Foreign direct investment productivity premium and foreign affiliates' heterogeneity: A comparison between advanced and emerging market overseas investments in the EU

This paper aims to investigate the existence of productivity heterogeneity among foreign‐owned firms (FOFs) based in the European Union (EU). Using firm‐level data for a sample of FOFs investing in the EU over the period 2006–14, we find that foreign affiliates from advanced countries (AFOFs) show a positive productivity gap compared to foreign affiliates from emerging countries (EFOFs). However, when we consider the type and the motivation of foreign direct investment, our results reveal that, while AFOFs always seem to be more productive than EFOFs in manufacturing sectors, EFOFs appear to enjoy a productivity premium compared to AFOFs in the services, when their activity occurs in the same industry as their parent and they operate in less knowledge‐intensive market sectors.     

Employer‐employee profit‐sharing and the incentives to innovate when the dismissal regulation matters

We develop a simple incomplete‐contract model of the relationship between worker participation to revenue sharing and innovation performance of firms, under firing regimes with different stringency. Stronger worker participation to profits is shown to increase innovation probability when employer‐side hold‐up is prevented by stringent layoff regulation and the human capital matters significantly. Vice‐versa, under a strict layoff regulation, when the financial capital is relatively more important, the effects of worker participation devices may be reduced or inverted. Our results may help in understanding why there is no one‐size‐fits‐all optimal strategy in the design of worker financial participation mechanisms for knowledge‐intensive productions.     

The impact of national culture on integrated reporting quality. A stakeholder theory approach

Integrated reporting (IR) is a new corporate‐reporting system that aims to represent the firm's value creation in the short, medium, and long term. In contrast to other disclosure systems focusing on non‐financial dimensions, including social and environmental aspects, IR is characterized by information connectivity. In recent years, integrated reporting has received increasing interest, both academic and professional. However, report quality is still a critical aspect of IR. Although several studies investigate IR, few focus on quality and its determinants. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the impact of national culture, an external determinant, from a stakeholder theory perspective. The results show that IR quality is related to five dimensions of Hofstede—power distance, individualism, masculinity, and indulgence negatively and uncertainty avoidance positively. This study contributes to the relevant literature by analysing an additional factor that influences the quality of corporate reports, namely, national culture. This is the first study that investigates national culture as a determinant of integrated‐reporting quality.     

Credit and liquidity components of corporate CDS spreads

This paper investigates the role of credit and liquidity factors in explaining corporate CDS price changes during normal and crisis periods. We find that liquidity risk is more important than firm-specific credit risk regardless of market conditions. Moreover, in the period prior to the recent “Great Recession” credit risk plays no role in explaining CDS price changes. The dominance of liquidity effects casts serious doubts on the relevance of CDS price changes as an indicator of default risk dynamics. Our results show how multiple liquidity factors including firm specific and aggregate liquidity proxies as well as an asymmetric information measure are critical determinants of CDS price variations. In particular, the impact of informed traders on the CDS price increases when markets are characterised by higher uncertainty, which supports concerns of insider trading during the crisis.     

The dynamics of US inflation: Can monetary policy explain the changes?

We investigate the relationship between monetary policy and inflation dynamics in the US using a medium scale structural model. The specification is estimated with Bayesian techniques and fits the data reasonably well. Policy shocks account for a part of the decline in inflation volatility; they have been less effective in triggering inflation responses over time and qualitatively account for the rise and fall in the level of inflation. A number of structural parameter variations contribute to these patterns.     

Performance estimation of a wind farm with a dependence structure between electricity price and wind speed

This paper aimed to estimate the income generated by a wind turbine over a given time interval. The income depends on two main variables: the wind speed that determines the produced energy and electricity price. Both wind speed and electricity price evolve randomly in time and are correlated. To consider this dependency, we applied a vector autoregressive process (VAR) that links both variables. An application was performed using real data from a hypothetical wind turbine located in Sardinia (Italy). The income simulated by using the VAR model was closer to the empirical value compared with that obtained by simulating wind speed and electricity prices as independent variables. The results were also discussed in relation to the introduction of the SAPEI submarine cable, which produces a significant change in the income value.     

A multilevel structural equation modelling approach to study segregation of deprivation: an application to Bolivia

Quality & Quantity - The study of segregation of deprivation can provide a tool to determine the economic, social and institutional factors associated with spatial unevenness in the...     

Rating and capital structure: How do the signs affect the speed of adjustment?

Standard and Poor's ratings can be modified by the addition of a plus (+) or minus (?) sign to show the relative standing within each major rating category. In this paper, we analyze the influence of these signs on the speed of leverage adjustment for listed European companies in the 2004–2014 period. Our results indicate that (a) when a qualification is accompanied by a minus sign, it adjusts more slowly than qualifications either with a plus sign or without a sign; (b) when a rating has a plus sign, the adjustment is slower than when it has no sign; and (c) when a qualification is BBB‐, the speed of its leverage adjustment is close to zero. These results suggest that companies with signs in their ratings decrease their speed of adjustment to the target leverage ratio. In addition, such companies are especially concerned about a credit rating downgrade when it implies a possible loss of the degree of investment (BBB‐).     

Till labor cost do us part

A sustainable long-run pattern in the relative competitiveness of Euro area countries is a key factor for the survival of the monetary union. We analyse the issue focussing on unit labour cost dynamics using cointegration analysis for the whole economy and for the manufacturing sector separately. Our findings show that the introduction of the Euro has increased, rather than decreased, the distance among member countries, as measured in the metric of unit labour costs. Dispersion of productivity rather than wage compensation suggests that persisting idiosyncratic dynamics are driven by real factors, i.e. diverging technological patterns rather than by monetary factors, expressed by wage compensation.     

Affiliates and parent employment through foreign direct investment: a study case of substitutability or complementarity

How does outward foreign direct investment (FDI) affect employment of multinationals in the home country? Does the impact of outward investment differ among manufacturing and service sectors? Using data on Italian MNEs, this paper examines the impact of Italian outward FDI on local employment between 1998 and 2006. In particular, we investigate the relationship existing between employment in the parent company and employment in foreign affiliates by distinguishing according to host-country location and sector of activity. The results suggest that the effects of Italian outward FDI on domestic employment differ according to the sector and the country of destination. In the manufacturing sector, a weak but significant relationship of labour substitutability is found for Italian MNEs producing low-technology products in foreign affiliates localized in high-wage countries. On the other hand, a significant North–south complementarity relationship in labour demands appears in the High and Medium-high- technology sectors. In the service sector, we find strong complementarity between employment in the parent firm and employment in foreign affiliates: in particular, this regards Italian MNEs producing knowledge-intensive services both in Western affiliates and CEEC locations. These results are robust when we control for endogeneity of output and parent wages.