Assessment of the public tools used to promote R&D investment in Spanish SMEs

In this paper, we identify the potential determinants of firm R&D to understand the effectiveness of public policies. Our results suggest a considerably low impact of tax credits and public grants on the R&D investment of the Spanish manufacturing firms. Tax credits are mainly considered by large firms that use them as a reduction in the tax burden in the corporate tax, while SMEs use public grants to alleviate financial constraints. This evidence leads to discuss alternatives to the current design of the public policies analyzed.     

Regional versus global production networks: where does Latin America stand?

This article quantifies the effects of the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) on the trade of intermediate goods and also on the trade of final goods. It is the first article to investigate whether increasing imports of intermediate goods from different regions to Latin America have led to higher exports of final and intermediate goods. The article uses sectoral data for trade in goods between 11 LAIA members over the period 1991–2008. The main results indicate evidence of increasing regional production networks, which have strengthened in the 2000s. Moreover, the findings show evidence of the emergence of global production networks, especially with respect to intermediate imports from China.     

DOES HYSTERESIS OCCUR IN TRADE? SOME EVIDENCE FOR BILATERAL EXPORT FLOWS AT A DISAGGREGATED LEVEL

This article shows that hysteresis effects can be specific to certain commodities and/or to trade with particular countries. We perform two tests to investigate two different implications of the hysteresis hypothesis. The first implication is that the relative price elasticity of demand for exports rises when a market becomes more competitive. The second implication is that relative export prices are insensitive to changes in the exporter's relative exchange rate. We find that hysteresis is not an insignificant phenomenon for some specific goods. Out of 14 products we can accept Baldwin's hysteresis hypothesis for three: manufacture of drugs and medicines, manufacture of office computing and accounting machinery, and manufacture of radio, television, and communication equipment. These are sectors with higher than average sunk costs in terms of advertising expenditure.     

How Costly is Modern Maritime Piracy to the International Community?

This paper focuses on the impact of maritime piracy on international trade. Piracy increases the cost of international maritime transport through an increase in insecurity regarding goods deliveries. Bilateral trade flows between the main European and Asian countries over the 1999 to 2008 period are used to estimate an augmented gravity model that includes various measures of piracy acts. We found robust evidence indicating that maritime piracy reduces the volume of trade; the effect of 10 additional vessels hijacked being associated to an 11% decrease in exports. Consequently, the current cost of piracy in terms of international trade destruction is estimated at 24.5 billion dollars.     

Determinants of Deep Integration: Examining Socio-political Factors

This research has three main aims: firstly, to empirically analyse the determinants of different levels of integration by re-examining the evidence presented by Baier and Bergstrand (Journal of International Economics 64(1):29–63, 2004) in the JIE 64 (1); secondly, to analyse the importance of additional factors, in particular socio-political factors; and thirdly, to analyse the dynamics of the EU integration process. The results show that although economic and geographical factors are the most important explanatory factors for the probability of regional integration agreement formation or enhancement, socio-political variables also contribute to explain the formation of regional integration agreements. Democracies and countries with a higher level of economic freedom are more likely to form or enhance RIAs.     

Family model of contributions to non-profit organizations and labour supply

In this article a model is presented in which the family decides the labour supply of both spouses and their time donations to non-profit organizations. For the estimation, Spanish data was used which showed that family size and pre-school children influence decisions made about time distribution of husband and wife. Women with fewer family responsibilities work longer hours and donate more time, whilst the effect on men is the contrary. Also, monetary donations by the family are directly related to time donations by the spouses.     

Exchange rates and US direct investment into Latin America

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze separately the determinants of maritime transport and road transport costs for Spanish exports to Poland and Turkey (markets for which maritime and road transport are competing modes) and investigate the different effects of these costs on international trade. First, we investigate the extent to which maritime and road transport costs depend on different factors such as unit values, distances, transport conditions, service structures, and service quality. Second, we analyze the relative importance of road and maritime transport costs in comparison with distance measures as determinants of trade flows. The main results of this investigation indicate that real distance is not a good proxy for transportation costs and identify the central variables influencing road and maritime transportation costs: for both modes, transport conditions are strong determinants, whereas efficiency and service quality are more important for maritime transport costs, and geographical distance is more important for road transport. Road and maritime transport costs are central explanatory factors of exports and they seem to deter trade to a greater extent than road or maritime transit time when endogeneity is considered.     

The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions: Evidence from developing countries

This paper analyzes the impact of urbanization on CO₂ emissions in developing countries from 1975 to 2003. It contributes to the existing literature by examining the effect of urbanization, taking into account dynamics and the presence of heterogeneity in the sample of countries. The results show an inverted-U shaped relationship between urbanization and CO₂ emissions. Indeed, the elasticity emission-urbanization is positive for low urbanization levels, which is in accordance with the higher environmental impact observed in less developed regions. Among our contributions is the estimation of a semi-parametric mixture model that allows for unknown distributional shapes and endogenously classifies countries into homogeneous groups. Three groups of countries are identified for which urbanization's impact differs considerably. For two of the groups, a threshold level is identified beyond which the emission-urbanization elasticity is negative and further increases in the urbanization rate do not contribute to higher emissions. However, for the third group only population and affluence, but not urbanization, contribute to explain emissions. The differential impact of urbanization on CO₂ emissions should therefore be taken into account in future discussions of climate change policies.     

External and internal labour flexibility in Spain: a substitute or complementary effect on firm performance?

The contingent perspective in strategic human resource management maintains that it is necessary to observe the interaction between human resource practices by encouraging external and internal labour flexibility. An issue still to be resolved is whether this fit leads to a complementary or substitute effect on firm performance. In order to contribute to this debate, we examine how the relationship between external labour flexibility and firm performance is moderated by the degree of internal labour flexibility. To do this, we use the Survey on Business Strategies of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade on a sample of 1,403 Spanish industrial firms. The results show the existence of a substitute effect between the two types of labour flexibility. Using them simultaneously does not lead to greater benefits for firms.     

Board structures,liberal countries,and developed market economies. Do they matter in environmental reporting? An international outlook

Previous empirical evidence has shown the effect of most corporate governance mechanisms on corporate social responsibility and environmental disclosure. However, there is scant empirical evidence that examines the influence of liberal countries, developed market economies, and board structures on environmental disclosure. Thus, this research aims to explore how liberal and developed countries and board structures affect environmental reporting. We hypothesise a linear and positive association between companies located in countries with liberal and developed market economies and environmental reporting. Moreover, we hypothesise that one‐tier board structures negatively affect environmental disclosure. Focusing on 13,100 companies domiciled in 39 different countries from 2005 to 2015, it is established that those companies located in liberal and developed economies are more likely to disclose environmental information, whereas one‐tier boards have a negative effect.