We analyze the contracting out of public service provision to private firms and compare the performance of for-profit and non-for-profit firms. We consider two alternative settings.In the first,the firm has control rights, as under the UK's Private Finance Initiative(PFI). In the second,the...

Vector autoregressions (VARs) are an important tool in time series analysis. However, relatively little is known about the finite-sample behaviour of parameter estimators. We address this issue, by investigating ordinary least squares (OLS) estimators given a data generating process that is a...

In a recent paper, Yoon (2003) shows that the Stochastic Unit Root (STUR) model is closely related to long memory processes, and, in particular, that it is a special case of an I(d) process, with d = 1.5. In this paper we further examine this issue by using parametric and semiparametric...

The paper studies an incentive contract in a monopolistic and duopolistic credit market where borrowers are dierent in risk. One lender is in an advantaged position with respect to the other due to past relations with the borrowers. The features of the equilibrium contract are investigated. It...

We study the incentives of regulated firms to acquire costly information under price cap regulation.We show that revenue sharing plans, in the spirit proposed by Sappington and Weisman(1996), can provide greater incentives for information acquisition than pure price capping and increase social...

Non-linear public debt adjustment and structural breaks in fiscal policy may affect tests of public debt sustainability. Existing studies address these issues separately. No study has considered both. We address this gap by focusing on Greece, one of the most highly-indebted EMU countries. We...

In this paper fractionally integrated ARIMA (ARFIMA) models are estimated using an extended version of Nelson and Plosser’s (1982) dataset. The analysis employs Sowell’s (1992) maximum likelihood procedure. Such a parametric approach requires the model to be correctly specified in order for...

This paper investigates the intraday price volatility process in four Australian wholesale electricity markets; namely New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria. The data set consists of half-hourly electricity prices and demand volumes over the period 1 January 2002 to 1 June...

In this study, 37,605 paintings by sixty well-known Australian artists sold at auction over the period 1973-2003 are used to construct a hedonic price index. The attributes included in the hedonic regression model include the name and living status of the artist, the size and medium of the...