R&D capabilities,intellectual property strength and choice of equity ownership in cross-border acquisitions: evidence from BRICS acquirers in Europe

The aim of the study is to investigate two relatively underexplored factors, namely, the R&D (research and development) capabilities of target firms and the strength of intellectual property (IP) institutions in target economies, that influences the choice of equity ownership in cross border acquisitions (CBAs) undertaken by multinational enterprises (MNEs) from BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) economies. They developed the key hypothesis on foreign market entry through CBAs by incorporating insights from transaction costs economics, the resource-based view and institutional theory to investigate the determinants of full versus partial equity ownership. Using logistic regression estimation methods to a sample of 111 CBA deals of BRICS MNEs in 22 European countries, it was found that BRICS MNEs were likely to pursue full rather than partial acquisition mode when target firms have high R&D capabilities. However, the greater the degree of strength of IP institutions in target economies and higher the target firms’ R&D capabilities, the more likely it is for BRICS MNEs to undertake partial, rather than, full acquisition mode. They provided interesting theoretical insights and managerial implications that might underlie some of the key findings on CBAs by emerging market MNEs.     

Markov-Switching Model of Family Income Quintile Shares

Atlantic Economic Journal - This paper examines the impact of unemployment and inflation on family income shares. Unemployment and inflation are decomposed into their structural (long-term),...     

Commonality in equity options liquidity: evidence from European Markets

This paper examines commonality in liquidity for individual equity options trading in European markets. We use high-frequency data to construct a novel index of liquidity commonality. The approach is able to explain a substantial proportion of the liquidity variation across individual options. The explanatory power of the common liquidity factor is more pronounced during periods of higher market-wide implied volatility. The common factor's impact on individual options' liquidity depends on options' idiosyncratic characteristics. There is some evidence of systematic liquidity spillover effects across these European exchanges.     

The impact of the institution of patent protection and enforcement on entry mode strategy: A panel data investigation of U.S. firms

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement has engendered a harmonisation of patent laws across countries but the extent of enforcement of these laws continues to vary. This study investigates the degree to which de jure book law protection of patents and de facto enforcement of these laws influences the propensity of firms to exploit their patented technology in foreign markets with company-owned operations or unrelated concerns using licensing agreements. Analyzing data on royalty and fee receipts of U.S. parent companies from affiliates and non-affiliated parties abroad from 1998 to 2007, and using separate measures for de jure and de facto patent protection and enforcement, we find that strengthening de jure protection induces greater affiliate licensing while strengthening de facto enforcement induces non-affiliate licensing. We conclude by observing that greater account should be taken of de facto enforcement measures when investigating the role of institutions on the international activities of firms.     

Dynamic Spillovers in the United States: Stock Market,Housing, Uncertainty,and the Macroeconomy

In this study, we examine dynamic spillovers among the housing market, stock market, and economic policy uncertainty (EPU) in the United States in a unified empirical framework. Applying the Diebold and Yilmaz (2012) methodology on monthly data over the period 1987M1–2014M11, our findings reveal the following features. First, the transmission of various types of shocks contributes significantly to economic fluctuations in the United States. Second, spillovers show large variations over time. Third, in the wake of the global financial crisis, spillovers have been exceptionally high in historical perspective. In particular, we find large spillovers from EPU, as well as stock market and housing returns to other variables, in particular inflation, industrial production and the federal funds rate. These results illustrate the contagion from the housing and financial crisis to the real economy and the strong policy reaction to stabilize the economy.     

Asymmetric behavior of inflation differentials in the euro area: Evidence from a threshold unit root test

This paper tests the existence of persistent inflation rate differentials in the euro area by employing linear as well nonlinear unit root tests. Besides linear unit root tests, a two-regime threshold unit root test examines the conjecture that inflation rate differentials follow a nonlinear two-regime process towards a threshold, switching from the persistent regime to the transitory one and vice versa. The results imply that threshold nonlinearity is confirmed in 10 out of the 16 cases. However, we have found unit root regime-switching behavior only in six out of the 16 cases under investigation. This finding implies that these inflation rate differentials were persistent when they were low (regime 1), but transitory when they were high (regime 2). This asymmetric behavior can possibly be explained by the different degree of pressure exercised on governments, which is accompanied with different inflation rate differentials. On the contrary, despite the evidence of nonlinearity, the majority of the inflation rate differentials are found to be monotonically persistent. Our results have strong implications for policy makers. In particular, the documented persistency in the inflation rate differentials might have long-run costs in terms of price and macroeconomic stability.