We examine a model of social learning in networks following the lines of Bala and Goyal (1998, 2001). As a model of agents' behaviour we have chosen the model of informational cascades of Bikhchandani et al (1992). Similarly to Bala and Goyal we find that the higher the 'degree of integration' within the society is, the more likely it is that conformity of actions will arise. However, unlike their results our model suggests that in the presence of informational externalities globalisation of informational flows, expressed in the increasing density of communication channels in a network, may drive down the expected social welfare. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"

This article considers three standard asset pricing models with adaptive agents and stochastic non-stationary dividends. We assume that the parameters are estimated by exponential smoothing, such that prices and returns remain random variables. This paper provides sufficient conditions for the ergodicity of the return process and checks whether the perceived law assumed by the bounded rational agents can be considered to be sound with the returns observed. (author's abstract) / Series: Report Series SFB "Adaptive Information Systems and Modelling in Economics and Management Science"

We investigate the empirical evidence of the "textbook theory" of minimum wages for the Austrian Industry. The bargaining result of unions and firms is interpreted as a minimum wage, as the bargaining situation in Austria may be described best by a "right to manage" model". Based on the analysis of micro-founded "employment functions" in contrast to the predictions of the "textbook analysis" no significant negative effect of minimum wages on employment is found. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"

We present gross, net and productive capital stock estimates for 20 industries of the Austrian manufacturing sector based on the perpetual inventory method for the period 1969-1994. The estimation of the net capital stocks and the volume index of capital services follows an integrated method derived from the neoclassical theory of investment. Based on the estimates we calculate capital intensity and capital productivity measures for the 20 industries and provide estimates of capital productivity developments. We find that capital productivity decreased only for 5 out of the 20 industries. The other industries showed in part marked increases in both capital and labor productivity. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"

We compare the performance of the perturbation-based (local) portfolio solution method of Devereux and Sutherland (2010a, 2011) with a global solution method. We find that the local method performs very well when the model is designed to capture stylized macroeconomic facts and countries/agents are symmetric, i.e. when the latter have similar size, face similar risks and trade assets with similar risk properties. It performs less satisfactory when the agents engaged in financial trade are asymmetric. The global solution method performs substantially better when the model is parameterized to match the observed equity premium, a key stylized finance fact. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

We examine recovery rates of defaulted bonds in the US corporate bond market, based on a complete set of traded prices and volumes. A study of the trading microstructure around various types of default events is provided. We document temporary price pressure with high trading volumes on the default day and the following 30 days, and low trading activity thereafter. Based on this analysis, we determine market-based recovery rates and quantify various liquidity measures. We study the relation between the recovery rates and these measures, considering additionally a comprehensive set of bond characteristics, firm fundamentals, and macroeconomic variables. (authors' abstract)

According to Naudé and Krugell (2003a) South Africa's cities are too small, dispersed, and over concentrated. In South Africa, households in the country's urban areas have average incomes almost thrice as high as the households in rural areas. More than 70% of South Africa's GDP is produced in only 19 urban areas (Naudé and Krugell 2003b). In Naudé and Krugell (2003a) it is stated that the rank-size rule shows that South Africa's urban agglomerations are too small and the cities mainly offer urbanization economies rather than localization economies. The main focus of this study will be looking at the specialization and diversity of South African cities. The aim is to determine whether certain cities should specialise in certain sectors, which they are currently involved in or should they add to their city and become more diverse and specialize in other sectors in order to promote economic growth. Many believe that a city which is more diverse would grow faster than a city specialising in a certain and thus be more beneficial to the economy than a specialized city would. This paper would like to address this phenomenon with regard to South African cities / Thesis (M.Com. (Economics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Many of the 10 Central European candidate member countries for EU accession entered into the transition period with strongly undervalued exchange rates to stimulate exports and protect domestic industries. However, this policy was not maintained. During 1993-1995 real currency appreciation increased competitive pressure by foreign firms. To protect domestic firms governments applied high third country tariffs, temporary import taxes, and numerous administrative barriers to trade. As countervailing pressure by the EU and the USA increased and current account deficits soared in 1996 and 1997, the CE-10 more and more brought exchange rate policies in line with the changes in purchasing power parity. However, petty protection and harassment of importers prevails. (author's abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

This paper solves a long-standing open problem in mathematical finance: to find a solution to the problem of maximizing utility from terminal wealth of an agent with a random endowment process, in the general, semimartingale model for incomplete markets, and to characterize it via the associated dual problem. We show that this is indeed possible if the dual problem and its domain are carefully defined. More precisely, we show that the optimal terminal wealth is equal to the inverse of marginal utility evaluated at the solution to the dual problem, which is in the form of the regular part of an element of(L∞)* (the dual space of L∞). (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers SFB "Adaptive Information Systems and Modelling in Economics and Management Science"

In diesem Beitrag werden Beschäftigungswirkungen von Mindestlöhnen im neoklassischen Grundmodell und in mehreren, ebenfalls auf Grundgedanken der Neoklassik basierenden, Alternativmodellen diskutiert. Einerseits werden komparativ statische und andererseits dynamische Ansätze dargestellt, in deren Rahmen Mindestlöhne entweder nicht zu einem Rückgang der Beschäftigung führen müssen, oder sogar positive Beschäftigungswirkungen möglich sind. In Märkten, auf denen Marktversagen in unterschiedlichster Form vorherrscht, können Mindestlöhne - sofern sie moderat ausfallen - diesem entgegenwirken. (Autorenreferat) / Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"