The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is the key action to limit global warming. An important source of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution is the inefficiency of production processes. We report results from a stochastic nonparametric efficiency analysis using directional distance...

Leading indicators are important variables in business cycle forecasting. We use wavelet analysis to investigate the lead-lag stability of German leading indicators in time-frequency space. This method permits a time-varying relation of the leading indicators to the reference cycle allowing...

The paper considers a nonparametric approach to determine portfolio efficiency using specific directions toward the portfolio frontier function. This approach allows for a straightforward incorporation of higher moments of the returns distribution beyond mean and variance. The nonparametric...

This Monte-Carlo study investigates sensitivity of the Wilcoxon signed rank test to certain assumption violations in small samples. Emphasis is put on within-sample-dependence, between-sample dependence, and the presence of ties. Our results show that both assumption violations induce severe...

The issue of poverty traps is assessed using quantile regression. For that an augmentation of the usual convergence regressions by quadratic and cubic terms is used with emphasis on curve fitting rather than parameter estimation. The results show that the generic mechanism leading to poverty...

In economic development, long-run structural change among the three main sectors of an economy follows a typical pattern with the primary sector (agriculture, mining) first dominating, followed by the secondary sector (manufacturing) and finally by the tertiary sector (services) in terms of...

This paper investigates the sources of total factor productivity growth in the German manufacturing sector, 1981-1998. Decomposition formulae for aggregate productivity growth are used to identify the effects of structural change and entry-exit on aggregate productivity growth. Documented is a...

We investigate the impact of actors' positions within regional innovator networks on their innovative performance. The networks of four selected regions are based on information on patent applicants and inventors. Count data regressions show positive effects on innovation of both the total...

The present paper examines one of the central elements of evolutionary thinking - competition formalized by the replicator dynamics mechanism. Using data on product characteristics of automobiles sold on the German domestic market over the period 2001-2006, we construct a competitiveness or...

We conduct an empirical analysis of the technical efficiency of cars sold in Germany in 2010. The analysis is performed using traditional data envelopment analysis (DEA) as well as directional distance functions (DDF). The approach of DDF allows incorporating the reduction of carbon dioxide...