OECD Dataset Research Articles

On European monetary integration and the persistence of real effective exchange rates

This paper deals with the possibility of changing persistence in European real effective exchange rates as initially analyzed by Gadea and Gracia [2009. Finance Research Letters 6, 242–249]. By applying a CUSUM of squares-based test for constant versus changing persistence with desirable statistical properties, an OECD data set is reconsidered. The empirical results suggest that persistence remains constant over time for nearly all time series. Thus, European monetary integration has not affected the persistence of external competitiveness significantly. Moreover, strong evidence for non-stationarity is found. Explanations for the sharp contrast of new results towards the ones by Gadea and Gracia [2009. Finance Research Letters 6, 242–249] are provided.

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.

Temporal disaggregation using multivariate structural time series models

Summary In this paper, we provide a multivariate framework for temporal disaggregation of time series observed at a given frequency into higher frequency time series. The suggested method uses the seemingly unrelated time series equations model and it is estimated by the Kalman filter. The methodology is flexible enough to allow for almost any kind of temporal disaggregation problems of both raw and seasonally adjusted time series. Comparisons with other temporal disaggregation methods proposed in the literature are presented using a wide OECD data set.

Immigration Policy and the Skills of Irish Immigrants: Evidence and Implications

The rise of immigration into Ireland has been accompanied by a debate on the potential objectives of immigration policy. This paper begins with a survey of international and historical evidence on the economics of immigration policy. To place Irish immigration in the international context, a recent OECD data set is used to compare the education of Irish immigrants to their counterparts in other European economies. The data suggest that Ireland's immigrant population is remarkably skilled. Immigrants of EU origin are positively self-selected. From outside the EU, some countries supply mainly skilled immigrants, while others are sources of less-skilled workers. These findings are used as a backdrop to explore three major issues in Irish immigration: the likely impact of EU accession of new member states, the appropriateness of current immigration policy, and the relationship between current immigration and future population flows.

What is So Special about Trade in Services?

This article argues that trade in services has a specific feature that does not apply to trade in goods. As the traded service is partly produced where it is consumed (i.e. in the importing country), we propose that it must use interactively inputs from both the exporting and importing countries. The modelling of the specificity of traded services is inspired from the O-ring production function presented in Kremer (1993). We then test our analytical framework using a new OECD dataset on bilateral trade in services. We find that policy and non-policy factors affecting the use of inputs in the exporting or importing country indeed have a similar impact on the same flow of traded service between those countries. This finding may contribute to explain why bilateral commerce in tradable-services is typically weaker than bilateral trade in goods.

On the Variance/Covariance Structure of the Log Fisher Index, and Implications for Aggregation Techniques

Several aggregation methods, including the EKS, start by calculating bilateral Fisher indices. Prices and quantities are, however, subject to measurement error. This stochastic behavior, which implies both unequal variances, and non‐zero correlations, between different Fisher indices, has to be taken into account if optimal estimates of aggregate PPPs are to be derived from the Fisher indices. This paper provides estimates of the variance/covariance structure of the Fisher indices, under two alternative models for stochastic variation at basic heading level: and it applies these formulae to the 1996 OECD data set, illustrating that the Fisher indices for this data set are indeed highly correlated. The paper also establishes a general theoretical result, proving that the EKS is optimal for a particular variance/covariance structure involving non‐zero correlations, and hence shows that the standard EKS aggregation method is likely to be near optimal for the 1996 OECD data set.

Lessons from the East Asian NICS: A contrarian view

The unusually rapid and prolonged growth of both output and exports in the Newly Industrializing Countries of East Asia has led many economists to believe that productivity growth in these economies, particularly in their manufacturing sectors, has been extraordinarily high. This view has, in turn, led to a growing belief in the ‘dynamic’ (i.e. total factor productivity) gains from an outward orientation. This view fails to take into account the equally unusual rapid growth of both capital and labour input in these economies. Using the Summers & Heston and OECD data sets, this paper uses simple back of the envelope calculations to show that, as regards productivity growth in the aggregate economy and in manufacturing in particular, the East Asian NICs are not, in general, substantial outliers. The principal lessons to be drawn from the NICs are likely to be those concerning the potential gains from factor accumulation and the sectoral reallocation of resources, i.e. ‘static’ neoclassical gains which have fueled the dynamic growth of these economies for more than 20 years.

Utility of relationships between lake phosphorus and chlorophyll a as predictive tools in eutrophication control studies

Abstract The validity of the OECD annual mean in‐lake total phosphorus (TP) to chlorophyll (Chl.a) relationship as a predictive tool in eutrophication studies is questioned. Annual mean ratios of dissolved inorganic nitrogen / dissolved reactive phosphorus which are > 10 seem inadequate to identify “phosphorus‐limited lakes” as this yields a distribution of data points which can be covered by New Zealand lakes and some eutrophic lakes in the OECD data set which appear to be “nitrogen‐limited”. Evidence from New Zealand lakes supports the view that the distribution of supposedly “phosphorus‐limited lakes” of the OECD data set contains a systematic error, the probability of biomass control by phosphorus shortage being greater where the Chl.a / TP ratio is high for any specified annual mean Chi .a concentration. It is claimed that the predictive capability of the OECD data set will be improved if it is accepted that TP concentrations may have to be reduced without concomitant reduction of Chl.a until the Chl...