172 research outputs found
Economic Growth of Agglomerations and Geographic Concentration of Industries – Evidence for Germany
No full textThe vast majority of regions in West Germany, and the EU, have become more similar in terms of per-capita income and productivity between 1980 and 2000. But a number of rich areas - generally large agglomerations - have succeeded in departing from this trend of convergence. They are continuing to rise above the average productivity level. We examine whether this development can also be seen as due to changes in the spatial distribution of economic sectors. Knowledge-intensive services in particular are identified as industries that combine employment growth and further geographical concentration. Logistical and nonparametric regressions confirm a positive relation between the regional weight of sectors that are continuing to concentrate geographically and the probability that this region will develop ahead of the general trend. We find that increasing localisation of fast growing industries is an important factor behind the changes in the spatial pattern of the economy.regional convergence, knowledge-intensive services, industry-specific local linkages, logistical regressions, non-parametric regressions
Corporate Donations to the Arts: Philanthropy or Advertising?
No full textThis paper is an attempt to provide evidence on two questions: Why do companies sponsor art events, and where exactly does the money go? We analyse data collected on the revenue structure of cultural institutions in Berlin and Hamburg. This data set not only tells us where the money goes, it also allows us to draw conclusions with respect to donors' motives. We regress sponsorships received on the number of visitors and other independent variables. The results are significantly different from those which one would expect if sponsoring were merely a form of advertising.
Common Functional Principal Components
No full textFunctional principal component analysis (FPCA) based on the Karhunen-Lo`eve decomposition has been successfully applied in many applications, mainly for one sample problems. In this paper we consider common functional principal components for two sample problems. Our research is motivated not only by the theoretical challenge of this data situation but also by the actual question of dynamics of implied volatility (IV) functions. For different maturities the logreturns of IVs are samples of (smooth) random functions and the methods proposed here study the similarities of their stochastic behavior. Firstly we present a new method for estimation of functional principal components from discrete noisy data. Next we present the two sample inference for FPCA and develop two sample theory. We propose bootstrap tests for testing the equality of eigenvalues, eigenfunctions, and mean functions of two functional samples, illustrate the test-properties by simulation study and apply the method to the IV analysis.Functional Principal Components, Nonparametric Regression, Bootstrap, Two Sample Problem
Economic Growth of Agglomerations and Geographic Concentration of Industries: Evidence for West Germany
No full textGeppert K., Gornig M. and Werwatz A. (2008) Economic growth of agglomerations and geographic concentration of industries: evidence for West Germany, Regional Studies. During the two decades between 1980 and 2000, there was no clear overall trend of economic convergence or divergence among West German regions. However, a number of regions that were already rich – generally large agglomerations – had succeeded in further distancing themselves from the rest. At the same time, knowledge-intensive services are identified as industries whose geographical concentration was initially high and continued to increase. Logistic and non-parametric regression estimates show that the higher a region's share of employment in these service sectors, the greater the probability that a region is classified as being rich and becoming even richer. Geppert K., Gornig M. et Werwatz A. (2008) La croissance économique des agglomérations et la concentration géographique industrielle: des preuves provenant de l'Allemagne de l'Ouest, Regional Studies. Pendant deux décennies, à savoir de 1980 à l'an 2000, aucune tendance globale ni à la convergence, ni à la divergence économiques parmi les régions de l'Allemagne de l'Ouest n'est évidente. Cependant, bon nombre de régions riches – en règle générale de grandes agglomérations–ont réussi à s'éloigner davantage des autres. En même temps, on identifie des services à intensité de connaissance dont la concentration géographique était élevée au départ et a continué d'augmenter. Des estimations de régression logistique et non paramétrique montrent que plus la part de l'emploi dans ces services s'avère élevée, plus il est probable qu'une région se classe comme riche et en voie de s'enrichir. Convergence régionale Services à intensité de connaissance Liens locaux spécifiques à une industrie Régressions non-paramétriques Geppert K., Gornig M. und Werwatz A. (2008) Wirtschaftswachstum von Ballungsgebieten und geografische Konzentration von Branchen: Belege für Westdeutschland, Regional Studies. In den zwei Jahrzehnten von 1980 bis 2000 gab es keinen klaren Gesamttrend der ökonomischen Konvergenz oder Divergenz unter den westdeutschen Regionen. Allerdings gelang es mehreren bereits wohlhabenden Regionen–in der Regel großen Ballungsgebieten –, sich noch weiter vom Rest zu distanzieren. Gleichzeitig identifizieren wir wissensintensive Dienstleistungen als Branchen, deren geografische Konzentration schon zu Beginn hoch lag und weiter gewachsen ist. In logistischen und nichtparametrischen Regressionsschätzungen zeigt sich, dass die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass eine Region als wohlhabend klassifiziert wird und noch wohlhabender wird, umso höher liegt, je größer in dieser Region der Anteil der Arbeitnehmer in diesen Dienstleistungssektoren ausfällt. Regionale Konvergenz Wissensintensive Dienstleistungen Branchenspezifische lokale Verknüpfungen Logistische Regressionen Nichtparametrische