The current demographic developments and their consequences for workforce ageing challenge the sustainability of intergenerational transfers and economic growth. A shrinking share of the young workforce will have to support a growing share of elderly, non-working people. Therefore, the...

In this paper we analyse the link between the age structure of the labour force and average labour productivity at the intermediate level of economic sectors. The analysis is based on a panel data set ranging over six years (2002-2007) and covers the sectors of mining, manufacturing and market...

Matched employer-employee (panel) data sets are gaining increasing importance in the analysis of labour markets. In collaboration with Statistics Austria we recently initiated the set up of a matched employer-employee panel data set for Austria, which covers the years 2002-2005. The aim of the...

Time series filtering methods such as the Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter, with a consensual choice of the smoothing parameter, eliminate the possibility of identifying long swing cycles (e.g., Kondratieff type) or, alternatively, may distort periodicities that are in fact present in the data,...

Global warming, intermittent production, and efficient use of energy require adequate demand response policies. The price inelasticity of electricity demand represents the main obstacle for developing adequate measures. A potential source of demand inelasticity is the temperature effect ‐the...

Using data from a Spanish assessment program of fourth-grade pupils, we analyze to what extent using certain teaching practices and materials in class is related to achievement in maths and reading. We distinguish using traditional and modern teaching styles. As a novelty, we measure in-class...

This paper uses data from the 2002-2005-2008 waves of the Spanish Survey of Household Finances (EFF) to investigate whether debts burdens hamper people's health. Several measures of debt strain are constructed, including debt-to-income ratios, the existence of debt arrears and amounts of...

We assess the impact of population structure on economic growth. Following recent research, we focus on the generational turnover as a key driver of consumption growth. We characterize the impact of the average birth and death rates on the generational turnover, depending on the age-profile of...

In this paper we compare several types of economic dependency ratios for a selection of European countries. These dependency ratios take not only into account the demographic structure of the population, but also the differences in age-specific economic behaviour such as labour market activity,...

In this paper we present a Stackelberg differential game to study the dynamic interaction between a polluting firm and a regulator who sets pollution limits overtime. At each time, the firm settles emissions taking into account the fine for non-compliance, and balances current costs of...