Innovation and Productivity Across Four European Countries

This paper compares the role innovation plays in productivityacross four European countries, France, Germany, Spain, andthe UK, using firm-level data from the internationally harmonizedCommunity Innovation Surveys (CIS3). Despite a considerablenumber of national firm-level studies analysing this relationship,cross-country comparisons using micro data are still rare. Weapply a structural model that describes the link between R&Dexpenditure, innovation output, and productivity (CDM model).Our econometric results suggest that overall the systems drivinginnovation and productivity are remarkably similar across thesefour countries, although we also find interesting differences,particularly in the variation in productivity that is associatedwith more or less innovative activities. Footnotes ¹ E-mail addresses: rgriffith{at}ifs.org.uk; ehuergo{at}ccee.ucm.es;jacques.mairesse{at}ensae.fr; b.peters{at}zew.de     

“Deja Vu All Over Again:” Constitutional Economics and European legal Integration

Existing theories of regional integration do not satisfactorily explain European legal integration. Like the bears’ porridge, one explains too much, another too little, and yet another requires unnecessary information. Constitutional economics, viewing regional integration as a process producing a constitution, is able to explain both momentum toward and resistance to legal integration in a parsimonious fashion. Further, it produces a unique analysis of the current circumstances of European legal integration, revealing that the Kompetenz–Kompetenz debate addresses the fundamental dilemma of compound republics. This also discloses that European integration has produced a novel answer to this old question.

CEO ownership, corporate control, and bank performance

This study examines the relation between CEO ownership and bank performance. In contrast to Pi and Timme (1993), we find that, when economic measures of performance are used, the relation between ownership and the performance of commerical banks is nonlinear. Additionally, in contrast to previous studies, we find the question of whether or not the CEO also holds the title of chairman of the board has an insignificant impact on bank performance. We conclude that, in commercial banks, management entrenchment may offset the effects predicted by Jensen and Meckling's (1976) convergence-of-interest hypothesis.     

When Do Relationships Pay Off for Small Retailers? Exploring Targets and Contexts to Understand the Value of Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing has taken on a significant role in both retail practice and academic study. However, from the introduction of the concept of relationship marketing into the literature scholars have noted that relationship building may not be beneficial to all firms under all conditions. In this study, we investigate this issue attempting to gain a greater understanding of the value of relationship marketing activities across targets (i.e., customers and suppliers) and within contexts (i.e., competitive intensity and three elements of market dynamism) on a retailer's ability to develop the capability of market responsiveness. Our findings, based upon a sample of 172 small retailers, demonstrate that differences do in fact exist in the value delivery to retailers from relationships with different targets and across different contexts in which the retailer operates. As such, the results of this study extend the extant relationship marketing literature, refining our understanding of the value of relationship marketing. Implications for academics and practitioners are discussed.     

CEO ownership and firm value

This paper examines the hypothesis that the amount of CEO ownership has a dominating effect on the value of the firm. Using a diverse sample of firms, firm value as measured by Tobin's q is found to be a nonmonotonic function of CEO ownership. Specifically, Tobin's q rises when the CEO owns between 0 and 15% and declines as CEO ownership increases to 50%. Beyond 50%, the value starts to rise. Firm value also is found not to be a function of management ownership when CEO ownership is separated out, indicating that CEO ownership does have a dominating effect on firm value. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hostile–vs.–white‐knight bidders

We examine the hypothesis that white knights enter control contests to spend free cash flow instead of paying it out to shareholders. Tobin's q is used to measure management's inclination to invest in negative NPV investments. We find that historically, white knights have over‐invested and their acquisition of the target is one more negative NPV investment. Alternatively, hostile bidders’ past investment decisions have increased shareholder wealth. Furthermore, white knights’ returns upon the announcement of their bid have a significant negative relationship with free cash flow, implying that their bid reveals information about white knights management's investment decisions. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Firm Opacity and the Clustering of Stock Prices: the Case of Financial Intermediaries

Journal of Financial Services Research - In this study, we develop and test the hypothesis that because of opacity, the stock prices of financial firms will cluster on round fractions more than the...     

Evaluating Tax Policy for Location Decisions

We consider the impact of taxation when investors face a discrete choice between two or more mutually exclusive projects; in particular we consider the location choice of multinationals. Such choices depend on an effective average tax rate. We propose a precise measure of this rate, which is shown to be equal to a weighted average of an effective marginal tax rate and an adjusted statutory tax rate, where the weights depend on the profitability of the investment. Estimates of the distribution of this measure are presented and compared for domestic and international investment in the USA, France, Germany and the UK. We analyse the impact of harmonising corporate tax rates in Europe on incentives to locate in France, