This article proposes the orthonormalised Laguerre polynomial (OLP) model of the yield curve, a generic linear model that is both cross-sectionally consistent (that is, it reliably fits the yield curve at a given point in time), and inter-temporally consistent (that is, the cross-sectional...

An important question for policy makers is how drug users may respond to changes in economic factors. Based on a unique data set of almost 2,500 interviews with people attending a needle exchange service in Oslo, this paper aims at estimating the impact of economic factors on heroin and...

This article provides theoretical foundations for the popular orthonormalised Laguerre polynomial (OLP) model of the yield curve, as originally introduced by Nelson and Siegel (1987). Intertemporal consistency is provided by deriving the volatility-adjusted OLP (VAO) model of the yield curve...

This article derives a generic, intertemporally-consistent, and arbitrage-free version of the popular class of yield curve models originally introduced by Nelson and Siegel (1987). The derived model has a theoretical foundation (conferred via the Heath, Jarrow and Morton (1992) framework) that...

Despite the high volatilities recorded for electricity prices, there seems to be little demand for options on electricity. One reason for the disinterest in electricity options could arise from uncertainty about how to price these options. This study uses recent econometric advances to...

We examine the impact of a policy reform that gave employees in a municipality extended rights to self-declare sickness absence. To identify the effect of bypassing the physician as an absence certifier we contrast the development of absence in the reform municipality with absence in similar...

The objective of this paper is to study if taxpayers behave in a loss averse manner when filing their tax returns. This is important for tax design but also for understanding human behavior in general. The predictions of prospect theory can be contrasted to those of expected utility theory. We...

A health policy reform aiming to reduce hospital waiting times and sickness absences, the Faster Return to Work (FRW) scheme, is evaluated by creating treatment and control groups to facilitate causal interpretations of the empirical results. We use a unique dataset on individuals where we match...

School attendance boundaries are a contentious issue in New Zealand, and have been relaxed and re-imposed depending upon political sentiment. Critics contend that a supposedly egalitarian state school system becomes one of selection by mortgage, with the value of ‘free’ schools capitalized...

The present study evaluates the existence of differences in competitiveness of Spanish industrial firms as a consequence of the district effect. A quantitative analysis has been performed in order to assess external competititveness taking into account whether firms are locates in industrial...