We present a new method for imposing and testing concavity of a cost function using asymptotic least squares, which can easily be implemented even for cost functions which are nonlinear in parameters. We provide an illustration on the basis of a (generalized) Box-Cox cost function with six...

This paper studies whether the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy offers new perspectives for those who, in economic terms, were relatively deprived under the old regime. Previous empirical research on this question has been limited by the availability of representative...

I show that workers update expectations about job search and salary growth when exposed to labor market news. To identify the impact of news on expectations, I exploit Foxconn's announcement to build a large production plant in Racine County, Wisconsin. Exposure to positive news leads to an...

We analyse the nature of German trade-FDI linkages within the EU27 based on a simultaneous equation gravity approach for imports, exports, in- and outward FDI stocks. We adopt both a Hausman-Taylor (1981) IV approach (3SLS-GMM) and rival non-IV estimation (the system extension to the Fixed...

We provide evidence that motorists respond to short-run fluctuations in fuel prices at the gas pump and not on the road. Employing variants of censored panel regression to control for unobserved heterogeneity and censoring of the dependent variable, we find that the fuel price has a large and...

This paper examines empirically the relationship between innovation and market structure within a simultaneous framework at the industry level of aggregation. We use a model in which R&D affects both, demand and cost conditions. An optimization process leads to optimal industry R&D expenditure...

We explore whether non-competitive pricing prevails in Germany's retail gasoline market by examining the influence of the crude oil price on the retail gasoline price, focusing specifically on how this influence varies according to the brand and to the degree of competition in the vicinity of...

Rising wage inequality in the U.S. and Britain (especially in the 1980s) and rising continental European unemployment (with rather stable wage inequality) have led to a popular view in the economics profession that these two phenomena are related to negative relative demand shocks against the...

Diese Arbeit untersucht empirisch den Zusammenhang von Beschäftigung und Lohnstrukturen zwischen sowie innerhalb von Qualifikations- und Altersgruppen. Zunächst werden Substitutionselastizitäten zwischen Qualifikations- und Altersgruppen geschätzt und die Lohnveränderungen bestimmt, die...

It is commonplace in the debate on Germany?s labor market problems to argue that high unemployment and low wage dispersion are related. This paper analyses the relationship between unemployment and residual wage dispersion for individuals with comparable attributes. In the conventional...