Incorporating non-academics in academic spin-off entrepreneurial teams: the vertical diversity that can make the difference

To enhance the development of academic spin-offs, surrogate (external) entrepreneurs are often added to the entrepreneurial team comprising academics. Existing research focused on entrepreneurial team diversity (horizontal member differences) and has mixed results. Vertical member differences (i.e., inequality) between academics and non-academics are not addressed. However, strategic decision making is one of the main responsibilities of an entrepreneurial team. Decision-making power, as reflected in ownership, in particular, is thus of the essence. Based on a sample of 164 Italian academic spin-offs, this article investigates the impacts of both horizontal and vertical heterogeneity of entrepreneurial teams on the firms’ performance. The findings confirm that surrogate entrepreneurs generally make a positive contribution to academic spin-off performance but become counter-productive when their presence overpowers that of academics.     

Gender Differences in Sorting

In this paper, we investigate gender differences in workers’ career development within and outside the firm to explain the existence of gender wage gaps. Using Danish employer–employee matched data, we find that good female workers are more likely to move to better firms than men but are less likely to be promoted. Furthermore, these differences in career advancement widen after the first child is born. Our findings suggest that career impediments in certain firms cause the most productive female workers to seek better jobs in firms in which there is less gender bias.     

Building the Knowledge Stock: Lags,Depreciation, and Uncertainty in R&D Investment and Link with Productivity Growth

The search for an appropriate methodology to investigate the relation between R&D investment, knowledge stock and productivity growth is the main purpose of the paper. In analogy with physical assets, we present a model of knowledge capital formation which allows the calculation of the relevant user cost, as well. The proposed model accumulates R&D investment based on a stochastic gestation lag and a geometric depreciation of the stock. The basic parameters underlying the lag structure differ according to the types of research expenditure. The approach is applied to public R&D investment in Italian agriculture; the results provide interesting information about the economic structure of public research effort in Italian agriculture and plausible estimates of its internal rate of return.     

Does labor diversity promote entrepreneurship?

We find evidence that workforce educational diversity promotes entrepreneurial behavior of employees as well as the formation of new firms, whereas diversity in demographics hinders transitions to self-employment. Ethnic diversity favors entrepreneurship in financial and business services.     

Political corruption and capture of the minority

This article presents a model of political corruption in which a briber can choose either to bribe only the incumbent party or to capture also the opposition party to sterilize its monitoring role. The analysis also explores interparty collusion, media independence, and political contestability. The model suggests that policies aiming to strengthen the role of minorities can produce ambiguous effects as they may induce bribers' avoidance behavior. Reputational sanctions appear to be less effective than criminal ones, although political contestability increases their deterrence effect. Paradoxically, harsh criminal sanctions may induce tacit collusion because minorities highly regard their outcomes once in power.     

Are valuation effects desirable from a global perspective?

Recent studies have emphasized the role of valuation effects due to exchange rate movements in easing the process of adjustment of the external balance of a country. This paper asks to what extent valuation effects are desirable from a global perspective as a mean to achieve an efficient allocation of resources. In a frictionless world, it is desirable to have large movements in prices and exchange rates. But once a small degree of price rigidity is introduced not only should prices be stabilized but also the response of the exchange rate should be muted. There is a minor role for valuation effects that depends both on the size and composition of assets and liabilities.     

The European Monetary Policy Responses During the Pandemic Crisis

This paper uses an event-based analysis to describe how the European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) policy responses to the pandemic crisis have affected the European financial and economic system. The result of our exercise, which is based on the examination of the main measures taken by the ECB during 2020, is that these responses have positively affected the European economic system by improving banks’ lending activity and by indirectly creating room for expansionary fiscal policies in the euro area’s high-debt countries that do not have fiscal capacity.

     

The effect of learning by hiring on productivity

This article focuses on the phenomenon of interfirm labor mobility as a potential channel for knowledge transfer. Using data from the Danish employer‐employee register covering the period 1995–2005, we investigate how knowledge carriers—technicians and highly educated workers recruited from a donor firm—contribute to knowledge diffusion and enhanced productivity in the hiring (recipient) firm. Structural estimation of the hiring firms' production functions shows that the impact of the recruitment of knowledge carriers on a firm's value added is an increase of 1%–2%. Several robustness checks confirm this finding.     

Multi-attribute Auction and Negotiation for e-Procurement of Logistics

The paper addresses the topic of e-procurement of logistics services and examines how the system that companies adopt to support this task affects the process performance. The system is evaluated in terms of substantive outcomes (e.g., logistics providers’ profits) and other performances related to perceptions and behavioral issues. Specifically, the considered system is characterized by the exchange mechanism that rules the transaction (multi-attribute auction vs. negotiation) and the level of problem complexity. The analysis, conducted via a laboratory experiment, shows that both the exchange mechanism and the problem complexity affect performance. Practical implications, which could help companies design effective e-procurement systems, are discussed.