The Blocking Lemma for a many-to-one matching model

The Blocking Lemma identifies a particular blocking pair for each non-stable and individually rational matching that is preferred by some agents of one side of the market to their optimal stable matching. Its interest lies in the fact that it has been an instrumental result to prove key results on matching. For instance, the fact that in the college admissions problem the workers-optimal stable mechanism is group strategy-proof for the workers and the strong stability theorem in the marriage model follow directly from the Blocking Lemma. However, it is known that the Blocking Lemma and its consequences do not hold in the general many-to-one matching model in which firms have substitutable preference relations. We show that the Blocking Lemma holds for the many-to-one matching model in which firms’ preference relations are, in addition to substitutable, quota q-separable. We also show that the Blocking Lemma holds on a subset of substitutable preference profiles if and only if the workers-optimal stable mechanism is group strategy-proof for the workers on this subset of profiles.     

Varying biases in matching estimates: Evidence from two randomised job search training experiments

We compare various matching estimators with the results from two randomised field experiments that evaluate the employment effects of job search training programmes. We find that commonly used non-experimental matching estimators tend to overestimate the programme effects, especially in the first experiment in which participation in the programme is voluntary. In the second experiment, where caseworkers assign unemployed persons to the training programme, the matching methods produce estimates that are close to the experimental results.     

Place-to-place migration in Israel: estimates of a logistic model

"A multinomial logit model focusing on economic and other locational factors is formulated and applied to data on place-to-place migration in Israel. Results indicate the effects of expected industrial wage differentials, in accordance with the hypothesis of Harris and Todaro (1970), and of disparities in the structure of industrial employment, suggesting that perceived risk as well as expected return enter into the decision to migrate, as Stark and Levhari (1982) have argued. Other effects include those associated with regional differentials in amenities and agglomeration associated with urbanization, population mobility by age group, center-periphery migration trends, border security hazards, and the like. Implications of the analysis for the Israeli policy of population dispersion are discussed."     

Full-information estimates of a nonlinear macroeconometric model

Results of estimating a large-scale, nonlinear macroeconometric model by full-information maximum-likelihood, nonlinear three-stage least squares, and nonlinear two-stage least squares are reported in this paper. The computation of the estimates is first discussed, and then the differences among the estimates are examined.     

Explaining cross-racial differences in teenage labor force participation: Results from a two-sided matching model

White teenagers are substantially more likely to search for employment than black teenagers. This differential occurs despite the fact that, conditional on race, individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to search. While the racial wage gap is small, the unemployment rate for black teenagers is substantially higher than that of white teenagers. We develop a two-sided search model where firms are partially able to search on demographics. Model estimates reveal that firms are more able to target their search on race than on age. Employment and wage outcome differences explain half of the racial gap in labor force participation rates.     

Competitive moment matching of a New-Keynesian and an Old-Keynesian model

The paper considers two rival models referring to the new macroeconomic consensus: a standard three-equation model of the New-Keynesian variety versus dynamic adjustments of a business and an inflation climate in an ‘Old-Keynesian’ tradition. Over the two subperiods of the Great Inflation and Great Moderation, both of them are estimated by the method of simulated moments. An innovative feature is here that the moments do not only include the autocovariances up to eight lags of quarterly output, inflation and the interest rate, but optionally also a measure of the raggedness of the three variables. In short, the performance of the Old-Keynesian model is very satisfactory and similar to the New-Keynesian model, or even better. In particular, the Old-Keynesian model is better suited to match the new moments without deteriorating the original second moments too much.     

The error components model: Conditions for the existence of the maximum likelihood estimates

The paper provides a stochastic specification of the error components model that ensures a positive maximum likelihood estimate of the error component variance. Also, it is shown that all of the stochastic parameters of the error components are identifiable albeit with certain qualifications. The model analyzed is the simple, two-component model, in which the stochastic variable is decomposed into a random individual effect and an overall error term. However, the results can be easily generalized to include an additional random time-effect variable.     

Parametric inference from system lifetime data under a proportional hazard rate model

In this paper, we discuss the statistical inference of the lifetime distribution of components based on observing the system lifetimes when the system structure is known. A general proportional hazard rate model for the lifetime of the components is considered, which includes some commonly used lifetime distributions. Different estimation methods—method of moments, maximum likelihood method and least squares method—for the proportionality parameter are discussed. The conditions for existence and uniqueness of method of moments and maximum likelihood estimators are presented. Then, we focus on a special case when the lifetime distributions of the components are exponential. Computational formulas for point and interval estimations of the unknown mean lifetime of the components are provided. A Monte Carlo simulation study is used to compare the performance of these estimation methods and recommendations are made based on these results. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the methods proposed in this paper.     

Effort reduction of employer‐to‐employer changers: Empirical evidence from football

We investigate changes in effort investment of employees who still fulfill a contract with their current employer but already signed a follow‐up contract with a new employer (employer‐to‐employer change). Because effort and outside contract assignments are hard to measure in firms, we use running data from professional football (n = 26,577) to proxy effort decisions. Fixed effect regressions reveal a statistically significant but weak reduction in a player's effort after signing a follow‐up contract with a new club. Because we find a statistically significant effort reduction in public sports, this effect might be even larger in less transparent labor markets.     

