This paper documents the function and use of the Gretl function package VCwrapper.pdf that implements the VC method for estimating time-varying coefficients in linear models as described in Schlicht (2021). It builds on the VCC program by Schlicht (2021a), is easy to use and highly configurable....

A brief statement of the costumary foundations of economic processes and institutions and a review of theoretical approaches to custom.

The estimation of models with time-varying coefficients is usually performed by Kalman-Bucy filtering. The two-sided filter proposed by Schlicht (1988) is statistically and computationally superior to the one-sided Kalman-Bucy filter. This paper describes the estimation procedure and the program...

This note gives a fairly complete statistical description of the Hodrick-Prescott Filter (1997), originally proposed by Leser (1961). It builds on an approach to seasonal adjustment suggested by Leser (1963) and Schlicht (1981, 1984). A moments estimator for the smoothing parameter is proposed...

Entry for the Elgar Companion to Alfred Marshall, edited by Tiziano Raffaelli, Marco Dardi, and Giacomo Becatini, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2004

Government bonds are interest-bearing assets. Increasing public debt increases income, wealth, and consumption demand. The smaller government expenditure is, the larger consumption demand must be in equilibrium, and the larger must be public debt. Conversely, lower public debt implies higher...

This note comments briefly on Mehdad Vahabi's article on Alfred Marshall's concept of "Normal Value." It points out, in particular, the relationship between normality and equilibrium in the context of Marshall's moving equilibrium method.

Some Remarks on Lujo Brentano's View of Labor Market Problems Lujo Brentano (1844-1931) aimed for "realism" in economics. Regarding labor market theory, two topics are of particular interest: His investigations on "Hours and Wages in Relation to Production" (Scribner's 1894) and his analysis "On...

Offering higher wages may enable firms to attract more applicants and screen them more carefully. If firms compete in this way in the labor market, "selection wages" emerge. This note illustrates this wage-setting mechanism. Selection wages may engender unconventional results, such as a pre-tax...

The Labor Market and Employment (Handbook article). The labor market differs from typical markets in important ways. We find job competition and collective mechanisms that set wages and working conditions. Changes in employment bring about changes in wages and prices and entail political and...