Useful in the theoretical and empirical analysis of nonlinear time series data, semiparametric methods have received extensive attention in the economics and statistics communities over the past twenty years. Recent studies show that semiparametric methods and models may be applied to solve...

This technical note discusses the banking system structure, performance, and medium-term challenges for Switzerland. The note discusses that the Swiss banking sector has been undergoing a substantial consolidation over the last 10 years, but retains a rich collection of institutional types...

This research challenges previous findings regarding the robustness of the African growth dummy by expanding the list of variables to include those suggested by Easterly and Levine (1998) and Sachs and Warner (1997b). Using the Bayesian Averaging of Classical Estimates approach, this paper...

In this paper we propose a sequential method for determining the number of breaks in piecewise linear structural break models. An advantage of the method is that it is based on standard statistical inference. Tests available for testing linearity against switching regression type nonlinearity...

This research challenges previous findings regarding the robustness of the African growth dummy by expanding the list of variables to include those suggested by Easterly and Levine (1998) and Sachs and Warner (1997b). Using the Bayesing Averaging of Classical Estimates Approach, this paper...

In time series macroeconometric models, the first difference in the logarithm of a variable is routinely used to represent the rate of change of that variable. It is often overlooked that the assumed approximation is accurate only if the rates of change are small. Models of hyper-inflation are a...

The popular logit model is extended to allow for varying stochastic parameters (mixed logit) and non-linearities of regressor variables while analysing a cross-sectional sample of German corporate credit defaults. With respect to economic interpretability and goodness of probability forecasts...