This paper analyses the integration order of the consumption/output and investment/output ratios for a group of the most important OECD countries. Results show that these ratios can exhibit some structural breaks. Thus, the use of those statistics which do not take into account the presence of...

The results indicate that the closeness of the small firm-bank relationship tends to result in lower bank premia, notwithstanding the predicted firm-size effect.

The presence of a relation between firm size and asset returns is investigated by referring to the Italian Stock Exchange. In order to explain asset return variability, the excess return on a market portfolio as well as the difference between the return on a portfolio of small stocks and the...

In response to the perceived instability of the relations between traditional monetary aggregates and nominal aggregate demand a number of nonstandard indicator variables have been developed to enable monetary policy to respond to, and counteract, incipient inflationary pressures before much...

This letter re-examines the role of commercial loans versus demand deposits in the monetary transmission mechanism using short-run and long-run sequential causality testing procedures designed by Toda and Phillips. Empirical results support the credit view that bank loans are as good a predictor...

The paper suggests that typical estimates of returns to primary education are over-estimated, because import costs to individuals are excluded. In calculations with Honduran data, private returns are found to drop significantly when private costs are included. It is suggested that lower private...

Efficiency of the black market for foreign exchange in a developing country can be assessed by testing whether that market complies with the 'relative' version of the purchasing power parity hypothesis. This paper applies nonstationarity and cointegration to investigate this hypothesis for the...

Economic reforms in former socialist societies caused massive reallocation of resources, rapid increases in prices and severe erosion in real income and wages with potentially important distributional consequences. Using the Lithuanian Household Budget Survey, this study estimates an...

This paper shows how the allowance for unobserved ability and assortative mating will change the interpretation of the coefficient on own education in a log wage equation. Using data from Taiwan it is found that the coefficient on own education is almost zero but that on spouse's education is...

This study documents some unique statistical properties in the relationships among inflation, output and stock prices in the Chinese economy. The relationship between stock returns and unexpected output growth is significantly positive, but that between stock returns and expected output growth...