The market for Picasso prints: an hybrid model approach.

Two basic approaches have been used by the literature focusing on the return to holding artistic works: the hedonic price model and the repeat-sales model. This paper provides a procedure for jointly estimating the two models in a way that take advantages of the unique information contained in each. A semiannual price index for Picasso prints is estimated by using a model derived from the basic framework of the hybrid models. The empirical results suggest that the hybrid model provides the most precisely estimated price index by reducing the level of price volatility.

Longitudinal Analysis of Generic Substitution

Using an extensive longitudinal dataset extracted from the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) containing all prescriptions written in the period January 2004 to June 2007, we selected two particular drugs (chemical substances) used against cholesterol. The two brand-name products on the Norwegian markets were Provachol (atc code C10AA03) and Zocor (atc code C10AA01). The generics are Provastatine and Simastatine. The model accounts for taste persistence and is estimated on panel data. We find that prices have a negative impact on transitions in the sense that an increase in the brand price will reduce the transition from generics to brand and likewise an increase in the generic price will reduce the transition from brand to generics.generics, substitution, microdata, random utility model, longitudinal data

Alternative Basic Income Mechanisms: An Evaluation Exercise with a Microeconometric Model

We develop and estimate a microeconometric model of household labour supply in four European countries representative of different economies and welfare policy regimes: Denmark, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom. We then simulate, under the constraint of constant total net tax revenue (fiscal neutrality), the effects of various hypothetical tax-transfer reforms which include alternative versions of a Basic Income policy: Guaranteed Minimum Income, Work Fare, Participation Basic Income and Universal Basic Income. We produce indexes and criteria according to which the reforms can be ranked and compared to the current tax-transfer systems. The exercise can be considered as one of empirical optimal taxation, where the optimization problem is solved computationally rather than analytically. It turns out that many versions of the Basic Income policies would be superior to the current system. The most successful policies are those involving non means-tested versions of basic income (Universal or Participation Basic Income) and adopting progressive tax-rules. If – besides the fiscal neutrality constraint – also other constraints are considered, such as the implied top marginal top tax rate or the effect on female labour supply, the picture changes: unconditional policies remain optimal and feasible in Denmark and the UK; instead in Italy and Portugal universal policies appear to be too costly in terms of implied top marginal tax rates and in terms of adverse effects on female participation, and conditional policies such as Work-Fare, emerge as more desirable.tax reforms, models of labour supply, universal basic income, participation basic income, work fare, minimum guaranteed income, welfare evaluation, optimal taxation

The determinants of motherhood and work status: a survey

In this paper we present important empirical evidence regarding recent trends in women's participation and fertility in European countries, and provide several interpretations of the differences across countries. Several recent analyses have considered labour supply and fertility as a joint decision and have explicitly taken into account the endogeneity of fertility in labour market participation decisions of women. We survey microeconomic analyses that explore the impact of social policies on the joint decisions of labor market participation and fertility. The results of most analyses indicate that social policies, taking into account several variables (family background, the allocation of time within the household, religion and culture), have a very relevant role in explaining different degrees of incompatibility between employment and child rearing across different countries. The incompatibilities between motherhood and careers find reconciliation in policies that enhance employment flexibility and diminish the potential opportunity costs of children

A Probability Approach to Pharmaceutical Demand and Price Setting: Does the Identity of the Third-Party Payer Mattersfor Prescribing Doctors?

TNF-alpha inhibitors represent one of the most important areas of biopharmaceuticals by sales, with three blockbusters accounting for 8 per cent of total pharmaceutical sale in Norway. Novelty of the paper is to examine, with the use of a unique natural policy experiment in Norway, to what extent the price responsiveness of prescription choices is affected when the identity of the third-party payer changes. The three dominating drugs in this market, Enbrel, Remicade, and Humira, are substitutes, but have had different and varying funding schemes - hospitals and the national insurance plan. A stochastic structural model for the three drugs, covering demand and price setting, is estimated in a joint maximum likelihood approach. We find that doctors are more responsive when the costs are covered by the hospitals compared to when costs are covered by national insurance.pharmaceuticals, discrete choice model, funding-schemes

Child Care Choices by Italian Households

In spite of relatively generous public subsidies and a reputation for high quality, only a very limited proportion of Italian families use public child care. In this paper we explore the significance of various factors on the choices made between different types of child care. In part one, we use a simulation exercise to show the impact of cost and availability on child care choices. In part two, we present the results of an explorative econometric analysis using a matched data set for 1998 from the Bank of Italy (SHIW) and ISTAT Multiscopo. We find evidence that factors related to family composition and support as well as to the characteristics of child care are important in explaining the choices made by Italian families. Assistance provided by grandmothers and husbands appears to be of crucial significance to Italian mothers who are seeking to reconcile the difficulties stemming from the rigidity of the labor market and the limitations of child care. Rationing, both of public and private child care, also proves to be an important factor affecting households? choices. An understanding of the importance of these factors is relevant in the evaluation of social policies encouraging mothers? participation in the labor market in Italy

Compensated Discrete Choice with Particular Reference to Labor Supply

Dagsvik and Karlström (2005) have demonstrated how one can compute Compensating Variation and Compensated Choice Probabilities by means of analytic formulas in the context of discrete choice models. In this paper we offer a new and simplified derivation of the compensated probabilities. Subsequently, we discuss the application of this methodology to compute compensated labor supply responses (elasticities) in a particular discrete choice labor supply model. Whereas the Slutsky equation holds in the case of the standard microeconomic model with deterministic preferences, this is not so in the case of random utility models. When the non-labor income elasticity is negative the Slutsky equation implies that the compensated wage elasticity is higher than the uncompensated one. In contrast, in our random utility model we show empirically that in a majority of cases the uncompensated wage elasticity is in fact the highest one. We also show that when only the deterministic part of the utility function is employed to yield optimal hours and related elasticities, these elasticities are numerically much higher and decline more sharply across deciles than the random utility ones

Longitudinal analysis of generic substitution

Using an extensive longitudinal dataset extracted from the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) containing all prescriptions written in the period January 2004 to June 2007, we selected two particular drugs (chemical substances) used against cholesterol. The two brand-name products on the Norwegian markets were Provachol (atc code C10AA03) and Zocor (atc code C10AA01). The generics are Provastatine and Simastatine. The model accounts for taste persistence and is estimated on panel data. We find that prices have a negative impact on transitions in the sense that an increase in the brand price will reduce the transition from generics to brand and likewise an increase in the generic price will reduce the transition from brand to generics

Towards an actuarially fair pension system in Norway

In order to estimate labour supply responses among older people we have employed a very simple model of retirement decisions that can be estimated on a single cross-section sample, and still be given a structural interpretation in terms of inter-temporal decisions. The model is estimated on Norwegian register data from 1996, which covers all Norwegians aged 55-68 in 1996. The empirical model is employed to assess the impact on retirement of moving the Norwegian pension system towards actuarial fairness. Future annual pension benefits are increased if retirement is postponed say, for one year. In one of the simulations future annual benefits are increased by NOK 8,000 (as of April 2009 1 Euro~ NOK 8.7), which is around 5 per cent of the average pension benefit in 1996 and corresponds approximately to the adjustment in the new pension system which comes into effect 1. January 2011. The number of men and women choosing retirement is reduced by around 5 per cent, given that there is no consumption smoothing. When perfect consumption smoothing is assumed the reduction is much larger; 18 per cent in the case of men and 14 per cent in the case of women. These reductions are really sizeable and indicate that pension reforms, combined with removing constraints in the credit market, may be of great importance in giving the individuals incentive to prolong their working life