1. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-32 // 1996

    Has Earnings Inequality in Germany Changed in the 1980s?

    The development of the West German earnings distributionin the 1980's is analysed on the basis of both the German Socio-EconomicPanel and micro-data from the Employment Register of the FederalLabour Office. We…

  2. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-31 // 1996

    Nonparametric Bounds on Employment and Income Effects of Continuous Vocational Training in East Germany

    This paper explores the potential of an approach suggested by Manski of obtaining nonparametric bounds for treatment effects in evaluation studies without knowledge of the participation process. The practicai…

  3. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-30 // 1996

    Poland on the Dole. Unemployment Benefits, Training and Long-Term Unemployment during Transition

    We analyse the duration of unemployment spells in Poland using data from the Polish Labour Force Survey of August 1994. The effects on the duration of unemployment of important socio-economic and demographic…

  4. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-29 // 1996

    Retail Distribution Channel Barriers to International Trade

    With the referral of the Kodak - Fuji market access dispute to the World Trade Organization, the role of retail distribution channel control by incumbent firms as a barrier to imports has drawn much interest.…

  5. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-27 // 1996

    Prognose von Insolvenzwahrscheinlichkeiten mit Hilfe logistischer neuronaler Netzwerke. Eine Untersuchung von kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen

    In diesem Artikel prognostizieren wir Insolvenzwahrscheinlichkeiten von kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen, die bislang noch keine hinreichende Beachtung gefunden haben, obwohl diese Unternehmen besonders…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-26 // 1996

    International Competition Policy and Economic Development

    During the past half century many nations have adopted policies whose function is to discourage cartels and other restrictive practices. Industrialized nations led the movement toward pro-competition policies,…

  7. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-25 // 1996

    Delta-Neutral Volatility Trading with Intra-Day Prices: An Application to Options on the DAX

    This paper evaluates the profitability of applying four different volatility forecastingmodels to the trading of straddles on the German stock market index DAX. Special carehas been taken to use simultaneous…

  8. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-24 // 1996

    Competition Policy Convergence: Where Next?

    As the 20th Century dawned, there were radical divergences in the policies individual nations pursued toward restraints of competition by cartels and monopolies. Since World War II there has been considerable…

  9. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-23 // 1996

    Umweltpolitik und Innovation. Grundlegende Begriffe und Zusammenhänge

    Im Rückgriff auf die Innovationsforschung wird ein Ansatz für eine gemeinsame Sprache und eine konsistente Systematik für Innovationen im Umweltbereich entwikkelt. Dazu werden einige allgemeine…

  10. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-22 // 1996

    Environmental Policy Instruments and Their Effects on Innovation

    The influence of environmental policy on innovative behaviour of companies has so far recieved little attention in scientific discourse. Based on recent literature, the paper analyses the impact of requirements,…

  11. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-21 // 1996

    Steuer-Klientel-Effekte: Realität oder Illusion ?

    In this article we examine how model selection in neural networks can be guided by statistical procedures such as hypotheses tests,information criteria and cross validation. The application of these methods in…

  12. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 96-20 // 1996

    Option Pricing Using EGARCH Models

    Various empirical studies have shown that the time-varying volatility of asset returns can be described by GARCH (generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity) models. The corresponding GARCH option…