The phenomenon of overdispersion arises when categorical or count data exhibit variability larger than expected. Multinomial data commonly demonstrate this phenomenon when the counts arise from correlated or cluster observations. There are several ways of analyzing overdispersed multinomial...

Suppose V and U are two independent mean zero random variables, where V has an asymmetric distribution with two mass points and U has a symmetric distribution. We show that the distributions of V and U are nonparametrically identified just from observing the sum V + U, and provide a rate root n...

In public health studies, it is common for exposure status to be misclassified. In this dissertation, statistical models to adjust for misclassification will be proposed to address four related questions of interest.The first question focuses on exploring the association between a disease and...

We investigate the importance of taking the spatial interaction of turbines inside a wind park into account. This article provides two tests that check for wake effects and thus, take spatial interdependence into account. Those effects are suspected to have a negative influence on wind power...

Regional employment volatility is an undesirable phenomenon which describes a strongly fluctuating pattern of employment, thus, "instability" of a local economy. In the literature on this field, much of the attention has been paid to two main issues. First, a group studies has investigated the...

The role of for-profit educational organizations in the predominantly public and not-for-profit K-12 U.S. schooling system is being fiercely debated across our nation. Little empirical research is available to help policy makers develop informed decisions regarding the educational value that...

During the period 2000-2004 central banks sustained a generalized reduction in their staff, which was accompanied, in most cases, with significant increases in staff costs. This could obey to an enhanced interest of central banks in focusing on their core functions. In fact, central banks have...

We explore the determinants of debt and financial asset accumulation at the household level using survey data for Great Britain, Germany and the United States (US). Given that debt and assets are both components of a household’s financial portfolio, we explore the degree of inter-dependence...

In this paper we show that optimistic financial expectations impact positively on both the uantity of debt and the growth in debt, at the individual and household levels. Our heoretical model shows that this association is predicted under a variety of plausible cenarios. In the empirical...

In this paper, we use a binary choice panel data model to analyze married individuals.retirement behavior in Norway when a new option, AFP early retirement becomes available. We focus our study on the influence of the spouse.s characteristics on early retirement behavior. We find the directions...