External refereed essays

Estimating Gravity Equations: To Log or Not to Log?

In this study we compare the traditional OLS approach applied to the log-linear form of the gravity model with the Poisson Quasi Maximum Likelihood (PQML) estimation procedure applied to the non-linear multiplicative specification of the gravity model. We use the trade flows for all products, for all manufacturing products as well as for manufacturing products broken down by three-digit ISIC Rev.2 ...

Dual Class Stock in Russia: Explaining a Pricing Anomaly

This paper studies the determinants of the unusually high and volatile price differential between common (voting) shares and preferred (nonvoting) shares in Russia's emerging stock market. It focuses on three potential explanations for the price spread between these two classes of stock: the control contest model of the voting premium, the inferior liquidity of preferred shares, and the risk of expropriation ...

How Bad Is Divergence in the Euro Zone? Lessons from the United States and Germany

This paper compares relative unit labor cost developments ill the countries of the euro area since the beginning of the European Monetary Union (EMU) both with historical developments and with intraregional developments in the United States and Germany Unit labor cost indices for the U.S. states and census regions from 1977 to 1997 as well as for the German Lander from 1970 to 2004 have been constructed. ...

From Bottom to Top: The Entire Income Distribution in Germany, 1992 - 2003

We analyze the distribution of market income in Germany in the period 1992 to 2003 on the basis of an integrated dataset that encompasses the whole spectrum of the population, from the very poor to the very rich. We find a modest increase of the Gini coefficient, a substantial drop of median income and a remarkable growth of the income share accruing to the economic elite, which we define as the richest ...

Start-ups by the Unemployed: Characteristics, Survival and Direct Employment Effects

Fostering and supporting start-up businesses by unemployed persons has become an increasingly important issue in many European countries. These new ventures are being subsidized by various governmental programs. Empirical evidence on skill-composition, direct job creation and other key variables is rather scarce, largely because of inadequate data availability. We base our analysis on unique survey ...

"Klin"-ing up: Effects of Polish Tax Reforms on Those in and on Those Out

In 2007 and 2008 Polish governments introduced a series of reforms which led to a substantial reduction in the tax "wedge" (in Polish: "klin") on labour. These consisted of reductions in the disability rate of social security contributions (SSCs) and an introduction of an income tax credit for families with children. We show that the SSCs reforms on their own brought much greater reductions in the ...

Impacts of the German Support for Renewable Energy on Electricity Prices, Emissions, and Firms

Most models that are used to analyze support policies for renewable electricity neglect important market features like oligopolistic behavior, emission trading, and restricted cross-border transmission capacities. We use a quantitative electricity market model that accounts for these aspects and decompose the impact of the German Feed-in tariff (FIT) into two frequently counteracting effects: a substitution ...

The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) as Reference Data Set

Living Standards in Retirement: Accepted International Comparisons are Misleading

Satisfaction with Life and Economic Well-Being: Evidence from Germany

SOEP after 25 Years: 8th International Socio-Economic Panel User Conference: Editorial

Inefficient Arbitrage in Inter-regional Electricity Transmission

This paper analyzes the efficiency of an explicit ex ante auction for network access to facilitating trade between two separate, but linked, electricity wholesale markets. It is generally assumed that greater regional interconnection will mitigate the exercise of local market power by dominant generators, but we show analytically that when a dominant player has access to a more competitive neighboring ...

Subsidiary Role and Skilled Labour Effects in Small Developed Countries

This paper considers the proportion of skilled labour employed by subsidiaries in small countries in the context of the strategic role of subsidiaries. Strategic role is connected to autonomy and intra-organisational relationships and the mandates given to the subsidiary. In the paper, we draw on the literature on the strategic development of multinational corporations, and insights from inward foreign ...

Divestitures in the Electricity Sector: Conceptual Issues and Lessons from International Experiences

Google Econometrics and Unemployment Forecasting

The Spill-over Effects of Conflict on Economic Growth in Neighbouring Countries in Africa

In this article, the influence of conflict on the economies of neighbouring countries is discussed. The results from previous papers show a strong negative effect for an entire area around a country suffering from conflict, but this paper reaches a different conclusion, by using more recent data and adjusting the methodology previously employed. Additionally, a new type of contiguity matrix is constructed ...

Credit for What? Informal Credit as a Coping Strategy of Market Women in Northern Ghana

This paper explores the use of informal credit as a strategy for managing risks by market women in northern Ghana. A broad concept of the costs of risk management strategies is introduced and encompasses both a time and monetary dimension. Based on qualitative data, the analysis reveals that market women invest a considerable amount of time in maintaining complex networks of informal credit providers ...

The Impact of Violent Conflicts on Households: What Do We Know and What Should We Know about War Widows?

This paper analyses how mass violent conflict and the legacy of conflict affect households in developing countries. It does so by pointing out how violent conflict impairs a household's core functions, its boundaries, its choice of coping strategies and its well-being. The paper contributes to the literature on the economics of conflict, reconstruction and vulnerability in three ways. First, it addresses ...

Smallholder Land Access in Post-War Northern Mozambique

This paper analyzes the inequality and determinants of flexibility in smallholder land access in post-war northern Mozambique. This paper demonstrates that high land endowments in aggregate do not imply equal access to cultivated or fallow land at the household level, even if land access has some flexibility across time. A formal test establishes the low extent of flexibility in land access at the ...

Comparing the Determinants of Concern about Terrorism and Crime