This thesis consists of three self-contained chapters in empirical macroeconomics and analyzes important issues related to monetary policy and labor supply. The first chapter deals with the problem of weak identification in the estimation of inflation dynamics and a monetary policy rule. We...

Economic theory rarely provides a parametric specification for a model, but it often provides shape restrictions. We consider nonparametric estimation of the heterogeneous demand for gasoline in the U.S. subject to the Slutsky inequality restriction of consumer choice theory. We derive...

This thesis looks at two topics that have been prominent on the development agenda for more than five decades: migration and informal markets. To mitigate the problems of both migration and the informal sector, and harness their development potential, a clear understanding of the mechanisms at...

China's economic development in recent decades has been tremendous, but subject to debate. This paper calculates regional prices that make incomes comparable across both time and space using the Engel-curve approach. Incomes are adjusted using these price indices, providing new estimates of...

We propose a method to identify bounds (i.e. set identification) on the sharing rule for a general collective household consumption model. Unlike the effects of distribution factors, it is well known that the level of the sharing rule cannot be uniquely identified without strong assumptions on...

This paper presents a formal model in which differential satiation dynamics of various consumer needs translate into long-run changes of consumer behavior when income rises. In the model individuals allocate their income to the consumption categories proportional to need deprivation states...

The Alchian-Allen substitution theorem states that an increase of the prices of two similar goods by the same amount leads to a relative increase in the compensated demand of the more expensive good. In this paper we generalize this theorem to ordinary demand functions and show under which...

There is a conflict in the mechanism for price determination used in a Marshallian partial equilibrium supply and demand framework and the Walrasian general equilibrium framework. It is generally thought that partial equilibrium is a simplified approximation to the complexities of the general...

Engel's law is known to be extraordinarily consistent across time and space. Accordingly, it has been widely used to determine poverty. However, also among the poorest, a certain amount of non food spending is necessary. To substantiate the distinction between necessities and luxuries, already...

We propose a method to identify bounds (i.e. set identification) on the sharing rule for a general collective household consumption model. Unlike the effects of distribution factors, it is well known that the level of the sharing rule cannot be uniquely identified without strong assumptions on...

The aim of my PhD projects is to investigate various problems in applied parametric and nonparametric estimation, and eventually in prediction. The main focus is on welfare analysis. For instance, in both nonparametric density estimation and regression, the so-called boundary effects, i.e. the...

Among many developments in statistical modelling in recent years, non- and semiparametric methods have proved to be a particularly powerful data-analytic tool. Nevertheless, there still exist justified doubts regarding there forecasting performance, for example in the context of financial time...