Bank distress and firms’ investment during the Great Recession - evidence from Ireland

This article investigates the impact of bank distress on firms’ performance using unique data during the Great Recession for Ireland. The results show that bank distress, measured as banks’ credit default swap spreads (CDS), has negatively and statistically significantly affected firms’ investment expenditures. Interestingly, firms with access to alternative sources of external finance are not impacted by bank distress. The results are robust to accounting for external finance dependence, demand and trade sensitivities, which affect firm performance and the demand for credit.     

Vivarelli,M. and Pianta,M. (2000), The Employment Impact of Inovation: Evidence and Policy, 240 pp. Routledge,London

Small Business Economics -     

Risk,variety and volatility: growth,innovation and stock prices in early industry evolution

The paper studies the patterns of volatility in firm growth rates and stock prices during the early phase of the life-cycle of an old economy industry, the US automobile industry from 1900-1930, and a new economy industry, the US PC industry from 1974-2000. In both industries, firm growth rates are more volatile in the period in which innovation is the most radical. This is also the period in which stock prices are more volatile. The comparison sheds light on the co-evolution of industrial and financial volatility and the relationship between this co-evolution and mechanisms of Schumpetarian creative destruction. Results provide insight into the debate on whether the statistical behavior of firm growth rates is well represented by Gibrats Law.JEL Classification: L11, 030, G12I thank Massimiliano Tancioni for his excellent research assistance. Support from the following grants is much appreciated: European Commission Key Action Improving the socio-economic knowledge basecontract HPSE-CT-2002-00146, and the Open University RDF Grant contract no. 793.     

Rethinking value in health innovation: from mystifications towards prescriptions

Debates over value in health innovation in the U.S. and Europe have become increasingly dominated by “value-based pricing”. We examine this prevailing narrative and its weaknesses and then present an alternative framework for rethinking value in health. Drawing on scholarship from the political economy of innovation, we argue that value in health must be considered in terms of both value creation as a collective process amongst public and private actors, as well as value extraction that occurs due to financialization. In building this alternative framework, we pose three questions that present areas for further research and public policy change.     

The state of Portuguese research in economics: 20 years after

Portuguese Economic Journal - In this paper we look at the state of Portuguese research in economics, with an emphasis on the 2000–2019 period. For this purpose we use three distinct data...