In presence of panel data, technical efficiency is used to compare the performances of Decision-Making Units (DMUs). The novelty of this paper is the consideration of the dependence between the two error terms in the case of panel data and the introduction of time effect models in the Stochastic...

In this paper, we derive new, nearly optimal bounds for the Gaussian approximation to scaled averages of n independent high-dimensional centered random vectors X1, . . . , Xn over the class of rectangles in the case when the covariance matrix of the scaled average is non-degenerate. In the case...

This paper studies the evolution of trade freeness and of the agglomeration of production, as well as their relationship, at the sectoral level in a group of EU countries. Our main objective is to test at the sectoral level the conclusions of previous aggregate analyses which find that an...

We propose two new procedures for comparing the mean squared prediction error (MSPE) of a benchmark model to the MSPEs of a small set of alternative models that nest the benchmark. Our procedures compare the benchmark to all the alternative models simultaneously rather than sequentially, and do...

We address the efficiency of expenditure in education provision by comparing the output (PISA results) from the educational system of 25, mostly OECD, countries with resources employed (teachers per student, time spent at school). We estimate a semi-parametric model of the education production...

This paper applies linear and neural network-based "thick" models for forecasting inflation based on Phillips-curve formulations in the USA, Japan and the euro area. Thick models represent "trimmed mean" forecasts from several neural network models. They outperform the best performing linear...

This paper re-examines two data issues concerning euro area money demand: aggregation of national data and measurement of the own rate. The main purpose is to study if euro area money demand is subject to parameter non-constancies using formal tests rather than informal diagnostics. As a...

Conditional heteroskedasticity is an important feature of many macroeconomic and financial time series. Standard residual-based bootstrap procedures for dynamic regression models treat the regression error as i.i.d. These procedures are invalid in the presence of conditional heteroskedasticity....

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are instrumental in enabling the economic empowerment of women. We examine the efficiency and performance of 84 Indian MFIs from 2016 to 2018 using a two-stage double bootstrap approach. Our results show that MFIs with increased outreach and actively target...