Contributing to the contentious debate on the relationship between sovereign debt and economic growth, I examine the role of theory-driven (non-)sustainable debt-ratios in combination with debt-ratio thresholds on economic growth. Based on both dynamic and non-dynamic panel data analyses in the...

While linkages between some macroeconomic phenomena (e.g. unemployment, GDP growth) and suicide rates in some countries have been explored, only one study, hitherto, has established a causal relationship between fiscal consolidation and suicide, albeit in a single country. This study examines...

The question of how to measure and classify people’s risk preferences is of substantial importance in the field of Economics. Inspired by the multitude of ways used to elicit risk preferences, we conduct a holistic investigation of the most prevalent method, the multiple price list (MPL) and...

This paper considers alternative methods to estimate econometric models based on bilateral data when only aggregate information on the dependent variable is available. Such methods can be used to obtain an indication of the sign and magnitude of bilateral model parameters and, more importantly,...

This paper proposes a large Bayesian Vector Autoregressive (BVAR) model with common stochastic volatility to forecast global equity indices. Using a dataset consisting of monthly data on global stock indices the BVAR model inherently incorporates co-movements in the stock markets. The...

We allow for heterogeneity in investors’ ability to borrow from collateral in a Kiyotaki- Moore style macro model. We calibrate the model to match the quintiles of the distribution of leverage ratios of US non-financial firms. We show that financial amplification of the model with...

The EU has been promoting unbundling of the transmission grid from other stages of the electricity supply chain with the aim of fostering competition in the upstream stage of electricity generation. At presence, ownership unbundling is the predominant form of unbundling in Europe. However, the...

This paper investigates the nexus between regional income levels and inequality. We present a novel small-scale inequality database for Austrian municipalities to address this question. Our dataset combines individual tax data of Austrian wage tax payer on regionally disaggregated scale with...

This paper analyzes if neighborhood income inequality has an effect on informal regulation of environmental quality, using census tract-level data on industrial air pollution exposure from EPA’s Risk Screening Environmental Indicators and income and demographic variables from the American...

Does an increase of elderly employment cause a decline in youth employment? A simplified view of a demand driven economy would give a positive answer to this question. Econometric studies based on a single equation approach deliver little support for this belief. However, these studies typically...