This paper considers the estimation of the employer-size wage e?ect using a panel of employer-employee matched data. We test for the possibility of different returns to observable human capital variables as well as examine the role played by unmeasured skills in driving the allocation of workers...

In this article, we focus on the consequences of quorum requirements for turnout in referendums. We use a rational choice, decision theoretic voting model to demonstrate that participation quorums change the incentives some electors face, inducing those who oppose changes in the status quo and...

We use simulation methods in an expected utility maximization framework to analyze a farmer`s optimal resource allocation in the presence of government payments, decoupled and not. This framework is extended to incorporate the optimal choice of investment levels in the presence of credit...

We use a large sample of Kansas Farm Management Association farms for eight different crop/practice combinations (dryland and irrigated corn, sorghum, soybeans, and wheat)for 1994 through 2006 to evaluate the determinants of relative yield performance and explore the ability of financial...

This paper empirically analyzes the political, institutional and economic sources of public deficit volatility. Using the system-GMM estimator for linear dynamic panel data models and a sample of 125 countries analyzed from 1980 to 2006, we show that higher public deficit volatility is typically...

Economic theory and empirical evidence suggest that fluctuation in exchange rates may have strong reallocation effects. Accession to the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, and then to the European Monetary Union em 1999, implied a drastic change in the behavior of Portugal´s exchange rate...

Real exchange rate movements are important drivers of the reallocation of resources between sectors of the economy. Economic theory suggests that the impact of exchange rates should vary with the degree of exposure to internacional competition and with the technology level. This paper...

We study the relationship between competition and quality within a spatial competition framework where firms compete in prices and quality. We generalise existing literature on spatial price-quality competition along several dimensions, including utility functions that are non-linear in income...

We build a panel of 31 emerging economies to uncover the determinants of private investment growth in emerging markets. Using several econometric techniques and quarterly data for the period 1990:1-2008:3, we show that: (i) the GDP and the cost of capital are among the fundamental determinants...

The paper uses a Panel Vector Auto-Regression (PVAR) approach to analyze the shortrun adjustment of private investment to shocks to fundamental and financial factors in emerging market economies. By relying on a panel of 31 emerging economies and quarterly frequency data for the period...