We derive an empirical test for third-order stochastic dominance that allows for diversification between choice alternatives.The test can be computed using straightforward linear programming. Bootstrapping techniques and asymptotic distribution theory can approximate the sampling properties of the test results and allow for statistical inference. Our approach is illustrated using real-life US s...

This program evaluation estimates the effects on standardized test scores of graduating from the Fe y Alegría private school system in Venezuela. We find an Average Treatment Effect on the order of 0.1 standard deviations, using a control group of public school students. We posit that the better performance of the.Fe y Alegría system stems from their labor contract flexibility and decentralized...

I specify an econometric model to estimate the causal effects of environmental factors on individuals’ life-cycle health outcome, and outline a semiparametric control function approach to test and correct for the possible selectivity bias that may arise due to endogenous choice of residence by individuals. I show how to map Union Army Sample data to elements of this model in practice. JEL Class...

We provide two ways to reconcile small values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution (IES) that range between 0.35 and 0.5 with empirical evidence that the IES is large. We do this reconciliation using a model in which all agents have identical preferences and the same access to asset markets. We also conduct an encompassing test, which indicates that specifications of the model with s...

This paper presents a genetic algorithm to solve the orienteering problem, which is concerned with finding a path between a given set of control points, among which a start and an end point are specified, so as to maximize the total score collected subject to a prescribed distance constraint. Employing several sets of test problems from the literature, the performance of the genetic algorithm i...

It has been argued that the most likely explanation for the result that earnings rise with firm size is that large firms employ high-ability individuals. In this paper we use matched employer-employee panel data from Ghana and Kenya and test for firm size effects in earnings regressions whilst controlling for unobserved ability in the form of worker fixed effects. For both countries we obtain a...

Assuming elliptically contoured distribution for portfolio asset returns, we derive the exact marginal and joint densities of the global minimum variance portfolio variance, and weights estimators. We also construct a test for the hypothesis that the global minimum variance is less then or equal to a certain value. A stochastic representation and moments of its estimator is provided. We illustr...

Sutton (1998) has recently proposed a theoretical lower bound to firm size inequality when a market is made of several independent submarkets. His results are valid asymptotically, as the number of submarkets becomes arbitrarily large. We show that, in small samples, his results can be interpreted as a positive relationship between an index of firm size inequality and the number of submarkets. ...

In this paper we explore the application of structured additive distributional regression for the analysis of conditional income distributions in Germany following the reunification. Using a bootstrapped Kolmogorov-Smirnov test we find that conditional personal income distributions can generally be modelled using the three parameter Dagum distribution. Additionally our results hint at an even m...

This paper uses player/match level data drawn from five playing seasons of the English Premiership League (EPL) to test for the presence of a refereeing susceptibility to social pressure in the application of soccer’s commonest sanction, the yellow disciplinary card. Using both player-specific fixed and random effects models, tentative support for the proposition is uncovered. The estimated eff...