An explanation of the changes in the proportion of temporary workers in Spain

In this paper a theoretical model is developed to identify the main determinants of the proportion of temporary workers at firms. The outcomes show that the proportion of temporary workers has a counter-cyclical behaviour: it grows during the slump period up to 1995 and falls during the subsequent recovery. However, given the effect of the general economic cycle, firms that raise their sales or improve their market dynamism index tend to increase their proportion of temporary workers. This proportion also rises when the average labour cost decreases, firm size increases, and the knowledge capital stock diminishes.     

Return to tourist destination. Is it reputation,after all?

In this paper the hypothesis that repeated purchases in the tourism markets could be considered as a consequence of asymmetrical information problems is studied. This hypothesis is analysed with the case study of the island of Tenerife using the estimation of a count data model. It was found that the length of the stay and the information obtained from previous visits and/or relatives and friends might increase the return to a destination suggesting the presence of a reputation mechanism as proposed by Shapiro (1983 Shapiro, C. 1983. Premiums for high quality products as returns to reputations. Quaterly Journal of Economics, 98: 659–79. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The determinants of the willingness to return were also estimated, confirming the main results.     

Linear SAM models for inequality changes analysis: an application to the Extremadurian economy

Social accounting matrices are adequate databases for the economic modelling. These matrices emphasize the role of households in the economy, and so, they usually disaggregate the household sector into several groups. This disaggregation allows social accounting matrices to be used for diverse income distribution analysis. The objective of this work is to use the linear SAM models to study how inequality is modified by several exogenous injections of income. The set of multipliers and indicators presented is applied to the economy of Extremadura – a region situated in the southwest of Spain. In particular, together with the accounting multipliers, two redistributed income matrices are presented to show how changes in final demand and in income transfers cause opposite effects in inequality. For contrasting these results, Gini and Theil indices are also used. Finally, a major reduction in both would result from an appropriate re-allocation of transfers.     

Firms’ leverage and labour productivity: a quantile approach in Portuguese firms

We show that the leverage of Portuguese firms tends to negatively affect its labour productivity for firms with relatively lower labour productivity but to positively affect this variable for firms in the right-hand side of the productivity distribution. This is particularly important in a country where labour productivity is persistently lower compared with the richer countries in Europe. Thus, we have concluded that, controlling for the usual effects, increasing leverage cannot be a solution for the less productive (and consequently the majority) of Portuguese firms.     

Capital structure and institutional setting: a decompositional and international analysis

The legal and institutional setting is more and more influential in firms’ financial decisions. Our article analyses firms’ capital structure in an international framework in order to assess the different level of debt use across countries and to identify both common and differential explanatory factors. Although the level of financial leverage is quite different, the factors that have traditionally driven capital structure decisions have much in common in all the legal and institutional settings. The performance and size of the firm, the assets tangibility and the growth opportunities have a relevant but differential effect across the different institutional systems. Consequently, our results suggest that the legal and institutional system of each country does not only affect firms’ capital structure but also creates the conditions to explain a differential effect of the common determinants of firms’ financial choices.     

Appropriating the value from innovation: inimitability and the effectiveness of isolating mechanisms

Preventing the imitation of products and their underlying characteristics is a key source of competitive advantage. Isolating mechanisms, such as patents, brand name and speed to market, render an organisation's inventions imperfectly imitable by competitors, helping sustain the above‐normal returns achieved from a new product innovation. A theoretical framework is developed whereby the characteristics of isolating mechanisms, namely causal ambiguity, asset stock effects and enforceability of property rights, are shown to be important determinants of appropriation effectiveness. A multiple method research design, consisting of a survey of 238 large Australian organisations, and a further six case study organisations, is adopted. The results indicate that isolating mechanisms in the form of technological capabilities, market‐based assets and knowledge protection positively moderate an organisation's returns from their innovation activities, while being first‐to‐market is found to negatively moderate the business returns achieved. Implications for managers in increasing the effectiveness of their appropriation regime, and future directions for research are proposed.     

Does Rigidity of Prices Hide Collusion?

Cartel detection is one of the most basic and most complicated tasks of competition authorities. In recent years, however, variance filters have provided a fairly simple tool for rejecting the existence of price-fixing, with the added advantage that the methodology requires only a low volume of data. In this paper we analyze two aspects of variance filters: (i) the relationship that can be established between market structure and price rigidity, and (ii) the use of different benchmarks for implementing the filters. This paper addresses these two issues by applying a variance filter to a gasoline retail market that is characterized by a set of unique features. Our results confirm the positive relationship between monopoly and price rigidity, and confirm the variance filter??s ability to detect non-competitive behavior when an appropriate benchmark is used. Our findings should serve to promote the implementation of this methodology among competition authorities, albeit in the awareness that a more exhaustive complementary analysis is required.     

A Treatment Effect Method for Merger Analysis with an Application to Parking Prices in Paris

We propose a method of building control groups for retrospective merger evaluation. The procedure involves two parameters: a distance or radius, and an ‘order of exposure’ reflecting the notion that a merger can affect an outlet in a more or less direct way. We implement the method of estimating the price effect of a merger in the Paris parking market and illustrate the consequences of including indirectly exposed outlets in the control group. The methodology applies to any industry with spatial competition and allows one to check the sensitivity of the results to the choice of the control group.     

Strategic Distortion of the Objectives of Trade Policy

Abstract

By employing a simple three-country model in which there are two exporting countries and one consuming country, this paper analyses the consequences of one-country strategic distortion of the objectives of trade policy. It finds that although an exporting country can benefit from strategic distortion, it would be preferred that the importing country distorts its policy. Furthermore, it is found that preferential trading agreements can emerge endogenously.     

Interest Rate Defenses of Currency Pegs

ABSTRACT

Reducing rigidity in labor markets is key to lowering unemployment. Theoretical models suggest that the impact of such reforms depends on the country-specific regulatory framework. We test this hypothesis by estimating the impact of changes in six categories of regulation conditional on the country-specific regulatory environment for 26 OECD countries. We overcome problems of modeling a large set of institutional interdependencies by applying a machine learning type model selection approach. We provide evidence for the existence of higher-order institutional interdependencies. We further document that especially for changes in employment protection and the unemployment benefit system the impact on unemployment is mixed across countries.