We investigate whether the distance between the next sports facilities and children's homes matter for their sports activities inside and outside of sports clubs. Our analysis is based on a large and informative cross-section of individual data on children and their families, the so-called German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents data. We use a semiparametric econometric method to investigate this relationship empirically. Our results suggest that while the distance does not matter in larger towns and cities, it does matter in smaller towns and in particular on the countryside.
This paper adapts Meucci's [2006a, 2006b] copula opinion pooling (COP) framework to examine whether fixed income hedge fund strategies enhance the risk-return spectrum of traditional bond portfolios. In contrast to the Black-Litterman setup, the COP approach does not rely on linear dependencies, and avoids the problems associated with the assumption of normally distributed asset returns. We analyze three scenarios that represent investor expectations about the performance of fixed income portfolios, and we add fixed income hedge fund strategies such as fixed income arbitrage, convertible bond arbitrage, and distressed securities, given expected shortfall constraints. Our results suggest that investor market expectations and attitudes toward potential losses are both important in determining the relative weight of hedge funds in the optimal portfolio. Depending on the model parameters, the allocation to hedge funds can vary greatly, from 0% to 85%.
We evaluate a wage subsidy program that is targeted at long-term unemployed
workers in Germany. We use an alternative identification procedure compared to
empirical studies conducted so far. Exploiting the particular program regulations and
large administrative data we estimate the impact of program availability using a regression discontinuity framework. Our results suggest no significant impact of the availabilityof the subsidy on labor market outcomes of the target group.
Les réformes de société peuvent parfois produire des effets indésirables. Il est possible d'illustrer ce constat en examinant deux réformes récentes dans le domaine de la politique sociale et familiale. Motivées par un souci de promouvoir l'égalité entre les sexes, ces réformes ont créé des incitations contradictoires. L'explication réside notamment dans la coexistence de conceptions concurrentes de l'égalité chez les acteurs de ces processus de révision.
Rechtliche Interventionen mit sozialpolitischer Zielsetzung im Binnenraum privater Lebensformen zeitigen neben den beabsichtigten auch ungewollte und unerwünschte Wirkungen. Dies lässt sich am Beispiel zweier jüngerer gleichstellungspolitisch motivierter Sozial- und Familienrechtsreformen zeigen, die bei näherem Hinschauen widersprüchliche Anreize senden. Diese sind unter anderem einem Nebeneinander von miteinander konkurrierenden Gleichstellungskonzepten der an den Gesetzesrevisionen beteiligten Akteure geschuldet.
This study conducts tests of the random walk hypothesis and market efficiency on fourteen national public real estate markets. The random walk properties of equity prices influence return dynamics and determine investor trading strategies. To examine the stochastic properties of local real estate index returns and test the hypothesis that public real estate stock prices follow a random walk, we use the single static and dynamic variance ratio tests of Lo and MacKinlay (1988), as well as the multiple variance ratio test of Chow and Denning (1993). Weak-form market efficiency is tested for directly by using non-parametric runs tests. Empirical evidence shows that weekly stock prices in major securitized real estate markets do not follow a random walk. The findings suggest that investors may be able to develop trading strategies that allow them to earn excess returns compared to a buy-and-hold strategy.
