The paper analyzes the adoption of various e-business technologies. Strong empirical evidence is found for the existence of increasing returns to adoption due to indirect network externalities between related technologies. If a company is close to the technological frontier, its probability of...

Estimation of multivariate volatility models is usually carried out by quasi maximum likelihood (QMLE), for which consistency and asymptotic normality have been proven under quite general conditions. However, there may be a substantial efficiency loss of QMLE if the true innovation distribution...

In this paper bilateral models formalizing monthly growth of US imports and exports are employed to investigate the potential of nonlinear relationships linking exchange rate uncertainty and trade growth. Parametric linear and nonlinear as well as semiparametric time series models are evaluated...

While a market economy seeks equilibrium, a knowledge-based economy may upset this tendency towards stabilization by adding the feedback of globalization. The interaction among the three subdynamics of economic exchange, technological innovation, and institutional control can be captured with a...

The purpose of this paper is to propose a procedure for testing the equality of several regression curves fi in nonparametric regression models when the noise is inhomogeneous. This extends work of Dette and Neumeyer (2001) and it is shown that the new test is asymptotically uniformly more...

This paper applies parametric and non-parametric and parametric tests to assess the efficiency of electricity distribution companies in Germany. We address traditional issues in electricity sector benchmarking, such as the role of scale effects and optimal utility size, as well as new evidence...

Ziel des vorliegenden Diskussionspapiers ist es, einen Beitrag zur Verbesserung der Vergleichbarkeit der Schätzgüteergebnisse von Insolvenzprognosestudien zu leisten. Hierzu werden zunächst in der Literatur verwendete kategoriale, ordinale und kardinale Schätzgütemaße vorgestellt. Es wird...

Voluntary environmental agreements have been popular with government agencies in several countries. However, many questions remain about their efficiency as a regulatory tool. Recent analyses suggest that they are more effective than classical regulatory or economic approaches when dealing with...

Individual decisions on education are still an important topic in social sciences research. Our goal is an analysis of the impact of siblings on educational attainment in West Germany. Theories of educational decisions in a family context suggest several possible effects of siblings. During the...

The stimulation of co-operations and networks has become very popular in R&D policies in recent years. This study examines the development and the impact of publicly funded R&D consortia in Germany. The paper describes the history of R&D funding in Germany with a focus on the development of...