Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Francesco Ricci Author-Name: Marios Zachariadis Title: Longevity and Education: A Macroeconomic Perspective Keywords: Education, life expectancy, health, externalities, absorptive capacity, welfare Abstract: This paper investigates the determinants of longevity at a macroeconomic level, emphasizing the important role played by education. To analyze the determinants of longevity, we build a model where households intentionally invest in health and education, and where education exerts external effects on longevity. Performing an empirical analysis using data across 71 countries, we find that society’s tertiary education attainment rate is important for longevity, in addition to any role that basic education plays for life expectancy at the individual level. This finding uncovers a key externality of education, consistent with the theoretical hypothesis advanced in our macroeconomic model. Length: 32 pages Creation-Date: 2008-02 File-URL: http://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/01-08.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:1-2008 Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Ioannis Kasparis Title: Functional Form Misspecification in Regressions with a Unit Root Abstract: We examine the limit properties of the Non-linear Least Squares (NLS) estimator under functional form misspecification in regression models with a unit root. Our theoretical framework is the same as that of Park and Phillips, Econometrica 2001. We show that the limit behaviour of the NLS estimator is largely determined by the relative order of magnitude of the true and fitted models. If the estimated model is of different order of magnitude than the true model, the estimator converges to boundary points. When the pseudo-true value is on a boundary, standard methods for obtaining rates of convergence and limit distribution results are not applicable. We provide convergence rates and limit distribution results, when the pseudo-true value is an interior point. If functional form misspecification is committed in the presence of stochastic trends, the convergence rates can be slower and the limit distribution different than that obtained under correct specification. Length: 29 pages Creation-Date: 2008-02 File-URL: http://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/02-08.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:2-2008 Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Andros Kourtellos Author-Name: Thanasis Stengos Author-Name: Chih Ming Tan Title: THRET: Threshold Regression with Endogenous Threshold Variables Abstract: This paper extends the simple threshold regression framework of Hansen (2000) and Caner and Hansen (2004) to allow for endogeneity of the threshold variable. We develop a concentrated two-stage least squares (C2SLS) estimator of the threshold parameter that is based on an inverse Mills ratio bias correction. Our method also allows for the endogeneity of the slope variables. We show that our estimator is consistent and investigate its performance using a Monte Carlo simulation that indicates the applicability of the method is finite samples. We also illustrate its usefulness with an empirical example from economic growth. Length: 27 pages Creation-Date: 2008-03 File-URL: http://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/03-08.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:3-2008 Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Louis N. Christofides Author-Name: Michael Hoy Author-Name: Ling Yang Title: The Determinants of University Participation in Canada (1977-2003) Keywords: University participation, families, Canada Abstract: The decision to attend university is influenced by the balance of the expected returns and costs of attending university, by liquidity constraints and capital market imperfections that may modify these calculations and, hence, by the family income of prospective students. Family circumstances also play a role. We examine the secular increase in the propensity of children from Canadian families, evident in annual surveys spanning two and a half decades, to attend university. We quantify the importance of these factors taking account of the greater propensity by young women than men to attend university and controlling for secular trends in socioeconomic norms that impinge on these decisions. Length: 51 pages Creation-Date: 2008-04 File-URL: http://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/04-08.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:4-2009 Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Louis N. Christofides Author-Name: Michael Hoy Author-Name: Ling Yang Title: The Gender Imbalance in Participation in Canadian Universities (1977-2005) Keywords: University participation, individuals, gender, Canada Abstract: More females than males have been attending Canadian universities over the past decade and this gender imbalance in university participation has been increasing. We use the Linear Probability and Logit models to investigate the determinants of attending university and explore the reasons for the increasing gender imbalance. We find that, in gender-specific equations, the values of the coefficients attached to variables and the values of the variables themselves are both important in explaining the rising level of the university participation rate for women and men. The important variables include a time trend to capture the evolving societal norms, the dynamic influence of parental education, the earnings premium for a university degree, tuition fees and real income. The increasing gap between the female and male participation rates (15 percentage points by 2005) can be accounted for equally by differences in the coefficients in female and male participation equations and the widening gap in the university premium for women and men. Length: 43 pages Creation-Date: 2008-04 File-URL: http://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/05-08.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:5-2008 Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Christian Dustmann Author-Name: Nikolaos Theodoropoulos Title: Ethnic minority immigrants and their children in Britain Keywords: Ethnic Minorities/Immigrants, Education, Employment, Wages Abstract: This paper investigates educational attainment and economic behaviour of ethnic minority immigrants and their children in Britain. Despite their strong educational achievements, ethnic minority immigrants and their descendants exhibit lower employment probabilities than their white native born peers. Although unconditional wages of British born ethnic minorities appear to be slightly higher than those of their white native born peers, their wages would be considerably lower if they had the same characteristics and regional allocation. Differences in wage offer distributions hardly account for the employment differences of British born ethnic minorities. Further, British born ethnic minorities have lower employment propensities for the same wages than native born whites. We examine possible explanations for these gaps. Length: 42 pages Creation-Date: 2008-10 File-URL: http://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/07-08.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:7-2008 Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Nicholas Ziros Title: The bargaining set in strategic market games Keywords: Strategic market games, Bargaining set, Competition Abstract: We present the bargaining set of an economy, where trades among groups of individuals are conducted via the Shapley-Shubik mechanism. Then we prove that in atomless economies the allocations resulting from this equilibrium notion are competitive. Length: 8 pages Creation-Date: 2008-11 File-URL: http://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/08-08.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:8-2008