The state of Portuguese research in economics: an anlysis based on publications in international journals

In this paper I analyze the state of Portuguese research in Economics based on publications in international journals for the period of 1986 to 2000. I find that scientific production is increasing but productivity remains low. I also provide a revealing characterization of the production habits of Portuguese researchers by answering the following questions: where do Portuguese researchers publish? who are the most active publishers? how often do they publish? how much do they collaborate? what is their background? Finally, I analyze the impact of that research based on citation counts.research in economics, sociology of economics, citation analysis

Dirichlet-Multinomial Regression

In this paper we provide a Random-Utility based derivation of the Dirichlet-Multinomial regression and posit it as a convenient alternative for dealing with overdispersed multinomial data. We show that this model is a natural extension of McFadden's conditional logit for grouped data and show how it relates with count models. Finally, we use a data set on patient choice of hospitals to illustrate an application of the Dirichlet-Multinomial regression.dirichlet-multinomial, grouped conditional logit, hospital choice, overdispersion

A Simple Feasible Alternative Procedure to Estimate Models with High-Dimensional Fixed Effects

In this paper we describe an alternative iterative approach for the estimation of linear regression models with high-dimensional fixed-effects such as large employer-employee data sets. This approach is computationally intensive but imposes minimum memory requirements. We also show that the approach can be extended to non-linear models and potentially to more than two high dimensional fixed effects.high dimensional fixed effects, linked employer-employee data

Price discrimination and targeted advertising: a welfare analysis

We present a monopolistic model of price discrimination by means of targeted informative advertising. Targeting is defined as the ability of the monopolistic to direct messages with differentiated contents to groups of buyers with different valuations for the good. We show that only if targeting is perfect will the monopolistic behave in a socially desirable way.informative advertising, targeting, price discrimination

Firm-Worker Matching in Industrial Clusters

In this paper we use a novel approach and a large Portuguese employer-employee panel data set to study the hypothesis that industrial agglomeration improves the quality of the firm-worker matching process. Our method makes use of recent developments in the estimation and analysis of models with high-dimensional fixed effects. Using wage regressions with controls for multiple sources of observed and unobserved heterogeneity we find little evidence that the quality of matching increases with firm’s clustering within the same industry. This result supports Freedman’s (2008) analysis using U.S. data.agglomeration, matching, fixed-effects

Modeling industrial location decisions in U.S. counties

Given its sound theoretical underpinnings, the Random Utility Maximization-based conditional logit model has been the methodological basis for applied research on industrial location decisions. However, in practice, the implementation of this methodology presents problems. A notable one is the underlying Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA) assumption. In this paper we show that by taking advantage of an equivalence relation between the likelihood function of the conditional logit model and the Poisson regression [Guimarães, Figueiredo and Woodward (2002)] one can more effectively control for the potential IIA violation resulting from omitted attribute characteristics. We also provide an empirical illustration, wherein we exemplify how that relation can be helpful to investigate the location determinants of new manufacturing plants in the United States counties.

Confessions of an Internet Monopolist: Demand Estimation for a Versioned Information Good

We investigate profit-maximizing versioning plans for an information goods monopolist. The analysis employs data obtained from a web-based field experiment in which potential buyers were offered information goods in varied price-quality configurations. Maximum simulated likelihood (MSL) methods are used to estimate parameters describing the distribution of utility function parameters across potential buyers of the good. The resulting estimates are used to examine the impact of versioning on seller profits and market efficiency.Versioning, price discrimination, field experiment, maximum simulated likelihood

Real Wages and the Business Cycle: Accounting for Worker and Firm Heterogeneity

Using a longitudinal matched employer-employee data set for Portugal over the 1986-2005 period, this study analyzes the heterogeneity in wages responses to aggregate labor market conditions for newly hired workers and existing workers. Accounting for both worker and firm heterogeneity, the data support the hypothesis that entry wages are much more procyclical than current wages. A one-point increase in the unemployment rate decreases wages of newly hired male workers by around 2.8% and by just 1.4% for workers in continuing jobs. Since we estimate the fixed effects, we were able to show that unobserved heterogeneity plays a non-trivial role in the cyclicality of wages. In particular, worker fixed effects of new hires and separating workers behave countercyclically, whereas firm fixed effects exhibit a procyclical pattern. Finally, the results reveal, for all workers, a wage-productivity elasticity of 1.2, slightly above the one-for-one response predicted by the Mortensen-Pissarides model.wage cyclicality; hires; firm-specific effects; compositional effects; labor productivity