Optimal switch from a fossil-fueled to an electric vehicle

Decisions in Economics and Finance - In this paper we propose and solve a real options model for the optimal adoption of an electric vehicle. A policymaker promotes the abeyance of fossil-fueled...     

The impact of regulatory reforms on cost structure,ownership and competition in Indian banking

This paper evaluates the impact of financial sector reforms on the cost structure characteristics and on the ownership–cost efficiency relationship in Indian banking. It also examines the impact of reforms on the dynamics of competition in the lending market. We find evidence that deregulation improves banks performance and fosters competition in the lending market. Results suggest technological progress, once Indian commercial banks have adjusted to the new regulatory environment. This, however, does not translate in efficiency gains. There is also evidence of an ownership effect on the level and pattern of efficiency change. Finally, competition keeps building pace even in the re-regulation period and technological improvements are not hampered by the tightening of prudential norms.     

CSR Practices and Corporate Strategy: Evidence from a Longitudinal Case Study

This paper aims to contribute to the present debate about business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that the Journal of Business Ethics is hosting. Numerous contributions argued theoretical frameworks and taxonomies of CSR practices. The authors want to ground in this knowledge and provide further evidence about how companies adopt CSR practices to address stakeholders’ claims and consolidate their trust. Evidence was provided by a longitudinal case study about an Italian food company that is one of the largest producers of baby food. This company reshaped its corporate strategy along three decades through the adoption of CSR practices in order to win stakeholders’ trust about food safety and supply chain behaviour. The empirical exercise was informed by a literature review of the relevant contributions in terms of CSR business practices and levels of efforts to adopt them. In light of this review, the authors adopted for the research framework the taxonomy of business practices proposed by Spiller (2000, “Ethical Business and Investment: A Model for Business and Society”, Journal of Business Ethics 27, 149-160) and the levels of commitment towards CSR proposed by Stahl and Grigsby (1997, Strategic Management; Total Quality & Global Competition (Blackwell, Oxford)). The main findings are discussed in order to argue theoretical implications and identify further areas of research and debate.     

Mega-events and their legacy: Image and tourism in Genoa,Turin and Milan

Hosting, or organising, a mega-event is a form of destination branding; it is a way to generate the leveraging process of the event itself and promote the image of a location. Besides, these events allow a destination to attract the attention of the public and the media, enhancing its awareness nationally and internationally. Mega-events promote greater flows of tourists and visitors, especially in the short term. Nevertheless they produce long-lasting effects, such as the attraction and stimulation of investments, urban regeneration, advanced facilities and equipment, in addition to the improvement of accommodation, services and infrastructures. Thanks to those investments and to the growth in tourist arrivals, the mega-events could have a positive impact on the local economy, also over years, but some of their most important outcomes deal with the so-called intangible legacy, or rather social, cultural and political effects, more difficult to identify and measure. They can modify local identity and image, supporting the repositioning of the hosting place at an international level. The above considerations are discussed in this study; most attention is paid to three Italian cities, involved in top events: Genoa, appointed as European Capital of Culture in 2004; Turin, that hosted the XX Olympic Winter Games in 2006; Milan, that is now organising the Universal Expo 2015.     

Order book modeling and financial stability

Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination - This paper presents an agent-based model of the financial order book, and investigates whether the volatility of market prices can be reduced by...     

Global financial cycle and Brazil’s financial integration

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have discussed the influence of the global financial cycle on capital flows to emerging and developing countries. This paper evaluates the relationship between the greater degree of financial integration, and macroeconomic performance over the last two decades in Brazil. The literature has highlighted the Brazilian experience as being paradigmatic among emerging countries regarding the relationship between financial integration and regulation of capital flows to deal with boom and bust cycles. Methodologically, we employ a vector autoregressive model with error correction that allows us to evaluate the cointegration between the variables. Our main hypothesis is that a greater degree of financial integration is associated with negative developments in variables such as gross domestic product, country risk, interest rates, and exchange rate volatility. In addition, this study presents a further contribution by observing the existence of the interaction between the consequences of financial integration and the global financial cycle. More specifically, we found that: (i) an increase in the degree of financial integration generates deeper effects in downward periods of the global financial cycle; and (ii) a decline in that cycle generates greater impacts when a higher degree of financial integration is present.     

Ownership ties,conflict of interest,and the tone of news

This paper investigates the tone newspapers use in reporting information on a company that it is linked with through an ownership tie. Our empirical setting is Italy, a country characterized by dominant national industrial groups’ high ownership of newspapers. Based on a sample of about 123,000 articles, we document that newspapers’ coverage of firms in conflict of interest is greater, with significantly fewer negative and uncertain words. We also document that the slant increases with ownership stakes and decreases with the newspaper's reputation.     

Uncertainty across volatility regimes

We propose a nonrecursive identification scheme for uncertainty shocks that exploits breaks in the volatility of macroeconomic variables and is novel in the literature on uncertainty. This approach allows us to simultaneously address two major questions in the empirical literature: Is uncertainty a cause or effect of decline in economic activity? Does the relationship between uncertainty and economic activity change across macroeconomic regimes? Results based on a small‐scale vector autoregression with US monthly data suggest that (i) uncertainty is an exogenous source of decline of economic activity, and (ii) the effects of uncertainty shocks amplify in periods of economic and financial turmoil.     

A bootstrap analysis to investigate the economic efficiency of the logistics industry in Italy*

As argued by literature and consultancy reports, logistics enhances both productivity and competitiveness of several manufacturing supply chains. The analysis of the efficiency trends of logistics providers may shed light on some relevant aspects that can impact on the competitiveness of national industrial systems. Thus, the paper focuses on the Italian logistics supply, shedding lights on the distribution of the efficiency level within the logistics sector and its causes. The analysis is based on a two-stage methodology aimed at estimating the Italian logistics firms’ efficiency and defining some characteristics impacting the efficiency level. At first, we implement a Data Envelopment Analysis model based on balance sheet data, for the period 2006–2012, then an econometric regression is performed in order to identify the effects of main companies’ characteristics on firms’ efficiency. According to our results, size and geographical location are two of the most impacting variables explaining the efficiency score of the Italian logistics providers.