Macroeconomic conditions and well-being: do social interactions matter?

We investigate the role played by social interactions in the transmission of the effects of macroeconomic conditions on well-being. Using survey data for a representative sample of Italian individuals, we find that social interactions play a dual role. On the one hand, the well-being of people who spend more time with their friends or go out more often is less sensitive to macroeconomic fluctuations. On the other hand, social interactions are negatively affected by worsening macroeconomic conditions, thus playing a relevant role in the transmission of macroeconomic shocks to subjective well-being. More specifically, the negative impact of downturns on the frequency of going out and active participation in associations significantly contributes to the adverse effects of recessions on satisfaction with life and with individual life domains.     

Estimates regarding demographic developments in Romania by quantitative and qualitative assessments

The enlargement of the European Union and the liberalization of the labour market will substantially influence the demographic indicators in New Member States. The paper aims to identify and synthetically present some factors of influence which triggered by the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century a series of characteristics defining the changes of the demographic model and structure of population on age brackets. Romania＇s population lost in the period 1992-2007 about 1250 thousands persons, which represents more than the population increase effort by restrictive policies （abortion prohibition） during the period 1977-1992. Also, this paper presents the most important factors that determine the demographic decline beginning in the last decade of the 20th century, both at national and regional levels. For Romania, another phenomenon is represented by the demographic dregs due to the emigration of the feminine population of fertile age. The increase of the share of female population in the emigration flows became more noticeable in the period 2002-2007. Supposing that from those women who migrate, less than 2/3 are going to give birth to children abroad, （1.3 represents the fertility rate at present）, we can estimate, for example, that during the period 2000-2007 Romania has lost more than 69,099 persons. The paper presents some theoretic considerations on the Markov-type model, and the results obtained by using it for studying the development of demographic indicators in Romania, and their forecasting as well.     

Subsidiary’s Network Competence: Finnish Multinational Companies in Russia

We provide clear insights into the key foreign direct investment obstacles for the manufacturing sector in FYR of Macedonia, an EU candidate country. The survey results, based on data for 79 manufacturing companies, revealed that the investors in this particular sector perceive the bureaucratic and administrative constraints, corruption and bribery, and the lack of law enforcement as three major investment obstacles. Furthermore, we found that the perception of the investment obstacles largely differ depending on the industry the companies operate in, the country of origin, and the export orientation. Therefore, we recommend a tailor-made approach in pursuing the national investment promotion policies and strategies.     

Differences in measures of the fiscal multiplier and the reduced-form vector autoregression

The literature has recently asked whether the effects of fiscal policy vary with the state of the economy (Christiano, Eichenbaum, and Rebelo 2011; Rendahl 2014; Auerbach and Gorodnichenko 2012). We study this question in the context of vector autoregression (VAR) estimation. We show formally that, if (asymptotically) the parameters of the reduced-form VAR differ, then the dynamic effects of fiscal policy differ as well, generically and for any set of identification assumptions. Thus, in theory, the econometrician can detect these differences (either across time or space) generically just by relying on reduced-form VAR estimation.     

Corporate governance and regulation: Can there be too much of a good thing?

We investigate how company-level corporate governance practices and country-level legal investor protection jointly affect company performance. We find that in any legal regime there are a few specific governance practices that improve performance. Companies with good governance practices operating in stringent legal environments, however, show a valuation discount relative to similar companies operating in flexible legal environments. At the same time, a stronger country-level regime does not reduce the valuation discount of companies with weak governance practices. Our analysis suggests a threshold level of country development above which stringent regulation hurts the performance of well governed companies or has a neutral effect for poorly governed companies.     

The effect of data transformation on common cycle,cointegration, and unit root tests: Monte Carlo results and a simple test

Cointegration, common cycle, and related tests statistics are often constructed using logged data, even without clear reason why logs should be used rather than levels. Unfortunately, it is also the case that standard data transformation tests, such as those based on Box–Cox transformations, cannot be shown to be consistent unless assumptions concerning whether variables I(0)$I(0)$ or I(1)$I(1)$ are made. In this paper, we propose a simple randomized procedure for choosing between levels and log-levels specifications in the (possible) presence of deterministic and/or stochastic trends, and discuss the impact of incorrect data transformation on common cycle, cointegration and unit root tests.