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Empirical Relevance (empirical + relevance)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	66%

Selected Abstracts

Why are Europeans so tough on migrants?

ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 44 2005
Tito Boeri
SUMMARY European migration International migration can significantly increase income per capita in Europe. We estimate that at the given wage and productivity gap between Western and Eastern Europe, migration of 3% of the Eastern population to the West could increase total EU GDP by up to 0.5%. Yet on 1 May 2004, 14 EU countries out of 15 adopted transitional arrangements vis-à-vis the new member states and national migration restrictions vis-à-vis third country nationals are getting stricter and stricter. In this paper we offer two explanations for this paradox and document their empirical relevance in the case of the EU enlargement. The first explanation is that immigration to rigid labour markets involves a number of negative externalities on the native population. The second explanation is that there are important cross-country spillovers in the effects of migration policies, inducing a race-to-the top in border restrictions with high costs in terms of foregone European output. In light of our results, we discuss, in the final section, the key features of a desirable migration policy to be coordinated at the EU level. ,Tito Boeri and Herbert Brücker [source]

Modelling opportunity in health under partial observability of circumstances

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2010
Pedro Rosa Dias
Abstract This paper proposes a behavioural model of inequality of opportunity in health that integrates John Roemer's framework of inequality of opportunity with the Grossman model of health capital and demand for health. The model generates a recursive system of equations for health and lifestyles, which is then jointly estimated by full information maximum likelihood with freely correlated error terms. The analysis innovates by accounting for the presence of unobserved heterogeneity, therefore addressing the partial-circumstance problem, and by extending the examination of inequality of opportunity to health outcomes other than self-assessed health, such as long-standing illness, disability and mental health. The results provide evidence for the existence of third factors that simultaneously influence health outcomes and lifestyle choices, supporting the empirical relevance of the partial-circumstance problem. Accounting for these factors, the paper corroborates that the effect of parental and early circumstances on adult health disparities is paramount. However, the particular set of circumstances that affect each of the analysed health outcomes differs substantially. The results also show that differences in educational opportunities, and in social development in childhood, are crucial determinants of lifestyles in adulthood, which, in turn, shape the observed health inequalities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Interest group strategies in multi-level Europe

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2007
John Constantelos
This article analyzes the political responses of French and Italian business associations to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in the EU. I propose and test the empirical relevance of a multi-level lobbying model for multi-tiered systems, a model assumed by, but never systematically examined in, the pluralism literature. Data for this ten-sector cross-national panel study come from personal interviews with the presidents of French and Italian business associations. The interviews were held at the beginning and the end of the euro implementation process. The research shows that organized groups routinely overstep their territorial jurisdictions to lobby across multiple levels of government in multi-level Europe. The degree of state political decentralization is a statistically significant variable in explaining the choice of lobbying target. This ,crucial comparative case study' finds that, in adjusting to deeper economic integration, regional associations in France focus their energy on the central government, while Italian groups favour the regional government. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Is the Welfare State Self-Destructive?

KYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2008
A Study of Government Benefit Morale
SUMMARY The concern that generous welfare state institutions may in the long-run undermine social norms which limit the disincentives of social security systems is as old as the welfare state itself. Already in the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt warned of the ,moral disintegration' effect of welfare dependency. This study assesses the empirical validity of this concern. Based on the results of four waves of the World Value Surveys the individual and country-specific determinants of benefit morale , defined as the reluctance to claim government benefits without legal entitlement , are analysed. The results support the empirical relevance of these worries: In the long-run an increase of government benefits and unemployment is associated with deteriorating welfare state ethics. [source]

On Lindemann's Melting Criterion

MATERIALWISSENSCHAFT UND WERKSTOFFTECHNIK, Issue 2 2004
H.-J. Hoffmann
Schmelzen; Schmelztemperatur; Schmelzkriterium; Lindemann-Kriterium Abstract Lindemann's empirical melting criterion is applied using data of the solid chemical elements. The respective expression which depends on the melting temperature, the molar mass and the molar volume correlates fairly well with the Debye temperatures. However, it seems incapable to predict inversely the melting temperatures with the other parameters given. Thus, Lindemann's criterion has no empirical relevance in addition to its scientific deficits. Über das Schmelzkriterium von Lindemann Das empirische Schmelzkriterium nach Lindemann wird an Hand von Daten der festen chemischen Elemente geprüft. Der betreffende Ausdruck, der von Schmelztemperatur, Molmasse und Molvolumen abhängt, korreliert recht gut mit der Debye-Temperatur. Es gelingt jedoch nicht mit befriedigender Genauigkeit, die Schmelztemperaturen aus der Umkehrung dieses Ausdrucks bei gegebenen anderen Parametern vorherzusagen. Neben den anderen bekannten Mängeln hat das Lindemann-Kriterium somit auch keine empirische Vorhersagekraft. [source]

Income Uncertainty and Wealth Accumulation: How Precautionary are Taiwanese Households?*

ASIAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007
Yih-Luan Chyi
D91; E21 To assess how recent job loss impacts wealth accumulation of Taiwanese households, the present study investigates the empirical relevance of the precautionary saving motive to explain measures of wealth during the past 2 decades. This study demonstrates that households facing increased transitory shock accumulate increased amounts of financial and housing wealth, whereas permanent shocks cause households to accumulate housing wealth only. Empirical results suggest an important policy implication: households in Taiwan will save less when social insurance policies are effective in reducing future transitory and permanent shocks to household income. [source]