Software Review: Theory and Practice of Econometric Modelling using PcGive10

This review offers a guided tour to PcGive 10 modules for econometrics analysis of time series (PcGive), limited dependent variable (LogitJD) and static and dynamic panel data analyses (DPD), financial econometric (GARCH) and time series (ARFIMA) modelling. Several empirical applications are reported to illustrate the package.     

Neglected Issues: An Overview

MOCT-MOST: Economic Policy in Transitional Economies -     

The Part-Time Wage Gap: a Career Perspective

Summary  Because promotions are an important source of wage growth, we argue that the low incidence of promotions among part-time workers will contribute to the emergence of the part-time wage gap. We test this claim using Dutch employer–employee matched data. We find that the part-time wage gap is absent among young school leavers, but that it is well established among more mature workers. Moreover, we find that promotions account for a wage growth of about eight log points. Finally, workers in part-time jobs experience a lower rate of promotion relative to workers in full-time jobs. We are grateful to the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment for granting access to the data. The paper greatly benefited from comments by Daniel Hamermesh, Jonathan Wadsworth, and seminar participants at ZEW in Mannheim, at WPEG conference at York University and Tilburg University. We are also indebted to two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions that substantially improved the quality of the paper. The usual disclaimer applies.     

The Irresistible Fetish of Utility Theory: From “Pleasure and Pain” to Rationalising Torture

This note briefly examines the path that the economics discipline has taken since adopting the assumption that human behaviour is exclusively driven by utility maximisation. This view has prevented the full comprehension of most economic phenomena and has spread to other social disciplines, occasionally leading to results either ridiculous or tragic, such as using utility theory to rationalise torture. Such academic absurdity must be ended.     

The US real GNP is trend-stationary after all

This article applies the Fractional Frequency Flexible Fourier Form (FFFFF) Dickey–Fuller (DF)-type unit root test on the natural logarithm of US real GNP over the quarterly period of 1875:1–2015:2, to determine whether the same is trend- or difference-stationary. While standard and Integer Frequency Flexible Fourier Form DF-type test fails to reject the null of unit root, the relatively more powerful FFFFF DF-type test provides strong evidence of the real GNP as being trend-stationary, i.e. US output returns to a deterministic log-nonlinear trend in the long run.     

The macroeconomics of social pacts

In this paper we analyze macroeconomic interactions between trade unions, the central bank and the fiscal policymaker. We explicitly model unions’ concern for public expenditure, paving the way for an analysis of the potential gains from cooperation between the fiscal policymaker and the unions, i.e. the so-called corporatist or social pacts that have characterized economic policies in a number of European countries in the last few decades. We also highlight the profoundly different incentives generated by institutional arrangements such as the Maastricht criteria and the Stability and Growth Pact. The former has unambiguously induced more efficient outcomes; the latter is likely to backfire!     

The negotiations on agriculture in the Doha Development Agenda Round: current status and future prospects

The paper briefly discusses developments in the negotiationson agriculture in the WTO Doha Development Agenda Round fromJanuary 2000 to September 2005 and identifies the main elementsto be considered when speculating on the outcome of the MinisterialConference in Hong Kong.