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|Working
Papers|
Please email me to request up-to-date versions
of these papers
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“The
emergence of biofuels and the co-movement of crude oil and food prices”
(with Francisco Peñaranda)
Bio-fuels are becoming an alternative to non-renewable energy
sources but we know little about the economic mechanisms influencing
their future. This paper studies the interrelationships between spot
prices of oil and commodities used as feed-stocks to produce bio-fuels.
Using daily data since 1988, we identify a strong co-movement after
2005 that does not appear for other food commodities and that is not
due to macro variables. The results amount to the first systematic
piece of evidence linking oil and agricultural markets via the
emergence of bio-fuels, and suggest that bio-fuels might also have very
negative global poverty effects.
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“TV
or not TV? Subtitling and English skills” (with Arturo Bris and Albert
Banal Estañol)
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We study the influence of television translation techniques on
the quality of the English spoken across the OCDE. We identify a large
positive effect for subtitled original version as opposed to dubbed
television, which loosely corresponds to two years of formal English
education at school. We also show that the importance of subtitled
television is robust to a wide array of specifications. We then find
that better English skills have an influence on high-tech exports,
international student mobility and financial transactions.
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“Separated
by a common currency? The role of national affinty on the European
market integration” (with Arturo Bris), under review
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We study the influence of national affinities on the euro price
convergence during the 2001--2007 period. After controlling for common
borders and local cost determinants, we find that the introduction of
the common currency has only resulted in convergence inasmuch as
countries share certain cultural traits, including language
similarities, trust, and national affinity. The results appear both
when one uses standard border breadth techniques and our own border
width measurement.
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“Are
agent-based simulations robust? The wholesale electricity case” (with
Albert Banal Estañol)
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This paper explores issues of model
validity and consistency in electricity agent-based simulations. We study
several supply and demand representations, and propose Experience
Weighted Attractions as a generalisation of most behavioural algorithms
currently in use. Cournot Best-Response and, to a lesser extent,
Reinforcement Learning match the game theoretical predictions better
than Fictitious Play. Learning and bidding coordination are more
difficult with multi-step bids. In contrast, similar results appear
under flat and upward slopping supply bidding, as well as under several
plausible demand elasticity assumptions. The simulations call into
question a large part of the extant agent-based literature on
electricity markets and identify the modelling assumptions that best
correspond to theory.
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|Other Work
in Progress|
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(Working papers coming very soon)
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“A simulation model of
short-selling regulation and bid-ask spreads”, with Arturo Bris
“Generation technologies, load volatility and competition in
spot electricity markets”, with Albert Banal Estañol.
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