Towards developing a methodology for doing qualitative research: The dynamic-comparative case study method

This discussion integrates key concepts from case research methodology, theory development, the configurational approach to organizations, and actual research experience, in order to suggest a “systematic process” for doing qualitative research, described as the Dynamic-Comparative Case Study Method (D-CCSM). It is believed that D-CCSM is especially appropriate for researchers who: (1) are interested in studying new topical areas in organizations; (2) want to develop testable, midrange, theory from the processual analysis of case studies; (3) would like to replicate their studies in multiple research settings; and (4) have limited research resources. Insights and suggestions for using the D-CCSM approach are also included.     

Does unemployment hysteresis falsify the natural rate hypothesis? a meta‐regression analysis

Abstract.  A quantitative survey of 24 studies containing 99 national estimates of unemployment persistence reinstates unemployment hysteresis as a viable falsifying hypothesis to the natural rate hypothesis. Empirical evidence to the contrary may be attributed to small-sample, misspecification and publication biases. Larger estimates of unemployment persistence are produced by models that use more information ( t  = 9.03; P  < 0.0001) and are better specified. A theme of bias and misspecification among studies that are more supportive of natural rate hypothesis emerges in several independent ways. The nonstationarity of the unemployment rate is confirmed both by the observed rate of convergence of persistence estimates across the empirical literature and by the point towards which they converge. The natural rate hypothesis may be regarded as 'falsified' should we choose to do so.     

Public‐private partnership: Elements for a project‐based management typology

The polysemic concept of public‐private partnership (PPP) covers a great diversity of institutional arrangements. In this paper, we propose a typology based on the management of public projects that constitute partnerships with private firms. Our typology is founded on two key variables: (1) the proximity of the target and (2) the capacity to generate projects. We can then identify four distinct models of PPP: situational, elementary, symbiotic, and forward‐looking. The management challenges, the risks, and the major issues particular to each type of PPP are described in order to enlighten management teams and contribute to the production of useful knowledge in the field.     

The relationship between forecast dispersion and forecast uncertainty: Evidence from a survey data—arch model

This paper examines empirically the relationship between measures of forecast dispersion and forecast uncertainty from data on inflation expectations from the Livingston survey series and the Survey Research Center (SRC) survey series. Because the survey series do not provide probabilistic forecasts of inflation, we derive measures of inflation uncertainty by modelling the conditional variance of the inflation forecast errors from the survey series as an autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (ARCH) process. The analysis is complicated by the fact that the overlap of forecast horizons for the survey series does not preclude the model's disturbance terms from displaying autocorrelation, and also places a restriction on the specification for the ARCH measures of inflation uncertainty. We estimate the model using Hansen's (1982) generalized method of moments (GMM) procedure to account for the presence of serial correlation and conditional heteroscedasticity in the disturbance terms. The results generally support the hypothesis that the measures of forecast dispersion across survey respondents are positively and statistically significantly associated with the measures of inflation uncertainty. However, the appropriateness of using forecast dispersion measures as proxies for inflation uncertainty is sensitive to the choice of the survey series.     

Urban Waterscapes: The Hydro‐Politics of Flooding in a Sinking City

The threat of flooding in cities is often compounded by political and economic decisions made on watershed management, land development and water infrastructure and provisioning. It has also become a point of conflict between cities’ objectives for development and modernization, and the struggles of marginalized residents living in low‐lying coastal and riverine areas to remain in place. Flooding takes on different forms depending on one's point of view. It is a biophysical issue, involving geology, geography, meteorology and ecology. It is one of urban governance, involving planning and maintenance of infrastructure and land use. And it is sociopolitical, involving historical social and spatial marginalization and contestation. This article, based on mixed‐methods research in Jakarta, Indonesia, traces the conceptual and physical contours of urban waterscapes across these conflicting ideas and narratives. It brings into dialogue theories of urban political ecology, landscape ecology and environmental ethnography to explore the interrelationships between biophysical and sociopolitical factors behind urban flooding. In the article the focus is on the varying materialities and scales involved, including the ecological scales of the watershed, the infrastructural scales associated with flood protection, and the urban scales of planning, governance and social activism. The article concludes with a proposition for a multidimensional approach to thinking and acting on problems of urban ecological change.     

Owner-occupied housing in a model of exchange rate determination

This study explores the effect of owner-occupied housing asset holdings on the short and long run determination of exchange rates. In the presence of consumption goods that can simultaneously serve as investment allocation subject to capital gains—such as owner-occupied housing—the general equilibrium model, based on the Obstfeld and Rogoff Redux model, produces exchange rate overshooting both in the presence and in the absence of price rigidities in the markets for final goods. This effect depends on the size of owner-occupied housing expenditures relative to total consumption expenditures, the initial level of housing market inflation, capital gains in housing and other parameters of the model. Depending on parameter values and initial conditions, the model supports the possibility for exchange rate dynamics that include either overshooting or undershooting.     

Job separation in a non‐stationary search model: a structural estimation to evaluate alternative unemployment insurance systems

This paper considers a job search model in which the environment is not constant throughout the unemployment spell and where jobs do not last for ever. In this situation, reservation wages can be lower than they would be in a model without consideration of such separations, but they can initially be higher precisely because of the non‐constant environment. The model is estimated structurally by using Spanish data for the period 1985–1996. The main finding is that, after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, the unemployment hazard rate is almost flat during the first six months. However, after this duration, the highly decreasing job offer arrival rate comes to be the only significant factor, given that acceptance probabilities become equal to one. The estimated parameters are used to evaluate different unemployment insurance designs. We conclude that a non‐monotonic pattern in unemployment benefits, joint with a tax paid by workers and based on unemployment duration, makes this duration 13.2% lower than it currently is in Spain. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.