path of a country by its effect on human capital accumulation. This paper investigates the effect of exposure to violent conflict on the completion of primary schooling. We use a...

We inscribe Stein's density approach for discrete distributions in a new, flexible framework, hereby extending and unifying a large portion of the relevant literature. We use this to derive a Stein identity whose power we illustrate by obtaining a wide variety of so-called inequalities between...

Vector autoregressions (VARs) are flexible time series models that can capture complex dynamic interrelationships among macroeconomic variables. However, their dense parameterization leads to unstable inference and inaccurate out-of- sample forecasts, particularly for models with many variables....

The asymptotic efficiency of the indirect estimation methods, such as the efficient method of moments and indirect inference, depends on the choice of the auxiliary model. Up to date, this choice is somehow ad hoc and based on an educated guess of the researcher. In this article we develop three...

This paper analyses the impact on the macroeconomy of the ECB’s non-standard monetary policy implemented in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the Fall of 2008. We study in particular the effect of the expansion of the intermediation of transactions across central bank balance...

A key dimension of fiscal policy during the financial crisis was massive government support for the banking system. The macroeconomic effects of that support have, so far, received little attention in the literature. This paper fills this gap, using a quantitative dynamic model with a banking...

This paper provides an overview of recent theories of international financial contagion, with a focus on models in which the balance sheet constraints of global banks (and other financial institutions) are the key of international transmission.

This note solves the puzzle of estimating degenerate Wishart Autoagressive processes, introduced by Gourieroux, Jasiak and Sufana (2009)to model multivariate stochastic volatility. It derives the asymptotic and empirical properties of the Method of Moment estimator of the Wishart degrees of...