Low Paid Employment in Britain: Estimating State‐Dependence and Stepping Stone Effects

Using 18 waves of the British Household Panel Study, this paper examines state‐dependence and stepping stone effects of low pay. The results show that both state‐dependence and stepping stone effects of low pay are present. However, there is no evidence to support a low‐pay no‐pay cycle. The introduction of the national minimum wage does not appear to have affected state‐dependence and stepping stone effects of low pay.     

Local labor market conditions and foreign direct investment flows in the U.S.

This study evaluates the impact of industry and state-specific economic conditions on inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in several states in the U.S. FDI inflows in the U.S. are attracted by high industry and state specific labor productivity, and also by high state spending on education. Multinational companies seem to highly value a productive and educated labor force.     

Promoting energy efficiency policies over the information barrier

Stakeholders argue that the information barrier is the major obstacle restricting firms from adopting Energy Efficiency Technologies (EETs) in Europe. The present work examines the processes of information gathering as regards to EETs and explores the factors affecting the level of acquired information by EET adopters. Empirical evidence is provided by a data set of Greek manufacturing firms which have adopted EETs. In conclusion, we propose appropriate policy measures able to promote the adoption of EETs by overcoming the information barrier.     

Agricultural Policies and Structural Change in French Dairy Farms: A Nonstationary Markov Model

The aim of this paper is to gain an understanding into how agricultural policies have affected structural change in the French dairy sector. A nonstationary Markov model is estimated using a Generalized Cross Entropy approach. Results show that while the price of cow's milk encourages farm growth, direct payments and quota restriction favor small farms. The price signal is a key factor of structural change. As a result, higher milk prices may accelerate the trend toward the further growth of dairy farms. Settlement policy and technical change seem not to slow this trend.     

Are the Energy Efficiency Technologies efficient?

This paper investigates a rather neglected issue regarding the impact of Energy Efficiency Technologies (EETs) on firms' productive performance. Possible influences may arise in the context of internal cost of adjustment, learning by doing effects and the capital vintage. A unique dataset was used which has resulted from a survey carried out among a sample of Greek EET adopters in the manufacturing sector. An econometric framework based on nested non-neutral frontiers, was developed to estimate the influence and the decomposition of EETs on firms' productive performance. The empirical findings reveal that the EETs affect positively the firms' technical efficiency and negatively the deterministic part of the frontier. Significant variations among industries and size groups appear to be present. Some policy implications are derived based on the empirical evidence supporting a mix of energy and technology directions.     

Public–Private Sector Wage Differentials in Australia

This paper examines public–private sector wage differentials in Australia. After controlling for observed characteristics and individual fixed effects, we show that on average workers in the public sector earn about 5.1 per cent more in hourly wages than those in the private sector. The wage premium is slightly higher for females than males. Using a panel data quantile regression model with fixed effects, we show that the positive wage effects of public sector employment are heterogeneous, with comparatively larger impact at the lower end of the wage distribution than at other parts. We also find evidence of heterogeneity in the public sector wage premiums by qualification, time period, occupation and state/territory.     

A Graphical Examination of an Importer/Exporter Oligopoly Trade Model

Market power considerations in international trade have income distribution effects among countries that can influence the position a country takes with respect to trade negotiations. Since models that examine a single country mask these distributional effects, it is important to consider more than one country in trade models. While the contribution of this paper is largely to the pedagogical foundation of agricultural economics in showing how models with two countries can be analyzed graphically — thereby opening this part of the literature up to a wider audience — the analysis also reinforces a point that is missed in models focusing on a single country. By showing under what conditions a country may prefer to use domestic policies even when this causes other countries to retaliate, the paper high-lights one of the factors likely to be important in determining the success of international trading arrangements such as GATT.     

VaR without correlations for portfolios of derivative securities

We propose filtering historical simulation by GARCH processes to model the future distribution of assets and swap values. Options’ price changes are computed by full reevaluation on the changing prices of underlying assets. Our methodology takes implicitly into account assets’ correlations without restricting their values over time or computing them explicitly. VaR values for portfolios of derivative securities are obtained without linearising them. Historical simulation assigns equal probability to past returns, neglecting current market conditions. Our methodology is a refinement of historical simulation. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 19: 583–602, 1999