Propensity Score Matching (PSM) has become a popular approach to estimation of causal effects. It relies on the assumption that selection into a treatment can be explained purely in terms of observable characteristics (the “unconfoundedness assumption”) and on the property that balancing on...

The estimation of limited dependent variable panel data models usually involves objective functions in which integrals appear without a closed form solution: this is the case of the panel data Tobit model with random effects. Recently, simulation methods have shown to be useful in the inference...

This Thesis consists of six Chapters.Chapter I provides an overview of the economic theories of discrimination,summarises the existing empirical work with respect to gender and ethnicity wagedifferentials, presents a discussion on equal opportunities policies, and highlights themerits of matched...

This study sets out the potential costs and benefits of a move to a licensed, taxed and regulated cannabis market in England and Wales. It identifies at least 17 sources of social cost/benefit and gives indicative estimates of annual net external benefit for 13 of them. We stress the important...