Order Imbalance on Ex-Dividend Days

In this article we test an alternative to the tax‐based explanation for why prices decline on ex‐dividend days by an amount less than the dividend. We examine whether there is order imbalance on cum‐ and ex‐dividend days. We find that on ex‐dividend days, there are more buys than sells in the number of orders, but not in the number of shares ordered, and the imbalance in the number of orders is limited to small orders. We find that the difference between the dividend amount and the ex‐dividend‐day price drop is significantly related to the magnitude of the buy‐sell order imbalance. We find no order imbalance on cum‐dividend days in either the number of orders or the number of shares ordered.     

Why did Swedish regional net migration rates fall in the 1970s? The role of policy changes versus structural change, 1945–1985

The relationship between local labour market conditions and regional migration has been widely discussed within research. In Sweden, where interregional migration reached a peak in the 1960s but decreased substantially in the 1970s, the role of economic policy has been especially contended in light of the Swedish model and its official stress on regional mobility. By collecting and creating a new and unique dataset on net-migration, vacancy rates, employment and labour income by county, the pattern of interregional migration in Sweden is analysed over a period of time that also covers the early postwar period (1945–1985), allowing for a detailed evaluation of the drivers of migration at different times. My results suggest that there was no significant change over time in the responsiveness of migration to local labour market conditions. The changing patterns of regional migration were therefore more likely the result of changes in the pace and direction of structural change. I discuss the implications of these results for previous accounts of the Swedish model and of the decline in migration after 1970.     

Acquired demographics and reasons to relocate among self-initiated expatriates

Organizational expatriates, who have been assigned by their parent companies to the foreign location have been thoroughly investigated as compared to self-initiated expatriates, who themselves have decided to expatriate to work abroad. Consequently, much less is known about the latter type of expatriates. To help alleviate this dearth of research findings, data was collected from 428 self-initiated expatriate academics from 60 countries employed in 35 universities in five northern European countries. Four acquired demographic characteristics were investigated: marital status, nationality, previous expatriate experience and seniority, as well as five individual reasons to expatriate: adventure/travel, career, family, financial incentives and life change/escape. The results indicated support for the research propositions, suggesting that self-initiated expatriates' (SIEs) reasons to expatriate differ in terms of acquired personal characteristics. Implications of these findings are discussed in detail.     

British economic growth since 1270: the role of education

This paper constructs an original database on physical capital, labor, education, GDP, innovations, technology spillovers, and institutions to analyze the proximate determinants of British economic growth since 1270. Several approaches are taken in the paper to tackle endogeneity. We show that education has been the most important driver of income growth during the period 1270–2010, followed by knowledge stock and fixed capital, while institutions have not been robust determinants of growth. The contribution of education has been equally important before and after the first Industrial Revolution. Overall, the results give strong support to the predictions of Unified Growth Theories.     

Catching up to the technology frontier: the dichotomy between innovation and imitation

Abstract Using data for 55 developing and developed countries, this research examines the roles of technology transfer, research intensity, educational attainment, and the ability to absorb foreign technology in explaining cross‐country differences in productivity growth. The results show that innovation is an important factor for growth in OECD countries, whereas growth in developing countries is driven by imitation. Furthermore, the interaction between educational attainment and the distance to the frontier is a significant determinant of growth in the overall sample.     

Cost-minimization analysis of sublingual immunotherapy versus subcutaneous immunotherapy for house dust mite respiratory allergic disease in Denmark

Objectives Currently, patients with persistent moderate-to-severe house dust mite (HDM) allergic rhinitis despite use of symptom-relieving medication can be offered subcutaneously administered allergy immunotherapy (SQ SCIT; Alutard SQ) as standard care of treatment in Denmark. Recently, a HDM sublingually administered allergy immunotherapy tablet (SQ SLIT-tablet; ACARIZAX) has been developed for at-home treatment. The purpose of this analysis is to compare the costs related to treatment and administration of SQ SLIT-tablet and SQ SCIT.

Methods Assuming equal efficacy between ther SQ SLIT-tablet and SQ SCIT, the cost-minimization analysis was the most appropriate for the comparison. According to guidelines and Summary of Product Characteristics, the treatment duration of SQ SLIT-tablet is 3 years and 3–5 years for SQ SCIT. The courses of treatment vary among patients and, therefore, the costs of treatment have been calculated for an average patient with HDM respiratory allergic disease (RAD) receiving either SQ SLIT-tablet or SQ SCIT. All costs associated with allergy immunotherapy were collected, i.e., cost of medication, administration and treatment setting, and discounted according to Danish guidelines. Comprehensive univariate sensitivity analyses were carried out.

Results The treatment costs for an average patient with HDM RAD are €3094 for SQ SLIT-tablet and €3799 for SQ SCIT; however, when adding indirect costs to the calculations the total costs of the treatments are €3697 and €6717 for SQ SLIT-tablet and SQ SCIT, respectively. Therefore, if 2500 patients with HDM RAD were treated with SQ SLIT-tablet instead of SQ SCIT, it would elicit a saving to the healthcare system of ～€1.8 million. The conclusion was robust to any changes in the sensitivity analysis.

Conclusion With regards to the cost of treating Danish patients with HDM RAD, it is clearly cost-saving to treat patients with SQ SLIT-tablet compared to SQ SCIT.     

The rise in UK unemployment: the search for an explanation

This paper suggests that the model used by Layard and Nickell to account for changes in unemployment is highly restrictive in that it imposes cross-equation constraints and neglects labour supply as a source of the increase in unemployment. A less restrictive model, which circumvents some of the problems encountered in the Layard-Nickell approach, is suggested as a tool to account for an unemployment path. Dynamic simulations with the model suggest that labour supply persistence, increased mark-up of prices over wages and low GDP growth have, in particular, contributed to the UK unemployment increase from 1967 to 1983.     

Bertrand oligopoly in a spatial context: The case of quantity independent transportation costs

The theory of spatial competition [for a review, see Gabszewicz and Thisse (1985)] is usually based on the assumption of transportation costs which are proportionate to distance and quantity. In reality, however, there exist frequently considerable economies of scale, especially with respect to the conveyed quantity of goods. A good case in point is transportation cost incurred by a consumer patronizing a shopping area. Cost economies of scale will in general influence consumers' optimal choice with respect to quantities and best market places. In the extreme, consumers' outlays on transportation can be considered independent of the purchased quantity, but approximately proportionate to distance. In the present paper, the impact of this assumption on spatial competition is analysed. It will be shown, that existence and uniqueness of spatial oligopolistic equilibrium is restored. Furthermore, due to some residual monopolistic power, prices do not converge to the perfectly competitive equilibrium prices when the distance between the firms shrinks to zero. In conclusion the model exhibits a fundamental difference in the market structure, when the spatial aspect is incorporated.