Empirical Economics

Fousekis, Panos; Stefanou, Spiro

doi: 10.1007/BF01179862pmid: N/A

Empirically implementable measures of optimal capacity utilization are developed from the dynamic profit maximization perspective. The primal measure is based on behavior of the firm's supply along an optimal path to the steady state. The dual measure is based on the behavior of the dynamic value function in the stock of the quasi-fixed input. Rates of optimal capacity utilization are estimated for the U.S. food processing and distribution sector over the period 1948–1991.

Wan, Guang

doi: 10.1007/BF01179863pmid: N/A

A simple framework is developed for measuring input substitution and output expansion effects. These measures are nonparametric in the sense that specification and/or estimation of any parametric functions are not resquired. Monte Carlo experiments performed in the paper demonstrate the superiority of the proposed approach. An empirical application to Japanese manufacturing data yields results which satisfy a priori expectations.

Nessén, Marianne

doi: 10.1007/BF01179864pmid: N/A

The empirical validity of long-run purchasing power parity is investigated using multi-variate cointegration techniques. Both bilateral and multilateral PPP is examined. The data set is monthly and covers almost 22 years (January 1970–August 1991) for four countries — Germany, Japan, the U.S., and Great Britain. While three cointegrating relations are detected among the set of nominal exchange rates and domestic price levels (or equivalently, there exists a reduced number of common stochastic trends) none of these satisfy the linear constraints implied by PPP. We conclude that neither bilateral nor multilateral PPP can be supported by the behavior of the data.

Bertschek, Irene; Entorf, Horst

doi: 10.1007/BF01179865pmid: N/A

This paper analyses the Schumpeterian link between innovative activity and firm size by means of the nonparametric Nadaraya-Watson estimator and of the partially linear approach by Speckman. Four data sets referring to the manufacturing industries of three European countries are available for the analysis. We demonstrate how nonparametric methods can produce more reliable conclusions than conventional methods. For this purpose, the roles of bandwidth choice, wild bootstrap, density estimation and trimming are studied. For the German data set of 1984 and for the French data set we find that small firms and large firms are more innovative than firms of intermediate size while the relation is rather hump-shaped for Germany 1989 and decreasing for Belgium. Including an additional parametric component into the estimations based on the French data contributes considerably to the explanation of innovative activity without affecting the U-shaped link between innovation and firm size.

Lubrano, Michel; Shadman-Mehta, Fatemeh; Sneessens, Henri

doi: 10.1007/BF01179866pmid: N/A

This paper examines the determinants of equilibrium wage and unemployment rates in Belgium within the framework of a quantity rationing, right-to-manage model with decentralised wage-setting. Empirical results are obtained by first using the Johansen maximum-likelihood procedure for the analysis of cointegration among the variables of interest. The information from this stage is then used to estimate a three equation econometric model explaining the wage share, the unemployment rate and the capital gap. The slowdown in world trade is depicted as the most important factor explaining the rise in unemployment in Belgium, with dampening effects due to wage control policies imposed in the eighties. Because we obtain only two cointegrating relations, for three endogenous variables, our results are compatible with the hypothesis of path dependency and multiple equilibria.

Variyam, Jayachandran

doi: 10.1007/BF01179867pmid: N/A

This paper determines the persistence of shocks to U.S. farm output at the sectoral and sub-sectoral level using a disaggregated vector autoregression framework. The persistence is measured under models that impose short-run common feature and long-run cointegration restrictions. The sub-sectoral outputs are found to have a relatively high degree of comovement in the short-run and a relatively low degree of comovement in the long-run. The common feature and cointegration restrictions are found to improve the precision of persistence and cross-persistence estimates. Subsectoral persistence shows considerable variation; persistence in Poultry & Eggs sub-sector is nearly three times the persistence in the Fruits & Nuts sub-sector. Two sub-sectors that share long-run common trends, Food Grains and Feed, Hay & Forage, also have significant cross-persistence, implying technological spillovers.

Inder, Brett; Hao, Kang

doi: 10.1007/BF01179868pmid: N/A

In this paper we are interested in detecting structural change at an unknown point. We argue that the CUSUM test may not ideal for this, and propose an alternative test. Critical values for this test are determined based on the multiple studentt test procedure. A Monte Carlo study suggests that the new test is quite powerful when the structural change occurs in the latter part of the sample. The new test also provides information about the location of structural change.