International stock markets interactions and conditional correlations

This paper investigates the transmission of price and volatility spillovers across the US and European stock markets in bivariate combinations. The framework used encompasses the most popular multivariate GARCH models, with News Impact Surfaces employed for interpretation. By using synchronous data the dynamic conditional correlation model (Engle, R., 2002. Dynamic conditional correlation: a simple class of multivariate GARCH models. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 20, 339–350) is found to best capture the relationships for over half of the bivariate combinations of markets. Other findings include volatility spillovers from the US to European markets, and a reverse spillover. In addition, the magnitude of the correlation between markets is higher not only for negative shocks in both markets, but also when a combination of shocks of opposite signs occurs.     

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Combining Medical and Mental Health Services for Older Adults with HIV in New York City

Atlantic Economic Journal - Older adults with the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV (OAWH), people 50 years and older, are aging with the disease and experience low quality of life....     

Assessing output and productivity growth in the banking industry

This paper assesses the evolution of output and productivity in the Greek banking industry for the period 1990–2006. Three main categories of bank output were estimated based on modern theoretical approaches, while for the estimation of output and productivity (partial and total factor) we relied on the index number method (Tornqvist index). We also considered the effect of labor quality on banks’ productivity and the contribution of total factor productivity to bank output growth. Bank output and labor productivity outpaced considerably the respective GDP growth and labor productivity of the Greek economy during the period under examination. Capital and total factor productivity have also improved remarkably mainly since 1999, due to the structural changes that took place within the industry, capital (mainly IT) investments and improvement in the quality of human capital.     

A test of stability in a linear altruism model

Linear altruism predicts the estimated preferences to be independent of the subject’s position in the game, if the role allocation is randomly determined, because subjects, in each role, have the same preferences ex ante. We test and reject this hypothesis.     

Supply-Driven Input-Output Multipliers

The paper raises and discusses issues related to the derivation, behaviour and characteristics of input-output multipliers where the exogenous changes are not assumed in elements of final demand but in total outputs of sectors and commodities. These multipliers are more appropriate for use in impact analysis of policies which influence farm outputs, than the traditional final demand multipliers. The paper estimates also such “supply-driven” multipliers for 16 farm commodities of US agriculture. The empirical analysis shows that despite the variability in the multipliers' values, two rather solid groups of commodities which feel the strongest impacts of different crop and livestock output changes respectively, can be found. Several commodities are common to both groups, verifying also the significance of some indirect linkages between farm and non-farm commodities. However, the final demand sectors absorb the largest part of the initial exogenous change itself.     

Did the euro give us a break in inflation?

The introduction of the euro was accompanied by promises of lower inflation rates; however, the public feels that inflation increased when the euro was introduced. Officials admit that certain sectors experienced substantial price increases, but they claim that the overall inflation rate did not increase. This paper investigates whether inflation in 15 European countries experienced a structural break after the euro was introduced using new powerful and serial correlation robust test statistics. We find evidence that the European Monetary Union (EMU) countries experienced a positive break in inflation after 1999. Our results demonstrate that inflation just after the introduction of the euro was higher relative to the inflation just prior to the introduction of the euro. Additionally, we find no evidence of positive breaks for the non-EMU countries when the euro was introduced.     

Chained,exact and superlative hedonic price changes: estimates from microdata

Scanner data are used to calculate chained, exact (and superlative) hedonic price indexes for television sets. The data source is available for a wide range of goods, the application providing an example of how this method can be more widely applied. The indexes correspond to constant utility, hedonic cost-of-living indexes. The approach improves on the existing direct method, which takes its estimates directly from the coefficients on time dummies in a hedonic regression. It also improves on the matched model method used by statistical agencies. The differences between actual price changes and exact hedonic quality-adjusted price changes are found to be substantial. Base-period and current-period weighted exact hedonic indexes are similar, thus providing good approximations to a superlative index. Estimates from the direct, dummy variable approach were compared to the superlative indexes. The disparities between the results argue for caution in the use of the direct, dummy variable approach to estimating quality-adjusted price changes.     

Accountability and fiscal equalization

A common feature of multi-jurisdictional systems is equalization programs. The implementation of such programs, that is based on some measurement of sub-national fiscal capacity and effort, is particularly complex. Within a political economy model, this paper analyzes the impact of such systems on accountability, identifying a positive and a negative effect. The positive effect arises because with equalized fiscal resources, a consequence of equalization, citizens attach more importance to any remaining variation in public good supplies and so punish rent-taking more severely. This induces politicians to restrain themselves and so accountability improves. The negative effect arises because the complexity of such programs reduces the informational content of observed public good supplies. This introduces a perverse fiscal incentive that reduces accountability. Thus, the overall impact of equalization programs on accountability depends on the balance of these effects.