Performance of the "quasi-REML" method for estimating correlations between a continuous trait and a categorical trait, and between two categorical traits, was studied with Monte Carlo simulations. Three continuous, correlated traits were simulated for identical populations and three scenarios with either no selection, selection for one moderately heritable trait (Trait 1, h2 = .25), and selecti...

We show theoretically and empirically how real and financial frictions amplify the impact of uncertainty shocks on firms’investment, employment, debt (term structure of debt growth), and cash holding. We start by building a model with real and financial frictions, alongside uncertainty shocks, and show how adding financial frictions to the model almost doubles the negative impact of uncertainty...

A considerable body of economic literature shows the adverse economic impacts of oil-price shocks for the developed economies. However, there has been a lack of empirical study of this kind on China and other developing countries. This paper attempts to fill this gap by answering how and to what extent oil-price shocks impact China’s economy, emphasizing on the price transmission mechanisms. To...

A popular interpretation of the Rational Expectations/Efficient Markets hypothesis states that, if it holds, market valuations must follow a random walk; hence, the hypothesis is frequently criticized on the basis of empirical evidence against such a prediction. Yet this reasoning incurs what we could call the ‘fallacy of probability diffusion symmetry’: although market efficiency does indeed i...

We contribute to a recent literature on the normalization, calibration and estimation of CES production functions. The problem arises because CES ‘share’ parameters are not in fact shares, but depend on underlying dimensions they are ‘dimensional constants’ in other words. It follows that such parameters cannot be calibrated, nor estimated unless the choice of units is made explicit. We use an ...

This paper studies the value of …rms and their hiring and …ring decisions in an environment where the productivity of the workers depends on how well they match with their co-workers and the …rm acts as a coordinating device. Match quality derives from a production technology whereby workers are randomly located on the Salop circle, and depends negatively on the distance between the workers. It...

Output per worker varies enormously across countries. Why? On an accounting basis, our analysis shows that differences in physical capital and educational attainment can only partially explain the variation in output per worker — we find a large amount of variation in the level of the Solow residual across countries. At a deeper level, we document that the differences in capital accumulation, p...