Unmanaged and overgrown coastal heathlands represent a substantial fire hazard. We analyse how this hazard in Norwegian coastal heathlands is influenced by weather conditions, land management, and usage. Our analysis integrates vegetation, maintenance, and management data with emergency response...

We focus on the role that the transmission of information between a multilateral (e.g., the IMF) and a country has for optimal (conditional) reform design. The main result is that the informational advantage of the country must be strictly greater than the advantage of the multilateral in order...

This paper investigates the effects of multinational corporations on labor standards. We argue that the previous literature has failed to distinguish the different motives that encourage fi rms to become multinational. Therefore, we build a stylized model of segmented labor markets with...

We investigate the accuracy of ex ante assessments of vulnerability to income poverty using cross-sectional data and panel data. We use long-term panel data from Germany and apply different regression models, based on household covariates and previous-year equivalence income, to classify a...

One reason donors provide foreign aid is to support their exports to aid-recipient countries. Time series data for Germany suggests an average return of between US$ 1.04 to US$ 1.50 for each US dollar of aid spent by Germany. Although this is well below previous estimates, the value is robust to...

This paper examines panel data modelling with latent variables in analyzing log-linear relations between inputs and output of firms. Our particular focus is on (i) the "increasing returns to scale puzzle" for labour input and (ii) the GMM estimation in the context of errors-in-variables and...

This paper explores the inconsistency of common scale estimators when output is proxied by deflated sales, based on a common output deflator across firms. The problems arise when firms operate in an imperfectly competitive environment and prices differ between firms. In particular, we show that...

Hall's (1988) approach to study price- cost margins is adapted to simultaneously estimate price- cost margins and scale economies from a panel of plant level data. The paper shows how this methodology provides a very flexible framework with only a few, economically interesting parameters to be...

The hypothesis of market power in the Norwegian primary aluminium industry is tested using plant-level panel data. Economies of scale are found to be present, and Norwegian aluminium plants charge a procyclical price-cost margin that significantly exceeds zero. Consequently, the simple...

General Method of Moments (GMM) estimation of a linear one-equation model using panel data with errors-in-variables is considered. To eliminate fixed individual heterogeneity, the equation is differenced across one or more than one periods and estimated by means of instrumental variables. With...