This paper is a survey of recent contributions to, and developments of, the relationship between outsourcing, efficiency and productivity growth in manufacturing and services. The objective is to provide a thorough and up-to-date survey that provides a significant discussion on data, as well as...

Over recent years, several nonlinear time series models have been proposed in the literature. One model that has found a large number of successful applications is the threshold autoregressive model (TAR). The TAR model is a piecewise linear process whose central idea is to change the parameters...

This paper considers a sequence of misspecification tests for a flexible nonlinear time series model. The model is a generalization of both the Smooth Transition AutoRegressive (STAR) and the AutoRegressive Artificial Artificial Neural Network (AR-ANN) models. The tests are Lagrange multiplier...

This paper considers the use of smooth transition autoregressive models for forecasting. First, the modelling of time series with these nonlinear models is discussed. Techniques for obtaining multiperiod forecasts are presented. The usefulness of forecast densities in the case of nonlinear...

In this paper, we propose a flexible smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) model with multiple regimes and multiple transition variables. We show that this formulation can be interpreted as a time varying linear model where the coefficients are the outputs of a single hidden layer feedforward...

Outward investment is a way of maximizing the rents on the accumulated knowledge and skill of a country´s firms, or preserving them as long as possible when the country itself has lost its comparative advantage in their industries, and the industries, or parts of them must relocate. This paper...

This paper characterizes the unique Markov equilibrium in the sequential move, finite horizon pricing duopoly with discounting. Simple, short cycles repeat until the last two periods. For discount factors above 0.75488, there are three-period reaction function cycles and below 0.75488,...

This paper estimates the agency costs of controlling minority shareholders (CMSs), who have control of a firm's votes, while owning only a minority of the cash flow rights. Analyzing a panel of 309 listed Swedish firms during 1991 - 1997, for which we have complete and detailed data on ownership...

Nonlinearity, and regime-switching behavior in particular, and structural change have often been perceived as competing alternatives to linearity. In this paper we propose a model, based on the principle of smooth transition, that allows for regime-switching behavior in conjunction with...

Government debt and redistributive taxation can help people to smooth consumption when facing uninsurable individual specific risk. I examine the effects that variations in public debt and transfers have on risk sharing, efficiency, and the distribution of resources. I find that risk sharing can...