We consider a recently proposed class of nonlinear time series models and focus mainly onmisspecification testing for models of such type. Following the modeling cycle for nonlineartime series models of specification, estimation and evaluation we first treat how to choosean adequate transition...

All rulers face political competition, both from rivals within their state, andfrom other states to which their subjects may exit. In a simple model, both kinds of competitionare substitutes. Internal competition (democracy) benefits citizens by allowingthem to replace rent-seeking rulers. But...

This paper tests whether education levels di¤er between leadersselected in autocracies and democracies. We use a unique data seton over 1300 world leaders between 1848 and 2004 and exploit withincountry variation from transitions to and from democracy to show thatdemocracies pick more highly...

A founding member of the Historians’ Group of the Communist Party, of the journal Past and Present, and of a distinctive and distinguished School of History at the University of Birmingham, Rodney Hilton was among the most notable medieval historians of the latter half of the twentieth...

This paper aims to test empirically if certain frequently used measures of wellbeing,which are regarded as valuable properties of human life, are actuallydesired by people. In other words, it investigates whether the “expertjudgments” in social science overlap with social consensus on what...

The Industrial Revolution continues to be analysed by economic historians deploying the conceptual vocabularies of modern social science, particularly economics. Their approach which gives priority to the elaboration of causes and processes of evolution is far too often and superficially...

If unfunded pensions crowd-out private savings, pensions reform should raise the timepath of capital. Even if reform has long-run benefits, there will still be a “doubleburden”problem for a transitional generation. Assuming that there is an asset whichdiscounts the present value of an income...

Economic transition lowered happiness on average, but did not affect allequally. This paper uses Hungarian survey data to study the impact ofreligion and economic transition on happiness. Religious involvementcontributes positively to individuals’ self-reported well-being.Controlling for...

In the past few years the informal sector in countries in transition hasincreasingly become the focus of research, public policy and the media.The term ‘informal sector’ has been used to describe an extremely widespectrum of activities, which do not necessarily have much in common,such as...

This paper examines the impact of the transition from a planned toa market economy on living standards and welfare in the fiveRepublics of former Soviet Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, along with the Republicof Azerbaijan. A broad definition of...