Unexplored dimensions of discrimination in Europe: homosexuality and physical appearance

We study labor-market discrimination of individuals with “specific” characteristics in Italy. We conduct a field experiment in two Italian cities: Rome and Milan, by sending “fake” CVs to real ads. We find that there is a strong penalty for homosexuals, i.e., about 30 % less chance to be called back compared to a heterosexual male and even more so if they are highly skilled. On the other hand, we find no penalty for homosexual females. We also find a beauty premium for females only but this premium is much lower when the “pretty” woman is skilled.     

On multivariate separating Hill estimator under estimated location and scatter

We consider estimating the tail-index of a distribution under the assumption of multivariate ellipticity. Recently, a separating Hill estimator for multivariate elliptical distributions was proposed. This estimator is an affine invariant alternative to using the marginal observations in tail-index estimation and is hence unaffected by, e.g. change of units of measurement. However, the separating Hill estimator depends on the location and scatter of the elliptical distribution, which, in practice, have to be estimated. The effect of replacing the true location and scatter of the distribution by estimates has previously been only examined through simulations. In this article we show that the error caused by replacing the location and scatter of the distribution by estimates indeed is asymptotically negligible. This fact is essential for the practicality of the separating Hill estimator. In addition to providing the theoretical results, we present simulation results on the asymptotic behaviour of the estimators.     

Bain: a program for Bayesian testing of order constrained hypotheses in structural equation models

This paper presents a new statistical method and accompanying software for the evaluation of order constrained hypotheses in structural equation models (SEM). The method is based on a large sample approximation of the Bayes factor using a prior with a data-based correlational structure. An efficient algorithm is written into an R package to ensure fast computation. The package, referred to as Bain, is easy to use for applied researchers. Two classical examples from the SEM literature are used to illustrate the methodology and software.     

Personalized information and willingness to pay for non-financial risk prevention: An experiment

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty - When receiving personalized rather than population-based information, agents improve their knowledge about their probability of experiencing adverse events (e.g....     

A formal framework for deliberated judgment

Theory and Decision - While the philosophical literature has extensively studied how decisions relate to arguments, reasons and justifications, decision theory almost entirely ignores the latter...     

Least-squares logistic curves with initial conditions exist

For positive data, there is a least-squares Mitscherlich curve with vanishing initial value and a least-squares Verhulst curve with a unit initial value.     

Inférence par les martingales pour des processus ponctuels à compensateur discontinu

L'auteur introduit un modèle d'intensité mutltiplicative généralisé pour les processus ponctuels à compensateur discontinu. Il en étudie l'inférence par les martingales et obtient un résultat de normalité asymptotique. Il applique ces résultats à l'estimateur de Nelson‐Aalen du taux de panne cumulé dans le cas de données de durée de vie censuées et de loi non nécessairement continues.