Public export credit insurance in the Netherlands: An input–output approach

This study assesses the contribution of the Dutch public export credit insurance facility (ECIF) to Dutch GDP and employment. Unlike previous studies concerning export credit insurance, which generally adopt the gravity model of trade, we adopt an input–output approach. The results show that the contribution of economic activity insured by the public ECIF to GDP averages 0.24% annually. This concerns value added generated both by exporters and by their domestic suppliers in the value chain. The contribution to employment shows an average of 0.27%, accumulating to 95,000 jobs (FTE) over 5 years. The estimated contribution of the public ECIF to the Dutch economy should be considered an upper boundary of its true contribution. Therefore, we examine the extent to which the above economic gains would be realised if the facility was unavailable using highly disaggregated trade data. The basic idea is that if certain products are only exported to certain destinations with the aid of the public ECIF, then this indicates a high degree of additionality. The inconclusiveness of our results underlines the difficulties in assessing the degree of additionality.     

Algorithmic Pricing What Implications for Competition Policy?

Review of Industrial Organization - Pricing decisions are increasingly in the “hands” of artificial algorithms. Scholars and competition authorities have voiced concerns that those...     

Disrupting the European Crisis: A Critical Political Economy of Contestation,Subversion and Escape

Central to much of the critical political economy (CPE) literature is a declared focus on emancipation. Yet, rather than highlight sources and instances of activity that might result in emancipatory outcomes, much of the CPE literature focuses on relations of domination and the way in which these are sustained and (re)produced. In contrast, and drawing on autonomist Marxism, we argue that an emancipation-oriented approach needs to focus upon the ways in which processes of domination are contested, disrupted and as a result remain incomplete. In doing so, we present an analysis of the European political and economic crisis that contrasts starkly with prevailing accounts. Whilst many observers have considered the European crisis in terms that signal the death knell of labour's prolonged post-1970s defeat, the paper instead renders visible the ongoing disruptive effects of the European populace's obstinate, subversive and creative capacity to escape those attempts to achieve domination and subjugation which existing accounts tend to identify.     

Women directors contribution to organizational innovation: A behavioral approach

This paper aims to analyze the relationships between women directors (a demographic characteristic) and organizational innovation (a predictor of firm performance) by considering the mediating role of the board’s decision-making culture. To scrutinize board processes and behaviors, we use survey data to test our hypotheses on a sample of 341 Norwegian firms. The results suggest that women directors contribute positively and significantly to organizational innovation. Furthermore, the positive relationship between women directors and the level of organizational innovation is mediated by some decision-making culture dimensions: the degree of cognitive conflict and the degree of preparation and involvement during board meetings. Implications for theory and practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Measuring dynamics and structural change of time-dependent socio-economic networks

This paper addresses the issue of measuring temporal dynamics of complex socio-economic relational systems, represented as time-dependent networks. Network dynamics is first splitted into a structural component, accounting for changes in the network topology, and a non-structural component, accounting for permutation of vertex labels. A quantitative measure of the dynamics and its components is then proposed and it is shown how it can be used to investigate and interpret the time evolution of networks. A real example is discussed, pertaining to the dynamics of a subnetwork of the Italian corporate board network.     

Computing finite-time survival probabilities using multinomial approximations of risk models

We consider the problem of computing finite-time survival probabilities for various risk models. We develop an approximating discrete-time multinomial lattice that mimics the evolution of the corresponding continuous risk process. A simple recursive algorithm to compute survival probabilities is described. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme yields accurate values in all the considered cases.     

The Image of Spain as Tourist Destination Built Through Fictional Cinema

Fictional cinema is one of the cultural agents that shapes the international image of each country. It colonizes spectators' imagery, and it can influence their choice of tourist destinations. Spanish cinema's international diffusion has allowed the exhibition of movies that spread and renew the image of Spain in different ways. In this respect, we propose a three‐fold typology of films focusing our attention on their content and the ways in which they build the image of Spain: Icon Films, Pastiche Films, and Tourist Poster Films. These films may stimulate the increase of a cultural tourism very different from the traditional one that inspired many to come to Spain mainly looking for sunny beaches.     

A Review of Personality Research in the Tourism and Hospitality Context

Most commentators agree that human relations are central to tourism and hospitality. Different personalities thus display different reactions to the same task. This article provides an overview of prior studies on personality in the context of tourism and hospitality. Using EBSCOHost's Hospitality & Tourism Index, the largest online database for tourism and hospitality research, we analyzed published articles on the topic. Broadly speaking, prior studies can be grouped into the seven dimensions of disposal, biological, intrapsychic, cognitive, social, and adjustment in personality research, plus brand personality. Interestingly, our results show although the Internet has become one of the major marketing channels for hospitality and tourism, only a small number of published articles are related to consumers' online behavior. We thus propose that this area be further researched in the future.     

Firm size and volatility analysis in the Spanish stock market

Using Spanish stock market data, this paper examines volatility spillovers between large and small firms and their impact on expected returns. By using a conditional capital asset pricing model (CAPM) with an asymmetric multivariate GARCH-M covariance structure, it is shown that there exist bidirectional volatility spillovers between both types of companies, especially after bad news. After estimating the model, a positive and significant price of risk is obtained. This result is consistent with the volatility feedback effect, one of the most popular explanations of the asymmetric volatility phenomenon, and explains why risk premiums are much more sensitive to negative return shocks coming from the whole market or other related markets.     

Investment cash flow sensitivity and financial constraint: a cluster analysis approach

This article sheds light on the mixed empirical evidence concerning financial constraint and investment sensitivity to cash flow. The literature suggests that measuring financial constraint is far from straightforward, and we therefore propose a cluster analysis procedure to identify unambiguous groups of constrained firms. We found the investment results to be highly sensitive to cash flow for financial constraint firms. Moreover, in line with previous research, our results showed that the traditional criteria used to identify financially constrained firms led to ambiguous interpretations. Overall, our results propose that the cluster analysis can be used to encompass the various single-criterion approaches, thereby providing a finer measurement of the financial constraint construct and deeper insight into the relationship between investment sensitivity to cash flow and financial constraint.