On the existence of an increasing symmetric equilibrium in (k + 1)-st price common value auctions

In a classical result, Milgrom (1981a) established that the Monotone Likelihood Ratio Property (MLRP) is a sufficient condition for the existence of an increasing symmetric equilibrium in (k + 1)-st price common value auctions. We show: (1) If MLRP is violated, then for any number of bidders and objects there exists a distribution of the common value such that no increasing symmetric equilibrium exists; (2) If MLRP is violated, then for any distribution of the common value there exist infinitely many pairs of the number of bidders and the number of objects such that an increasing symmetric equilibrium does not exist; (3) There are examples where an increasing symmetric equilibrium exists even when the signal distribution violates MLRP.     

Effects of Private Ownership,Trade, and Foreign Direct Investment on Labor Productivity Growth in Transition Economies: Evidence from the Croatian Manufacturing Industry

In this study, we investigate the determinants of labor productivity dynamics in transition economies using data from Croatian manufacturing industries. Capital intensity growth and human capital accumulation have been significant contributors to stronger productivity gains. Private-sector development has positively affected productivity growth—but mostly through the increasing role of new private companies. Still, unfinished privatization represents a significant obstacle to stronger productivity gains. The effect of increasing trade openness is significant but negative, most likely owing to weak export competitiveness of Croatian companies. Neither greenfield nor (predominant) brownfield foreign direct investment inflows have contributed to higher labor productivity growth. Further privatization and structural reforms seem to be the most promising policy measures that need to be undertaken in order to achieve higher productivity gains.     

A New Perspective on the International Evidence Concerning the Book-Price Effect

Finance theory implies equity returns should be positively related to financial leverage. However, a recent article decomposes the book-price ratio into financing and operating components and report a negative association between financial leverage and returns. We shed new light on this puzzle by examining a region in which previous research has established that firms’ financial leverage choices are motivated by factors other than maximizing shareholders’ wealth: we hypothesize that this must be reflected in both how financial leverage is priced and the book-price ratio. We show that the relationship between equity returns and financial leverage for stocks in our sample is indeed very different to the findings of previous research, and this is reflected in the decomposed elements of the book-price ratio.     

The preferences of tourists in their expectations of chateau gardens: a Central and Eastern European perspective

As most of the chateau gardens and parks in Central and Eastern Europe have been neglected or misused, there is a strong need for their transformation. This transformation has become even more important now due to the growing competition in the tourist destination market. The chateau gardens are at the crossroads of choosing the variant of their future development. Tourism of this kind is able to maintain its original features and it can also find new commercial uses. The aim of this paper is to identify the demand segments and to assess the relation of the visitors to the elements that form the character of a chateau park. We have succeeded in identifying three motivating factors for tourists in the making their choice. While some types of use are mutually complementary (knowledge and relaxation), other types are not used as much (amusement). The introduction of an entrance fee implies that there will be a change in the preference for those parks with the presence of peacocks and ducks, as well as the outdoor collections of plants including both French and English style gardens and they are equipped with detailed information board.     

Domesticating fears and fantasies of ‘the East’: integrating the Ottoman legacy within European heritage

ABSTRACT

‘Europe’ has no fixed geographical, historical, religious or cultural boundaries. Claims for the existence of European civilization as a discrete construct are continually made yet dissolve on close scrutiny. Here, we examine these claims at one of the grandest points of existential crisis and belonging for Europe, the relationship with the ‘Other within’: Turkey, the Balkans and Ottoman heritage in Europe. Through a hybrid semiotic and Foucauldian analysis of catalogues of eight high-profile exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Turkey, Belgium and Portugal we argue that an unsettled discursive struggle is at play, in which one ‘Europe’ articulates ‘reconciliation’ of profound civilizational difference while another, Ottoman, ‘Europe’ stakes a claim of right as an intrinsic component of what it means to be European in a contemporary context. We attempt to trace the role of museum marketing in the perennial accommodation/exclusion of the Ottoman Empire as an intrinsic component in the diversity of Europe’s cultural heritage.     

Global or Domestic? Which Shocks Drive Inflation in European Small Open Economies?

We investigate which shocks drive inflation in small open economies. In the first step, we use the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) approach to identify the global shocks. Second, we regress the disaggregated price indices for selected European economies on the global shocks controlling for the domestic variables. We find that the fluctuations of inflation in the analyzed countries are to large extent determined by the cyclical movements of the domestic output gap however the commodity shock also contributes strongly to inflation variability. The role of the non-commodity global supply shock is less prominent, however, interpreted to some extent as a globalization shock, for most of the analyzed period lowers the inflation. Nonetheless, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, this shock reversed what may be interpreted as the weakening of the globalization process.     

Fiscal devaluations: evidence using bilateral trade balance data

We study the effects of fiscal devaluations on the trade balances of European Union countries over the 2000–2014 period using bilateral trade balance data. This enables us to control for the coincidence of tax policy measures in different countries, which is an aspect left unconsidered in previous econometric studies. A fiscal devaluation consisting of a budget-neutral tax shift in the amount of 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) from employers’ social security contributions to value added tax leads to a short-term improvement of bilateral trade balance ranging between 0.3 and 0.6% of GDP. An extrapolation of our baseline estimate to the overall trade balance yields an impact of 4.3% of GDP for the whole sample, which is slightly higher than presented in previous empirical research. Applying extrapolation to the trade deficit countries in the euro area shows that these countries’ balance of trade with the rest of the euro area improves by only 0.75% of GDP. Thus, the magnitude of the fiscal devaluation impact on the trade balance varies significantly across countries, depending on their trade openness, among other potentially relevant factors.