This paper analyses in a simple global games framework welfare effects stemming from different communication strategies of public agencies if strategies of agents are complementary to each other: communication can either be fully transparent, or the agency opaquely publishes only its overall...

One empirical argument that has been around for some time and that clearly contra- dicts equity market efficiency is that market prices seem too volatile to be optimal estimates of the present value of future discounted cash flows. Based on this, it is deduced that systematic pricing errors...

This paper analyses in a simple global games framework welfare effects of different communication strategies of a central bank: it can either publish no more than its overall assessment of the economy or be more transparent, giving detailed reasons for this assessment. The latter strategy is...

This paper investigates how families make decisions about the education of juveniles. The decision problem is analyzed in three variations: a 'decentralized' scheme, in which the parents control the purse-strings, but the children dispose of their time as they see fit; a 'hierarchical' scheme,...

We characterize optimal incentive contracts in a moral hazard framework extended in two directions. First, after effort provision, the agent is free to leave and pursue some ex-post outside option. Second, the value of this outside option is increasing in effort, and hence endogenous. Optimal...

This paper provides a model that can account for the almost uniform staggering of wage contracts in some countries as well as for the markedly nonuniform staggering in others. In the model, short and long contracts as well as long contracts concluded in different periods are strategic...

Auf der Grundlage einer Stichprobe von 105 sächsischen Unternehmen wird deren Zukunftsfähigkeit mit Hilfe einer neuen Ratingtechnologie analysiert. Diese basiert - neben klassischen Analysewerkzeugen - auf einer direkten Einbeziehung von Risikogesichtspunkten und einer stochastischen...

The inference in probit models relies on the assumption of normality. However, tests of this assumption are not implemented in standard econometric software. Therefore, the paper presents a simple representation of the Bera-Jarque-Lee test, that does not require any matrix algebra. Furthermore,...

This paper proposes a variant of the classical HAUSMAN specification test commonly employed to decide whether the estimation of a random-effects model is a viable alternative to estimating fixed effects. Whereas the classical test probes the equality of fixed- and random effects, the proposed...

This paper introduces a two-stage union-oligopoly-council model of wage and employment determination wherein at the first stage wage is negotiated through collective bargaining and at the second stage employment in each firm is co-determined by the employer and its works council. We provide a...