nep-dcm New Economics Papers
on Discrete Choice Models
Issue of 2014‒03‒08
three papers chosen by
Edoardo Marcucci
Universita' di Roma Tre

  1. Stated and Revealed Heterogeneous Risk Preferences in Educational Choice By Frank M. Fossen; Daniela Glocker
  2. Regional Sorting of Human Capital – the Choice of Location among Young Adults in Sweden By Berck, Peter; Tano, Sofia; Westerlund, Olle
  3. Statistics of Heteroscedastic Extremes By Einmahl, J.H.J.; Haan, L.F.M. de; Zhou, C.

  1. By: Frank M. Fossen; Daniela Glocker
    Abstract: Stated survey measures of risk preferences are increasingly being used in the literature, and they have been compared to revealed risk aversion primarily by means of experiments such as lottery choice tasks. In this paper, we investigate educational choice, which involves the comparison of risky future income paths and therefore depends on risk and time preferences. In contrast to experimental settings, educational choice is one of the most important economic decisions taken by individuals, and we observe actual choices in representative panel data. We estimate a structural microeconometric model to jointly reveal risk and time preferences based on educational choices, allowing for unobserved heterogeneity in the Arrow-Pratt risk aversion parameter. The probabilities of membership in the latent classes of persons with higher or lower risk aversion are modelled as functions of stated risk preferences elicited in the survey using standard questions. Two types are identified: A small group with high risk aversion and a large group with low risk aversion. The results indicate that persons who state that they are generally less willing to take risks in the survey tend to belong to the latent class with higher revealed risk aversion, which indicates consistency of stated and revealed risk preferences. The relevance of the distinction between the two types for educational choice is demonstrated by their distinct reactions to a simulated tax policy scenario.
    Keywords: Educational choice, stated preferences, revealed preferences, risk aversion, time preference
    JEL: I20 D81
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp630&r=dcm
  2. By: Berck, Peter (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Policy); Tano, Sofia (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics); Westerlund, Olle (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics)
    Abstract: Migration rates are highest among young adults, especially students, and their location choices affect the regional distribution of human capital, growth and local public sector budgets. Using Swedish register data on young adults, the choice of whether to enroll in education and the choice of location are estimated jointly. The results indicate a systematic selection into investment in further education based on school grades and associated preferences for locations with higher per capita tax bases. For students, the estimates indicate lower preferences for locations with higher shares of older people. The importance of family networks for the choice of location is confirmed.
    Keywords: Agglomeration; human capital; local public sector; location choice
    JEL: J24 J61 R23
    Date: 2014–02–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0878&r=dcm
  3. By: Einmahl, J.H.J.; Haan, L.F.M. de; Zhou, C. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research)
    Abstract: Abstract: We extend classical extreme value theory to non-identically distributed observations. When the distribution tails are proportional much of extreme value statistics remains valid. The proportionality function for the tails can be estimated nonparametrically along with the (common) extreme value index. Joint asymptotic normality of both estimators is shown; they are asymptotically independent. We develop tests for the proportionality function and for the validity of the model. We show through simulations the good performance of tests for tail homoscedasticity. The results are applied to stock market returns. A main tool is the weak convergence of a weighted sequential tail empirical process.
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2014015&r=dcm

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