On the relationship between the reversed hazard rate and elasticity

Despite hazard and reversed hazard rates sharing a number of similar aspects, reversed hazard functions are far less frequently used. Understanding their meaning is not a simple task. The aim of this paper is to expand the usefulness of the reversed hazard function by relating it to other well-known concepts broadly used in economics: (linear or cumulative) rates of increase and elasticity. This will make it possible (i) to improve our understanding of the consequences of using a particular distribution and, in certain cases, (ii) to introduce our hypotheses and knowledge about the random process in a more meaningful and intuitive way, thus providing a means to achieving distributions that would otherwise be hardly imaginable or justifiable.     

Do Central Bank Liquidity Facilities Affect Interbank Lending Rates?

In response to the global financial crisis that started in August 2007, central banks provided extraordinary amounts of liquidity to the financial system. To investigate the effect of central bank liquidity facilities on term interbank lending rates near the start of the crisis, we estimate a six-factor arbitrage-free model of U.S. Treasury yields, financial corporate bond yields, and term interbank rates. This model can account for fluctuations in the term structure of credit and liquidity spreads observed in the data. A significant shift in model estimates after the announcement of the liquidity facilities suggests that these central bank actions did help lower the liquidity premium in term interbank rates.     

Explaining the Mexican‐American Health Paradox Using Selectivity Effects

While typically socioeconomically disadvantaged, Mexican migrants in the United States tend to have better health outcomes than non‐Hispanic whites. This phenomenon is known as the “Hispanic health paradox.” Using data from Mexico and the United States, we examine several health outcomes for non‐Hispanic whites and Mexicans in the United States and in Mexico and employ Blinder–Oaxaca decompositions to help explain the paradox. We find evidence that selectivity is playing a significant role in the relatively healthy status of Mexican migrants in the United States. More importantly, there is evidence that health selectivity is a complex process and its effects typically do not work the same way for different health conditions and across genders. We also find evidence that some of migrants' health advantages are lost as they spend more time in the United States.     

Choice procedure consistent with similarity relations

We deal with the approach, initiated by Rubinstein, which assumes that people, when evaluating pairs of lotteries, use similarity relations. We interpret these relations as a way of modelling the imperfect powers of discrimination of the human mind and study the relationship between preferences and similarities. The class of both preferences and similarities that we deal with is larger than that considered by Rubinstein. The extension is made because we do not want to restrict ourselves to lottery spaces. Thus, under the above interpretation of a similarity, we find that some of the axioms imposed by Rubinstein are not justified if we want to consider other fields of choice theory. We show that any preference consistent with a pair of similarities is monotone on a subset of the choice space. We establish the implication upon the similarities of the requirement of making indifferent alternatives with a component which is zero. Furthermore, we show that Rubinstein's general results can also be obtained in this larger class of both preferences and similarity relations.The nontransitiveness of indifference must be recognized and explained on any theory of choice and the only explanation that seems to work is based on the imperfect powers of discrimination of the human mind whereby inequality becomes recognizable only when of sufficient magnitude.     

An autoregressive process with geometric α-laplace marginals

Geometric Laplace and geometric α-Laplace distributions are studied and certain limit properties are derived. An autoregressive process with geometric Laplace stationary marginal distribution is introduced and its properties are studied. These results are generalized to geometric α-Laplace case also and applications are discussed.     

Mental Health of Non-gamblers Versus “Normal” Gamblers Among American Indian Veterans: A Community Survey

Goal This analysis was undertaken to assess the demographic and mental health characteristics of “normal” or non-problem gamblers versus non-gamblers in a representative community sample. Sample Study participants consisted of 557 North Central American Indian veterans. Data collection included a demographic and trauma questionnaire, a computer-based Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-III-R, and a treatment history algorithm. Findings Univariate analyses revealed that gamblers had greater social competence (i.e., higher education, living with a spouse) and higher lifetime psychiatric morbidity. Binary regression analysis revealed that, compared to non-gamblers, gamblers were older, more highly educated, and more apt to be married. More gamblers showed evidence for lifetime risk-taking as evidenced by Antisocial Personality Disorder and Tobacco Dependence. Conclusions Social achievement and disposable income function as prerequisites for “normal” gambling in this population, although “externalizing” or “risk-taking” disorders also serve as independent contributors to at least some gambling. The increased rate of “internalizing” or emotional disorders are only indirectly related to gambling, perhaps through increasing age or through the “externalizing” disorders.     

Educational disparities across regions: A multilevel analysis for Italy and Spain

In this paper, a multilevel analysis is applied to the OECD-PISA2006 data with the aim to compare factors affecting students’ achievement across Italy and Spain. The findings show that both countries are affected by strong internal regional heterogeneity, where some regions have achievement scores well above the OECD mean and other are placed among the worst performers in the OECD area. Although regional governments are more autonomous about educational policy-making in Spain, regional indicators exert a higher influence on educational results in Italy where educational system is strictly regulated by the national government.