On Hypothesis about the Second Eigenvalue of the Leontief Matrix

If an arbitrarily positive eigenvector is repeatedly premultiplied by a positive matrix, then the result tends towards a unique, positive (Frobenius) eigenvector. Brady has demonstrated that the expected absolute magnitude of the estimate of the second largest eigenvalue of a positive random matrix (with identically and independently distributed entries) declines monotonically with the increasing size of the matrix. Hence, the larger the system is, the faster is the convergence. Molnár and Simonovits examined Brady's conjecture in the case where entries of a stochastic matrix are close to 1/n. We prove this hypothesis for any stochastic and positive matrix.     

The role of venture capitalist to enhance the growth of Spanish and Italian university spin-offs

The establishment of spin-offs to commercialise university knowledge/technology is a potential mechanism to promote economic and innovative development. Nevertheless, University Spin-Offs (USOs) are usually resource-constrained, especially in obtaining funding, limiting their growth. Venture Capital (VC) investors play an important role in the financing and the improvement of their managerial skills, which are critical for firm growth. This paper aims to explore both the effect of VC partners on the USOs’ growth and the cross-national differences in the role played by them. To study both issues, we empirically analysed 516 Spanish and 904 Italian USOs created by 50 Spanish and 57 Italian universities, respectively, and observed them between 2005 and 2013. The results showed different effects in the Spanish and Italian cases. While in Spain the presence of VC partners positively affects the USOs’ growth, in Italy there is not a significant effect. This evidence calls for systematic policies by public administrations and universities to foster USO growth.     

The Return Performance of Cubic Market Model: An Application to Emerging Markets

This article studies the performance of the high-order moment capital asset pricing model (CAPM) market models in emerging markets. We apply the cubic market model (4-moment CAPM) to 16 emerging market stock indices ranging from January 2010 to September 2015. Performance of the model is evaluated through the Fama and MacBeth’s two-step regression and through different corrections proposed in the literature, as well as generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation. According to Fama–MacBeth’s procedure, CAPM, the quadratic and cubic market models seem to be insignificant for the analyzed sample; however, the GMM estimation shows that quadratic model is valid for Indian, Polish, and Thai country indices, whereas cubic market model is accurate for Indian country index.     

How Do Investment,Fundamentals, and Stock Prices Relate Around the World?

We assemble a novel data set of industry panel data for the corporate sector and the entire economy across a number of countries to explore the connection between investment and stock prices. The link is present in all samples, in both the aggregate and industry dimensions, and increases with stock market development. Fundamentals are less related to prices in underdeveloped markets but are similarly related to investment everywhere. Thus, the active informant interpretation does not seem to be the main force behind the stock market–investment relationship. In addition, industries that are more dependent on equity finance, and where investors are strongest, exhibit higher sensitivity to prices, especially in developed markets.     

EXPERIMENTAL AND SELF‐REPORTED MEASURES OF RISK TAKING AND DIGIT RATIO (2D:4D): EVIDENCE FROM A LARGE,SYSTEMATIC STUDY

We systematically investigate the links between the digit ratio (2D:4D)—a biomarker for prenatal testosterone exposure—and two measures of individual risk taking: (i) risk preferences (RP) over lotteries with real monetary incentives and (ii) self‐reported risk attitude (RA). We find that both the right‐hand and the left‐hand digit ratio are significantly associated with RP: Subjects with lower digit ratios tend to choose riskier lotteries. Neither digit ratio, however, is associated with self‐reported RA.     

Dominance solvable approval voting games

This work provides necessary and sufficient conditions for the dominance solvability of approval voting games. Our conditions are very simple since they depend just on the number of possible winners when voters play weakly undominated strategies. If there are at most two possible winners, then the game is dominance‐solvable and the outcome coincides with the Condorcet winner. If every candidate is a possible winner, the game is not dominance‐solvable. If none of the previous conditions holds, then the game need not be dominance‐solvable, and the outcome need not coincide with the Condorcet winner.     

Retail Store Loyalty Management via an Analysis of Heterogeneity of the Service Elements

This paper follows a line of research opened up by a series of authors who use a marketing approach for the study of retail service productivity. Without departing from the line of reasoning established by these authors, the main purpose of this paper is to detect possible differences in marketing productivity within and between different types of retailing services, using a research model that includes both the firm's effort and that of the customer. The two services selected for this purpose are grocery outlets and petrol stations.     

The Formation of a Tourist Destination's Image via Information Sources: the Moderating Effect of Culture

The present study aims to outline the growing importance of culture in the field of tourism. More specifically, it highlights culture as a moderating variable in pre‐visit tourist destination image formation, through the information sources utilized by the tourist in the selection of a holiday destination (that is, travel agencies alone vs. travel agencies together with the Internet). For this purpose primary research used a multicultural sample of 371 tourists from different European countries. The results show that the formation of a destination's pre‐visit image amongst tourists, based on the information sources they use, is moderated by the level of uncertainty‐avoidance of their national cultures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of a destination branding strategy for rural tourism on the perceived value of the conservation of the indigenous resources of the rural tourism destination: the case of Spain

The identification of mechanisms that encourage the tourism sector to contribute to sustainable conservation is of great interest. The present work proposes the use of destination branding based on contribution to the conservation of the indigenous resources of the rural tourist destination, and studies the effect this has on perceived value for the tourist visiting the destination. A scale of destination brand identity is validated, along with a scale for destination brand positioning and another for perceived value, as viewed by the tourist, of contribution to sustainable conservation. The perceived value scale offers an overall perspective which includes: functional-affective factors; benefits–sacrifices; the pre-visit stage; and the stay in the rural tourism location. These findings make a new contribution to both literature and to the professional sector.