1,721,199 research outputs found
Complete Monotone Quasiconcave Duality
Get PDFWe introduce a notion of complete monotone quasiconcave duality and we show that it holds for important classes of quasiconcave functions.Quasiconcavity, Quasiconvexity, Duality, Indirect Utility
Strategic Announcements of Reference Points in Disputes and Litigations
Get PDFThis note shows how the frequent occurrence of seeing exceedingly high claims in disputes and litigations can be rationalized by a model in which claimants display reference dependent preferences, expect the judge to use a generalized social welfare function, and strategically announce their reference points.reference points, claims, litigations
Divergent Platforms
Get PDFA robust feature of models of electoral competition between two opportunistic, purely office-motivated parties is that both parties become indistinguishable in equilibrium. I this short note, I show that this strong connection between the office motivation of parties and their equilibrium choice of identical platforms depends on the following two - possibly counterfactual - assumptions: 1. Issue spaces are uni-dimensional and 2. Parties are unitary actors whose preferences can be represented by expected utility functions. The main goal here is to provide an example of a two-party model in which parties offer substantially different platforms in equilibrium even though no exogenous asymmetries are assumed. In this example, some voters’ preferences over the 2-dimensional issue space are assumed to exhibit non-convexities and parties evaluate their actions with respect to a set of beliefs on the electorate.Downs model, Games with Incomplete Preferences, Knightian Uncertainty, Uncertainty Aversion, Platform Divergence
Multivariate Variance Gamma and Gaussian dependence: a study with copulas
Get PDFThis paper explores the dynamic dependence properties of a Levy process, the Variance Gamma, which has non Gaussian marginal features and non Gaussian dependence. In a static context, such a non Gaussian dependence should be represented via copulas. Copulas, however, are not able to capture the dynamics of dependence. By computing the distance between the Gaussian copula and the actual one, we show that even a non Gaussian process, such as the Variance Gamma, can "converge" to linear dependence over time. Empirical versions of different dependence measures confirm the result.
The unemployment volatility puzzle: the role of the underground economy
Get PDFRelying on the non-negligible role played by the underground economy in the labour market fluctuations, this paper extends the standard matching model à la Mortensen-Pissarides by introducing an underground sector along with an endogenous sector choice for both entrepreneurs and workers. These modifications improve the quantitative properties of the standard matching model, thus providing a possible explanation for the unemployment volatility puzzle.unemployment and vacancies volatility; productivity and job destruction shocks; underground economy; shadow economy; hidden economy; matching models.
Optimal taxation and monitoring in an economy with matching frictions and underground activities
Get PDFThis short paper shows the interdependence of taxation and monitoring policy in a search and matching model of equilibrium unemployment with an underground sector. More precisely, from a social welfare standpoint, two options are available to the policy maker: s/he may either substitute a tighter monitoring with a higher penalty or enforce both a higher taxation and an increased monitoring.optimal taxation, tax evasion, underground economy, job search theory
Four critiques of the redistribution hypothesis : an assessment
Get PDFThis paper discusses and assesses critiques of the aurhor's reformulation of the median voter hypothesis and its testing. The author rephrases and redefines more correctly the redistribution hypothesis and clarifies its relationship with the median voter hypothesis. He also reviews four types of critiques leveled at his approach.Inequality,Economic Theory&Research,Poverty Impact Evaluation,Emerging Markets,Markets and Market Access
Comments of the discussant on the Paper Presented by Enrica Croda (University of Venice) “The Health of Disability Insurance Enrollees: An International Comparison” (with J. Skinner, L. Yasaitis)
No full textSilvia Gatti (University of Bologna) Comments of the discussant on the Paper Presented by Enrica Croda (University of Venice) “The Health of Disability Insurance Enrollees: An International Comparison” (with J.
Skinner, L. Yasaitis) at the MoPAct Workshop “Financial Literacy and Pension-related
Communication for better Retirement and Long-term Financial Decisions” 8-9 September 2016 ,
Collegio Carlo Alberto, Moncalieri, Turin, Organized by CeRP – Collegio Carlo Alberto and
Netspar as part of the project “Mobilising the potential of active ageing in Europe (MOPACT)”,
funded by the EC under the 7th Framework Programme.
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I appreciated very much the paper presented by Professor Enrica Croda.
In the paper the authors introduce,with a general model of disability insurance (DI) a
pplication and enrolment, country-level measures that capture the
quantitative, rather than qualitative, characteristics of disability programs, and the ext
ent to which a country’s disability program targets those in the poorest health.
From my point of view, I teach Health Economics, it is particularly important the approach that the
authors adopt to measure the extent of disability. Considering several approaches based on new develop
ments in the optimal indexing of multiple health characteristics, they construct three differ
ent health indices following the principal components methodology used by Poterba, Venti and W
ise (2010, 2011, 2013). Their first index capture an overall measure of health and capacity f
or work. The second index of health uses the same principal component methodological approach, b
ut is based more on questions instead that measure functional ability. As the third, the autho
rs use a similar principal component approach to create a mental health index/depression index, to c
apture the severe impact of mental disorders on employment even when the individual is healthy alon
g other dimensions. Finally, the authors also consider a fourth hybrid summary measure that is th
e minimum of these three indices, suitably rescaled in percentile terms.
Another important element that is highlighted in this study is the context in which the authors can
work on these indexes and on the model. They can exploit across years the richness of the micro-
level data available in both the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for United States, and in the
Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) for Europe and Israel.
Professor Croda in her presentation underlines that the study allows us to evaluate the effectiveness
of DI programs. In health effectiveness is associated with a wide concept of equity. And, I think,
this important and accurate study may also give us a measure of equity in the application of the DI
programs, verify that public resources are targeted to people in poorest health with short waiting
periods, and that the implemented DI reforms maintain equity.
The analysis of the equity issues certainly can make more complicated the use of expenditure data
for DI programs, having to divide the DI benefits financed by general taxation from those financed
by the contributions of workers and employers.
References
Poterba, James M., Steven F. Venti, and David A. Wise, “The Asset Cost of Poor Health”, NBER
Working Paper 16389, September 2010.
Poterba, James M., Steven F. Venti, and David A. Wise, “Family Status Transitions, Latent Health,
and the Post-Retirement Evolution of Assets”, in D.A. Wise (ed.), Explorations in the Economics of Aging
, University of Chicago Press: Chicago; pp. 23–69, 2011.
Poterba, James M., Steven F. Venti, and David A. Wise, “Health, Education, and the Post-
Retirement Evolution of Household Assets”, NBER Working Paper 18695, January 2013
Comparing distributions by using dependent normalized random-measure mixtures
Get PDFA methodology for the simultaneous Bayesian non-parametric modelling of several distributions is developed. Our approach uses normalized random measures with independent increments and builds dependence through the superposition of shared processes. The properties of the prior are described and the modelling possibilities of this framework are explored in detail. Efficient slice sampling methods are developed for inference. Various posterior summaries are introduced which allow better understanding of the differences between distributions. The methods are illustrated on simulated data and examples from survival analysis and stochastic frontier analysis
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