Trade law and trade flows

This paper develops and estimates a model to study the effect of improving the quality of commercial trade law on trade flows. We focus on improvements aimed to privately resolve disputes among trading partners: international commercial arbitration and conciliation. The main novelty of the model is to explicit the balance between the contractual quality of importer and exporter (contractual distance) in an environment with informational frictions (contractual noise). Using a structural gravity estimation with high-dimensional fixed effects, the main contribution of the empirical exercise is to confirm previous results and unravel new traits that align with our theoretical results. Arbitration has a moderate and positive effect on exports that increases (decreases) with the contractual quality of the exporter (importer) and the remoteness of markets. The effects of conciliation are similarly positive, but only for similar trading partners with high levels of income. Results also suggest both domestic trade law reform and international treaties have a positive effect on trade, with a stronger effect of the latter.     

Popular movements and urban alternatives in post-Franco Spain

L'Espagne se trouve à l'encontre de sévères problèmes urbains que le régime authoritaire ne peut résoudre. Au fǔr et à mesure que ce régime se désintère, de nouvelles revendications surgissent; mais en Espagne, contrairement au Portugale, ce sont des mouvements organisés qui réclament une nouvelle politique. Ces mouvements populaires sont fondés sur les quartiers (Barrios); cette communication s'addresse à leurs développement à Barcelone. Les mouvements urbains de cette ville ont évolués à partir d'une contestation d'issus d'envergure locale, à une qui s'addresse aux processus et planification de toute la ville. Un réseau de groupes a créé les moyens pour une renaissance d'une vie collective et démocratique. Le droit à un logement convenable, aux aménagements adéquats, au contrǒle sur l'industrie et la pollution, et à une suspension des rénovations urbaines, s'est fait valoir. Les moyens par lequels ces objectifs sont accomplis sont esquissés. Une critique de la planification implique celle de l'administration municipale. Divers genres de protestations ont eu lieu à différentes périodes dans l'évolution de cette critique. C'est maintenant que les mouvements communautaires, les analystes de l'urbain, et les nouveaux groupes politiques ont besoin de travailler ensemble afin développer un nouveau contexte pour le gouvernement municipal, à l'intérieur d'un programme socio-économique plus large. Dans n'importe quel système futur, les groupes des Barrios continueront de jouer un rǒle essentiel. Un mouvement vers une réforme municipale accompagnera vraisemblablement un changement social plus grand, surtout celui de la lutte pour l'autonomie Catalane.     

Optimal monetary and fiscal policy in a currency union

We lay out a tractable model for the analysis of optimal monetary and fiscal policy in a currency union. The monetary authority sets a common interest rate for the union, whereas fiscal policy is implemented at the country level, through the choice of government spending. In the presence of country-specific shocks and nominal rigidities, the policy mix that is optimal from the viewpoint of the union as a whole requires that inflation be stabilized at the union level by the common central bank, whereas fiscal policy has a country-specific stabilization role, one beyond the efficient provision of public goods.     

Is FDI doing good? A golden rule for FDI ethics

Ethical and economic perspectives on foreign direct investment (FDI) often appear in opposing frameworks. To combat this antagonism, this research proposes a consolidation between foreign private wealth and general welfare in host countries. The first contribution of this study is to provide a comprehensive conceptual approach to the study of FDI ethics. The second key contribution is to present empirical analysis of the differential influence of the level of democratic rights on foreign employment, new projects, and FDI capital flows. Results suggest that FDI incentivizes general welfare in least developed countries with high degrees of volatility. Additionally, policymakers face a dilemma in which democracy and legal rights seem to be mutually incompatible with fostering foreign employment. Practitioners find a way to evaluate the ethical implications of international business activities. The study analyzes FDI data from 161 countries between 2003 and 2010 by means of the FDI gravity equation.     

The Erasmus Corner: place-making of a sanitised nightlife spot in the Bairro Alto (Lisbon,Portugal)

Nightlife economic activity has emerged as a key strategy in the regeneration of historical quarters. The case of the Bairro Alto district (Lisbon) exhibits a more gradual and distinct development caused by the marginal and transgressive practices of nightlife visitors, who have resisted its gentrification for decades. Some areas in the Bairro Alto (specially the upper side) have maintained their dangerous character and marginalisation for several years, even after the 2008 urban reform programme. It is only recently, with the growing presence of Erasmus students in Bairro Alto, that the upper side has finally become safe and sanitised through leisure activities. In this article, the interplay of several social actors (foreign students, municipal authorities, night-time entrepreneurs and Erasmus organisers) explains the process of place-making regarding the new Erasmus Corner. The spatial colonisation of this spot has accelerated social cleansing of the upper side of the neighbourhood, concluding the district’s night-time pacification.     

Green practices in restaurants: Impact on firm performance

Although some researchers have recently studied green practices in restaurants, scant previous research has analyzed the impact of these practices on overall performance in this field. Moreover, these studies have generally focused on mega-sized restaurants in the United States. The primary objective of this study is therefore to examine the motivations for the adoption of green practices in restaurants in Spain and the impact of this adoption on firm performance. The results are based on a survey completed by 374 small restaurant managers. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze links between the studied dimensions. The findings indicate that green practices have a strong positive direct influence on operational performance and competitiveness in Spanish restaurants and that they indirectly influence overall firm performance. Therefore, the results of this paper suggest that being proactive about environmental issues can provide restaurants with a great number of benefits that improve firm competitiveness and performance.     

Consumption Externalities,Habit Formation and Equilibrium Efficiency*

We analyze the welfare properties of the competitive equilibrium in a capital accumulation model where individual preferences are subject to both habit formation and consumption spillovers. Using an additive specification for preferences, according to which the argument in the utility function is a linear combination of present and past values of own consumption and consumption spillovers, we analyze the circumstances under which these spillovers are a source of inefficiency. It is shown that consumption externalities have to interact with habits in order to generate an inefficient dynamic equilibrium. Finally, we characterize optimal tax policies aimed at restoring efficient decentralized paths.     

Factors helping the HR function gain greater acceptance for its proposals and innovations: evidence from Spain†

On the basis of the sense-making and sense-giving literature, this study addresses factors helping the HR function gain greater acceptance by employees for its proposals and innovations. Using an original sample of 298 employees from nine firms in Spain, we find that HR department credibility is only one of the factors that influence employees' acceptance. Other essential elements are top management and supervisor support. We also investigate the consequences that differential levels of support from supervisors and top managers can have for the acceptance of HR innovations, and we find that supervisor support carries more weight than that of top managers. Finally, we explore variations in the importance of the HR function credibility as an acceptance enabler under different organizational innovation climates. The results suggest that HR credibility plays an essential role independently of climate.     

A dynamic analysis of asymmetric shocks in EU manufacturing

Available empirical evidence regarding the degree of symmetry between European economies in the context of Monetary Unification is not conclusive. This study offers new empirical evidence concerning this issue related to the manufacturing sector. Instead of using a static approach as most empirical studies do, the dynamic evolution of shock symmetry is analysed using a state-space model. The results show a clear reduction of asymmetries in terms of demand shocks between 1978 and 1996, with an increase in terms of supply shocks at the end of the period.