In this paper, we show how to estimate the parameters of stochastic volatility models using Bayesian estimation and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations through the approximation of the a-posteriori distribution of parameters. Simulated independent draws are made possible by using...

Recently, Soukiazis E., Cerqueira P., and Antunes M. (2013) developed a model – hereafter the SCA model - that takes into account both internal and external imbalances and where relative prices are not neutral in the pace economic growth. The SCA model can be considered as an extension of the...

Recent studies have pointed to the association between declining collective bargaining coverage and rising overall wage inequality. This association holds more or less across-the-board, at least for broad swathes of recent history. That said, the exact contribution of deununionization is a...

This paper aims to analyze the implementation of innovations, featuring technological risk, in network industries through the development of a suitable regulatory scheme. In particular, Smart grid (SG) technologies which have the potential to save operational costs and reduce the need for...

Within the institutional theory of North (1990, 2005), the objective of this study is to analyse the impact of economic and institutional factors, formal and informal, in the entrepreneurial activity of nations, particularly in Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA). In order to evaluate the...

Recent attempts to incorporate spatial heterogeneity in minimum-wage employment models have been attacked for using overly simplistic trend controls, and for neglecting the potential impact on employment growth. We investigate whether such considerations call into question our earlier findings...

This paper evaluates the impact of volatility shifts on different time varying period-by-period indexes which are used in the literature to study cross-country synchronization. Using GDP data for 22 OECD countries from 1970 to 2013 we show that when we take into account the volatility shifts the...

From the mid-1980s to the late-1990s a considerable number of empirical studies investigated the impact of the Welfare State (WS) on economic growth with no definite conclusions on the sign, transmission mechanisms and direction of causality of the relationship. More recently, globalization,...

The Portuguese convergence and growth experience after EU membership can be divided into two periods: 1986-1998, a convergence period during which growth in the Portuguese economy accelerated and Portugal grew faster than the EU15/14 average; and a stagnation/divergence period from 1999 onwards...

Growth and real convergence in Portugal are usually analyzed after EU accession on January 1st 1986 based on real GDP per capita. There is however a lack of literature approaching the subject from an European distribution of income perspective and for a longer time period. We fill this gap by...