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DIW Discussion Papers 783 / 2008
The ratio of Indian to US per capita output over the past 45 years has displayed a distinctive "V"-shaped pattern. We show that a strikingly similar V-shaped pattern is visible not just in aggregate output .figures, but also as the primary determinant of long-term movements in the cross-sectional distribution within the All-India total, at both sectoral and state output levels. We also carry out preliminary ...
2008| Chetan Ghate, Stephen Wright
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DIW Discussion Papers 758 / 2007
In this study, we suggest an explanation for the alarmingly low growth rates of real housing prices in Canada and Germany in comparison to other OECD countries over 1975-2005. We show that the long-run development of housing markets is determined by real disposable per capita income, real long-term interest rate, population growth, and urbanization. The differential development of real housing prices ...
2007| Konstantin A. Kholodilin, Jan-Oliver Menz, Boriss Siliverstovs
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DIW Discussion Papers 757 / 2007
In the era of Basel II a powerful tool for bankruptcy prognosis is vital for banks. The tool must be precise but also easily adaptable to the bank's objections regarding the relation of false acceptances (Type I error) and false rejections (Type II error). We explore the suitability of Smooth Support Vector Machines (SSVM), and investigate how important factors such as selection of appropriate accounting ...
2007| Wolfgang Härdle, Yuh-Jye Lee, Dorothea Schäfer, Yi-Ren Yeh
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DIW Discussion Papers 756 / 2007
Since the turn of the millennium the problem of credibility of the social security system has spread to the private pension funds sector. This is evident for those countries, like Australia and Iceland, that have very large funded pensions assets as a result of strong pension reforms. The problem of trust could prevent pension fund investment from continuing to grow, weakening the privatization of ...
2007| Mariangela Bonasia, Oreste Napolitano
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DIW Discussion Papers 754 / 2007
We investigate price index convergence on the base of regional data for 439 German districts. Prices refer to the overall consumer price index as well as to the index without housing prices. To increase the efficiency of the testing framework, a panel unit root analysis is performed, where cross section dependencies are taken into account. The tests indicate a lack of regional price convergence. While ...
2007| Christian Dreger, Reinhold Kosfeld
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DIW Discussion Papers 750 / 2007
Interregional differentials in nominal wages in the Russian Federation are huge compared to other countries. Using the NOBUS micro-data and a methodology based on the estimation of the wage equation augmented by aggregate regional characteristics, we show that these differentials have a compensative nature. Russian workers receive wage compensations for living in regions with a higher price level and ...
2007| Aleksey Oshchepkov
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DIW Discussion Papers 746 / 2007
This paper examines whether the behaviour of the real exchange rate is associated with a particular regime for the nominal exchange rate, like fixed and flexible exchange rate arrangements. The analysis is based on 16 annual real exchange rates and covers a long time span, 1870-2006. Four subperiods are distinguished and linked to exchange rate regimes: the Gold Standard, the interwar float, the Bretton ...
2007| Christian Dreger, Eric Girardin
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DIW Discussion Papers 741 / 2007
The neoclassical growth model predicts convergence of productivity or per capita output levels across regions. If participation in the labor force is constant, convergence of per capita income is implied. We investigate this hypothesis for the Iranian economy using data on demand deposits as a proxy for GDP. Furthermore, the analysis controls for the effects of rent seeking. Due to its impact on the ...
2007| Christian Dreger, Teymur Rahmani, Hans-Friedrich Eckey
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DIW Discussion Papers 739 / 2007
This study compares two alternative approaches to estimate parameters in gravity equations. 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 ...
2007| Boriss Siliverstovs, Dieter Schumacher
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DIW Discussion Papers 735 / 2007
This study suggests another explanation of the "missing globalization puzzle" typically observed in the empirical gravity models. In contrast to the previous research that focused on aggregated trade flows, we employ the trade flows in manufacturing products broken down by 25 three-digit ISIC Rev.2 categories. We estimate the distance coefficient using the log-linear specification of the standard as ...
2007| Boriss Siliverstovs, Dieter Schumacher