Bootstrap CI and test statistics for kernel density estimates using Stata

In recent years non-parametric density estimation has been extensively employed in several fields as a powerful descriptive tool, which is far more informative and robust than histograms. Moreover, the increased computation power of modern computers has made non-parametric density estimation a relatively "cheap" computation, helping to easily detect unexpected aspects of the distribution such as bimodality. However, it is also often neglected that non-parametric methods can only provide an estimate of the true density, whose reliability depends on various factors, such as the number of data available and the bandwidth. We will focus here on kernel density estimation and discuss the problem of computing bootstrap confidence intervals and test statistics for point-wise density estimation using Stata. Construction of confidence intervals and test of hypothesis about the true density are carried out using an asymptotically pivotal studentized statistic after computing a suitable estimator for its variance. The issue of asymptotic biased correction is also discussed and tackled.

A Fair Price for Energy? Ownership versus Market Opening in the EU15

In the past two decades privatisation and liberalisation of network industries providing services of general economic interest (SGEI), have been particularly significant in the European Union. Wide variations around a common policy trend can, however, be observed across countries and sectors. We focus on electricity and gas sectors because energy sectors have usually been profit makers, not affected by direct government transfers, in contrast to other SGEI. We study the effects of privatisation and other reforms on consumer prices using both subjective data on consumers’ perception of utility prices and data on average prices paid.privatisation, electricity, gas, reforms

GINI DP 4: Inequality Decompositions

We show how classic source-decomposition and subgroup-decomposition meth ods can be reconciled with regression methodology used in the recent liter ature. We also highlight some pitfalls that arise from uncritical use of the regression approach. The LIS database is used to compare the approaches using an analysis of the changing contributions to inequality in the United States and Finland. JEL Classification: D6

Inequality Decompositions ?A Reconciliation

We show how classic source-decomposition and subgroup-decomposition methods can be reconciled with regression methodology used in the recent literature. We also highlight some pitfalls that arise from uncritical use of the regression approach. The LIS database is used to compare the approaches using an analysis of the changing contributions to inequality in the United States and Finland.Inequality, decomposition.

Consumers’ Attitudes on Services of General Interest in the EU: Accessibility, Price and Quality 2000-2004

The research question addressed by this paper is a simple one: are European consumers happy with the services provided by the utilities after two decades of reforms? We focus on electricity, gas, water, telephone in the EU 15 Member States. The variables we analyse are consumers’ satisfaction with accessibility, price and quality, as reported in three waves of Eurobarometer survey, 2000-2002-2004, comprising around 47,000 observations. We use ordered logit models to analyze the impact of privatization and regulatory reforms, as represented by an OECD dataset, controlling for individual and country characteristics. Our results do not support a clear association between consumers’ satisfaction and a standard reform package of privatization, vertical disintegration, liberalization.Consumers’ Satisfaction, Gas, Electricity, Telephone, Water, Eurobarometer

Understanding Inequality Trends:Microsimulation Decomposition for Italy

This paper suggests overcoming some limitations of traditional inequalitydecomposition methods by developing a combination of Burtless (1999) and DiNardoet al. (1996), two different microsimulation methods for decomposing inequality. Byusing this combination it is possible to take into consideration the dispersion ofincome sources as well as the socio-demographic evolution of the population understudy, in a single framework and across many years. This methodology maximizesclarity of results and allows one to easily perform tests on results. An application toItalian household inequality is provided to analyze marginal and joint effects ofdemographic trends and changed dispersion of different income factors between 1977and 2002.Microsimulation, counterfactual analysis, household inequality trend,inequality decomposition.

Regression-based inequality decomposition

This talk discusses ineqrbd, a program for OLS regression-based decomposition suggested by G.S. Fields (“Accounting for Income Inequality and Its Change: A New Method, with Application to the Distribution of Earnings in the United States”, Research in Labor Economics, 2003). It provides an exact decomposition of the inequality of total income into inequality contributions from each of the factor components (or determinants) of total income.

Social Democracy and Distributive Conflict in the UK, 1950- 2010

In the last three decades, two questions have been central for the Left. Is there a future for electoral socialism and social democracy? And, is it any longer possible to promote a significant redistribution of income in favour of labour? Political and economic events seem to suggest negative answers. In his influential work, Adam Przeworski suggests that this is an irreversible trend that makes it impossible in the long-run to promote genuinely socialist objectives in capitalist democracies. In particular, the structural dependence of labour on capital severely constrains feasible income distributions. In this paper, a detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the post-war UK economy is provided which casts doubts on the structural dependence thesis. A short run pro.t-squeeze mechanism seems to exist, but income shares are more variable than the structural dependence argument suggests, and the power resources available to the two main classes in the economy are among the key determinants of distributive outcomes, different political-economic equilibria corresponding to different configurations of the balance of power between the two classes