Regressionen Geppert K., Gornig M. y Werwatz A. (2008) Crecimiento económico de aglomeraciones y concentraciones geográficas de las industrias. El ejemplo de Alemania del Oeste, Regional Studies. Durante las dos décadas de 1980 a 2000, no existía una tendencia general clara de la convergencia o divergencia económica entre las regiones de Alemania del Oeste. Sin embargo, varias regiones que ya eran ricas –generalmente grandes aglomeraciones– llegaron a distanciarse aún más del resto. Al mismo tiempo, identificamos los servicios con alto nivel de conocimientos como industrias cuya concentración geográfica fue alta desde el principio y siguió creciendo. Los cálculos logísticos y de regresión no paramétrica indican que cuanto mayor es la participación de empleo en estos sectores de servicio de una región, más probabilidades tiene una región de ser clasificada como rica y de aumentar su riqueza. Convergencia regional Servicios con alto nivel de conocimientos Vínculos locales específicos para la industria Regresiones logísticas Regresiones no paramétricasRegional convergence, Knowledge-intensive services, Industry-specific local linkages, Logistical regressions, Non-parametric regressions , C14, C16, R12, R30,
The Bologna Process: How Student Mobility Affects Multi-Cultural Skills and Educational Quality
No full textWe analyze the two goals behind the European Bologna Process of increasing student mobility: enabling graduates to develop multi cultural skills and increasing the quality of universities. We isolate three effects: 1) a competition effect that raises quality; 2) a free rider effect that lowers quality; 3) a composition effect that influences the relative strengths of the two previous effects. The effects lead to a trade off between the two goals. Full mobility may be optimal, only when externalities are high. In this case, student mobility yields inef- ficiently high educational quality. For moderate externalities partial mobility is optimal and yields an inefficiently low quality of education.Student mobility, Quality of higher education, Multicultural skills, Bologna Process
1990-1998 : La genèse d'un bassin parisien politique
No full textUnder the last ten years, the Paris Basin has been the stage for attempts in cooperation in regional planning and of struggles between the local governments of different levels. The author has been following the process as academic as well as consultant. This paper gives her analysis of the changing strategies of the local governments in this period, which appears as a first step in building of a political Paris Basin.La dernière décennie a vu la mise en place d'un jeu d'acteurs complexe dans le Bassin Parisien. L'auteur, qui a participé à ces débats comme universitaire mais également comme consultant de l'Association des Villes du Grand Bassin Parisien, propose ici une réflexion sur le couple discours/action, en montrant les équilibres qui peu à peu se construisent à travers ce foisonnement politique. Elle tente de faire un bilan des acquis de cette période qui est bien une étape dans un chemin qui reste largement à parcourir si le Bassin Parisien doit gagner en cohérence et en lisibilité.Geppert-Hebrard Anna. 1990-1998 : La genèse d'un bassin parisien politique. In: Travaux de l'Institut Géographique de Reims, vol. 25, n°97-98, 1998. Le bassin parisien : un espace en construction, sous la direction de Anna Geppert-Hebrard . pp. 121-131
Exploratory Graphics of a Financial Dataset
No full textcompany rating, default probability, support vector machines, colour coding
Barrier Option Hedging under Constraints: A Viscosity Approach
No full textWe study the problem of finding the minimal initial capital needed in order to hedge without risk a barrier option when the vector of proportions of wealth invested in each risky asset is constraint to lie in a closed convex domain. In the context of a Brownian diffusion model, we provide a PDE characterization of the super-hedging price. This extends the result of Broadie, Cvitanic and Soner (1998) and Cvitanic, Pham and Touzi (1999) which was obtained for plain vanilla options, and provides a natural numerical procedure for computing the corresponding super-hedging price. As a by-product, we obtain a comparison theorem for a class of parabolic PDE with relaxed Dirichet conditions involving a constraint on the gradient.Super-replication, barrier options, portfolio constraints, viscosity solutions
Time Dependent Relative Risk Aversion
No full textRisk management and the thorough understanding of the relations between financial markets and the standard theory of macroeconomics have always been among the topics most addressed by researchers, both financial mathematicians and economists. This work aims at explaining investors’ behavior from a macroeconomic aspect (modeled by the investors’ pricing kernel and their relative risk aversion) using stocks and options data. Daily estimates of investors’ pricing kernel and relative risk aversion are obtained and used to construct and analyze a three-year long time-series. The first four moments of these time-series as well as their values at the money are the starting point of a principal component analysis. The relation between changes in a major index level and implied volatility at the money and between the principal components of the changes in relative risk aversion is found to be linear. The relation of the same explanatory variables to the principal components of the changes in pricing kernels is found to be log-linear, although this relation is not significant for all of the examined maturities.risk aversion, pricing kernels, time dependent preferences
Technological Choice under Organizational Diseconomies of Scale
No full textWith adverse selection, diseconomies of scale associated with hierarchies may induce the implementation of a second-best technology. This occurs whenever rents to lower tiers of the hierarchy increase faster than total surplus. This is more likely with longer hierarchies.Adverse Selection, Hierarchies, Technology
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