Liquidity risk and maturity management over the credit cycle

We show that firm demand-side factors are strong drivers of procyclical refinancing behavior over the credit cycle using novel data from the Shared National Credit program. Firms are more likely to refinance early when credit conditions are good to keep the effective maturity of their loans long and hedge against having to refinance in tight credit conditions. High credit quality firms are better able to hedge, making their refinancing propensity more sensitive to credit cycles than less creditworthy firms. There is a strong relationship between refinancing a loan, and subsequent growth in capital expenditure, especially when a loan is refinanced early.     

Tourism and regional development: a spatial econometric model for Portugal at municipal level

Portuguese Economic Journal - This study examines the importance of tourism as a factor for regional economic development in Mainland Portugal, emphasizing the inter-regional spatial spillover...     

The moderating effects of economic development on innovation and shadow entrepreneurship: grey or pink?

There is currently a renewed surge of interest in informal entrepreneurship around the world. One of the motives stems from how such entrepreneurship shapes and influences a substantial part of the global workforce. However, we may also verify how a major proportion of the research in this field focuses on developing economies and thus justifying the application of such analytical approaches to countries with different levels of economic development as is the case with Europe. Our research objectives, on the one hand, involve analysing the impact of R&D investment on informal entrepreneurship and, on the other hand, the moderating effect of the level of economic development on their innovative capacities and informal entrepreneurship results. To this end, and in accordance with Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we divide the countries of Europe into two stages of development and may report that the higher the level of economic development, the greater the innovative capacity and, furthermore, the lower informal entrepreneurship becomes. The same holds for R&D investment with its increase being inversely proportionate to informal entrepreneurship. We, therefore, seek to contribute toward a better understanding of the problematic framework of informal entrepreneurship, in particular in the European context.     

Which projects are selected for an innovation subsidy? The Portuguese case

Portuguese Economic Journal - Several empirical studies have analyzed which firm characteristics influence government evaluators in the decision to select specific firms to participate in Research...     

Does corporate international diversification destroy value? Evidence from cross-border mergers and acquisitions

This paper investigates the valuation effects of corporate international diversification by examining cross-border mergers and acquisitions of US acquirers over the period 1990–2000. We find that, on average, acquisitions of “fairly valued” foreign business units do not lead to value discounts. In contrast, unrelated cross-border acquisitions result in a significant diversification discount of about 24% after accounting for the valuation of foreign targets. Furthermore, significant wealth gains accrue to foreign target shareholders regardless of the type of acquisition. Overall, our results suggest that international diversification does not destroy value while industrial diversification leads to discounts even after controlling for the pre-acquisition value of the target.     

Did households’ time preference change due to the Great Recession?

Household time preference for US households, as measured by the planning horizon, was fairly stable for many years, but sharply changed with the onset of the Great Recession. Based on an analysis of a combination of the 1992–2013 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) datasets, time preference increased in 2010 and remained high in 2013, indicating households were less patient after the onset of the recession. This pattern held up even after controlling for household characteristics.     

Search Engine Optimization: What Drives Organic Traffic to Retail Sites?

The lion's share of retail traffic through search engines originates from organic (natural) rather than sponsored (paid) links. We use a dataset constructed from over 12,000 search terms and 2 million users to identify drivers of the organic clicks that the top 759 retailers received from search engines in August 2012. Our results are potentially important for search engine optimization (SEO). We find that a retailer's investments in factors such as the quality and brand awareness of its site increases organic clicks through both a direct and an indirect effect. The direct effect stems purely from consumer behavior: The higher the quality of an online retailer, the greater the number of consumers who click its link rather than a competitor in the list of organic results. The indirect effect stems from our finding that search engines tend to place higher quality sites in better positions, which results in additional clicks because consumers tend to click links in more favorable positions. We also find that consumers who are older, wealthier, conduct searches from work, use fewer words, or include a brand name product in their search are more likely to click a retailer's organic link following a product search. Finally, the quality of a retailer's site appears to be especially important in attracting organic traffic from individuals with higher incomes. The beneficial direct and indirect effects of an online retailer's brand equity on organic clicks, coupled with the spillover effects on traffic through other online and traditional channels, leads us to conclude that investments in the quality and brand awareness of a site should be included as part of an SEO strategy.     

The importance of atmospherics in the choice of hypermarkets and supermarkets

Are the atmospheric variables equally relevant for supermarket and hypermarket customers? As a contribution to the customers' choice of the store format, firstly this work aims to determine the perception of differences between hypermarkets and supermarkets in terms of store attributes. Second, it sheds light on the role played by atmospherics in the customers' decision process. This study uses a logit approach to model the probabilistic choice of the customers' store format using atmospheric and other marketing variables as important attributes of the grocery store. The model's estimation is based on personal interviews conducted during the shopping process in urban supermarkets and hypermarkets belonging to the same retail chain. The findings show that although the atmospheric variables are significantly important for both store formats, the customers perceive differently the importance of each retail atmospheric cue and other marketing variables, when buying in a hypermarket or in a supermarket: the choice of buying in hypermarket is explained by the significant importance given to the latent variables named pleasant atmosphere and accessibility and responsiveness; in contrast, the choice of buying in supermarkets is explained by the significant importance given to the latent variable nice decoration and empathy with the staff. The other latent variable designated by other marketing variables is only significantly important in the decision of choosing supermarkets.