Great Expectatrics: Great Papers,Great Journals,Great Econometrics

The article discusses alternative Research Assessment Measures (RAM), with an emphasis on the Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science database (hereafter ISI). Some analysis and comparisons are also made with data from the SciVerse Scopus database. The various RAM that are calculated annually or updated daily are defined and analyzed, including the classic 2-year impact factor (2YIF), 2YIF without journal self-citations (2YIF*), 5-year impact factor (5YIF), Immediacy (or zero-year impact factor (0YIF)), Impact Factor Inflation (IFI), Self-citation Threshold Approval Rating (STAR), Eigenfactor score, Article Influence, C3PO (Citation Performance Per Paper Online), h-index, Zinfluence, and PI-BETA (Papers Ignored – By Even The Authors). The RAM are analyzed for 10 leading econometrics journals and 4 leading statistics journals. The application to econometrics can be used as a template for other areas in economics, for other scientific disciplines, and as a benchmark for newer journals in a range of disciplines. In addition to evaluating high quality research in leading econometrics journals, the paper also compares econometrics and statistics, alternative RAM, highlights the similarities and differences of the alternative RAM, finds that several RAM capture similar performance characteristics for the leading econometrics and statistics journals, while the new PI-BETA criterion is not highly correlated with any of the other RAM, and hence conveys additional information regarding RAM, highlights major research areas in leading journals in econometrics, and discusses some likely future uses of RAM, and shows that the harmonic mean of 13 RAM provides more robust journal rankings than relying solely on 2YIF.     

A specification strategy for order determination in arma models

In this paper a specification strategy is proposed for the determination of the orders in ARMA models. The strategy is based on two newly defined concepts: the q-conditioned partial auto-regressive function and the p-conditioned partial moving average function. These concepts are similar to the generalized partial autocorrelation function which has been recently suggested for order determination. The main difference is that they are defined and employed in connection with an asymptotically efficient estimation method instead of the rather inefficient generalized Yule-Walker method. The specification is performed by using sequential Wald type tests. In contrast to the traditional testing of hypotheses, these tests use critical values which increase with the sample size at an appropriate rate     

探析我国出口信用证结算地位弱化的成因及影响

鉴于信用证具有比较强的收汇保障的性能和贸易融资功能，因此也一直是我国出口企业贸易结算的首选，使用率高居90％。但是近年来，其结算的“霸主”地位不断弱化，并由此对我国外贸出口产生了较大的不利影响。本文探讨了其中具体的原因及影响，并辅以对策。     

A panel study of migration,self-selection and household real income

The impact of migration on income for Swedish multi-adult households is examined using panel data pertaining to a sample of stable household constellations during the period 1980–1990. In contrast to previous studies, data on household disposable income is employed in estimating the income function. The empirical results indicate no significant effect on real disposable income from migration. In addition, the hypothesis of no self-selection, or zero correlation between the errors in the decision function and the income function, cannot be rejected. Received: 10 May 1995 / Accepted: 14 August 1996     

Monte carlo sampling approach to testing nonnested hypothesis: monte carlo results

Alternative ways of using Monte Carlo methods to implement a Cox-type test for separate families of hypotheses are considered. Monte Carlo experiments are designed to compare the finite sample performances of Pesaran and Pesaran's test, a RESET test, and two Monte Carlo hypothesis test procedures. One of the Monte Carlo tests is based on the distribution of the log-likelihood ratio and the other is based on an asymptotically pivotal statistic. The Monte Carlo results provide strong evidence that the size of the Pesaran and Pesaran test is generally incorrect, except for very large sample sizes. The RESET test has lower power than the other tests. The two Monte Carlo tests perform equally well for all sample sizes and are both clearly preferred to the Pesaran and Pesaran test, even in large samples. Since the Monte Carlo test based on the log-likelihood ratio is the simplest to calculate, we recommend using it.     

A test statistic for weighted runs

A new test statistic based on runs of weighted deviations is introduced. Its use for observations sampled from independent normal distributions is worked out in detail. It supplements the classic χ² test which ignores the ordering of observations and provides additional sensitivity to local deviations from expectations. The exact distribution of the statistic in the non-parametric case is derived and an algorithm to compute p-values is presented. The computational complexity of the algorithm is derived employing a novel identity for integer partitions.     

Liberalization of services in Europe: Polish perspective on economic implications of the Services Directive

The original EU Service Directive proposal met widespread opposition and was subsequently narrowed down. Some believed that the competition from the New Member States would endanger the situation of the “old” EU service providers. We assess the importance of the Service Directive for Poland and other EU members by performing a revealed comparative advantage analysis and a computable general equilibrium simulation of the outcome. The liberalization provides minimal welfare gains for Poland and the main opponents of the Service Directive, while they are expected to be higher for small economies open to trade in services.     

Does inflation targeting lower inflation and spur growth?

Over the last few decades several countries have turned to inflation targeting as a policy choice for instilling stability into their economies. Prior studies have shown that inflation targeting has reduced inflation in those countries without significantly impacting GDP. This study seeks to improve upon these results by identifying the impact of timing on the policy decision as well as its impact as related to specific regions of the world. The focus is on developing countries across six regions. We find significant regional variation in developing countries in our sample in terms of the direction of changes in inflation following a switch to the inflation targeting policy. Moreover, although the impact of inflation targeting on real GDP is minimal overall, there is a statistically significant increase in real GDP among developing countries in certain regions only, namely, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.     

ON FRAGILE GROUNDS: A REPLICATION OF “ARE MUSLIM IMMIGRANTS DIFFERENT IN TERMS OF CULTURAL INTEGRATION?”

This study is a replication of “Are Muslim Immigrants Different in terms of Cultural Integration?” by Alberto Bisin, Eleonora Patacchini, Thierry Verdier and Yves Zenou, published in the Journal of the European Economic Association, 6, 445–456, 2008. Bisin et al. (2008) report that they have 5,963 observations in their study. Using their empirical setup, we can only identify 1,901 relevant observations in the original data. After removing missing values we are left with 818 observations. We cannot replicate any of their results and our estimations yield no support for their claims.