Sample attrition in the RLMS, 2001–10

The data of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) – Higher School of Economics represents one of the few nationally representative sources of household and individual data for Russia. These data have been collected since 1992 and in recent years, thanks to more secure financial and logistical support, have become a resource increasingly drawn upon by scholars and students for national and cross-national studies. In this paper, we examine the extent of non-random attrition in the RLMS and discuss the circumstances under which this might give rise to biases in econometric analysis. We illustrate this with an example drawn from the health sphere.     

“Out of Sync”: The Breakdown of Economic Sentiment Cycles in the EU

Empirical evidence is presented about the properties of economic sentiment cycle synchronization for Germany, France and the UK and they are compared with the “crisis” countries Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Instead of using output data it is preferred to focus on the economic sentiment indicator (ESI), a forward‐looking, survey‐based variable consistently available from 1985. The cyclical nature of the ESI allowed the analyis of the presence or not of synchronicity among country pairs before and after the onset of the financial crisis. The results show that ESI movements were mostly synchronous before 2008 but they exhibit a breakdown after 2008, with this feature being more prominent in Greece. It is also found that, after the political maneuvering of the past two years, a cycle re‐integration or re‐synchronization is on the way. An analysis of the evolution of the synchronicity measures indicates that they can potentially be used to identify sudden phase breaks in ESI co‐movement and they can offer a signal as to when the EU economies are getting “in” or “out of sync”.     

Estimating the Equilibrium Effective Exchange Rate for Potential EMU Members

In this study, we attempt to examine the possibility of emergence of significant fluctuations of the exchange rates in the future for the candidate EMU countries. In doing so, we estimate the equilibrium rate of the nominal effective exchange rate for Poland, Hungary, Slovak Republic and Malta through the BEER and PEER approaches. While the PEER-based estimation implies a large misalignment rate for the Hungarian forint, the BEER-based analysis shows that the present exchange rates of the countries considered do not deviate significantly from their equilibrium rates. As a consequence, based on BEER analysis, we do not expect large fluctuations in the effective exchange rates among the currencies considered. Hence, the relevant effective exchange rates are expected to be relatively stable. As a matter of fact, the entry of those countries into EMU is not expected to weaken the stability of Euro.

Robust Event Studies for Derogation from Suspension of Concentrations in Greece during the Period 1995–2008

This paper examines the possible effect of the derogation from suspension of concentrations by the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) on the stock performance of the requested companies. For this reason, we examined 16 companies listed in the Athens Stock Exchange (A.S.E) that are involved to 13 requested derogations from suspension during the period 1995–2008 by applying and assessing the results of three different event study methodologies (market model, mean adjusted return model and market adjusted return model). From the empirical findings, we conclude that the argument of the requested companies concerning the subsequent negative effect on their stock performance if the derogation from suspension by the HCC is delayed or not granted does not hold. On the contrary, the average abnormal and cumulative returns of the requested companies are positive and statistical significant. In addition, the results of the three event study methodologies are robust.     

Nonlinear Exchange Rate Adjustment in the Enlarged Eurozone: Evidence and Implications for Candidate Countries

This paper sheds light on the importance of the validity of PPP hypothesis for the accessing process of the candidate countries towards EMU. The evidence of nonlinear adjustment in real exchange rates suggests the estimation of a nonlinear SETAR model. While linear half‐life estimates are biased upward (five years on average), SETAR half‐life estimates imply a faster reverting process (1.5 years on average). Moreover, we found that TPI‐based real exchange rates are more appropriate than CPI‐based real exchange rates in testing for PPP hypothesis. For the cluster of EMU countries and for the pre‐EMU period, our nonlinear model confirms stationarity for the majority of the TPI‐based real exchange rates with half‐life estimates less than a year.     

Copyright, Parallel Imports and National Welfare: The Australian Market for Sound Recordings

For more than a decade now there has been considerable, often heated, debate over the issue of the parallel importation of sound recordings into Australia. Citing anti-competitive monopolistic distribution, an increasingly integrated global market and the challenges of new technologies, the Australian government recently passed the Copyright Amendment Act (No.2) 1998 , which permits the parallel importation of 'non-infringing' copies of a sound recording. This paper investigates the economic rationale underpinning this regulatory change and, using a partial equilibrium model, attempts to measure the likely welfare effects on consumers, copyright owners and the nation. In addition the paper examines the likely welfare impact of piracy within the new regulatory framework. This paper demonstrates that in a global music market characterised by exclusive territorial licences and price discrimination, the removal of parallel import restrictions by a small net-importer of intellectual property may be welfare enhancing for the nation. This welfare gain is at the expense of largely foreign copyright owners.     

Deregulation and institutional conversion in the Greek hotel industry: an employment relations model in transition

Before the debt crisis of 2010 forced Greece into almost permanent austerity, its hotel workers enjoyed wages and conditions (through a sector collective agreement) similar to those in other economic sectors. This was against the international trend where low wages and poor conditions were standard. Sweeping deregulation by Greek governments has brought much of the hotel industry into line with other countries. The sector agreement, now covering a much smaller proportion of the workforce, survived but has experienced ‘institutional conversion’, delivering a much poorer outcome. Despite buoyant tourism, institutional deregulation and derogation have delivered the employers' major objective of matching the workforce to the fluctuating demand for labour.