This paper describes a way of constructing an ECM algorithm such that it converges at the rate of the EM algorithm. The approach is motivated by the well known conjugate directions algorithm, and a special case of it is when the parameters corresponding to different CM steps are orthogonal....

In 1967, John Krutilla suggested a relationship between car camping, canoe cruising, and cross-country skiing and induced demand for wild, primitive, and wilderness-related opportunities. Here, the time trend of cross-section parameter estimates of the relationship is examined. Households...

The focus of the present study is on consumer health information in relation to supplier induced demand (SID). We argue that a comparison between medical professionals and nonmedical professionals fails to identify demand inducement. Using a new information measure based on questions of the...

This study examines time-use for outdoor recreation during 1965 to 2007. Using data on over 47,000 individuals from six nationally representative time-use surveys, we first document time-use trends between 1965 and 2007. We then develop a two-part instrumental variable censored regression model...

This study measured the discount rates of a sample of 262 farm households in the Ethiopian highlands, using a time preference experiment with real payoffs. In general, the median discount rate was very high—more than double the interest rate on the outstanding debt—and varied systematically...

We study the interest rate's effect on the stability of cartels. A low interest rate implies a high discount factor and thus increases cartel stability. If firms access the capital market, an additional effect comes into play: a low interest rate lowers investment costs, resulting in more...

The theory of environmental regulation suggests that economic instruments, such as taxes and tradable permits, create more effective technology adoption incentives than conventional regulatory standards. We explore this issue for an important industry undergoing technological responses to a...

Virtually all U.S. states have now created voluntary cleanup programs (VCPs) offering liability relief and other incentives for responsible parties to remediate contaminated sites. We use a duration model to analyze participation in Oregon’s program. In contrast to previous VCP research, we...

This paper analyzes the (re)entry of Norwegian mothers into full-time and part-time employment following the first and second birth. Based on theories of job search and human capital depreciation and appreciation a semi-parametric hazard model is estimated, expressing the entry rate as a...

An important problem in the analysis of intertemporal choice processes is how to justify the choice of mathematical structure of the transition probabilities. A related and delicate identification problem is to separate the effect of unobserved variables from the influence on preferences from...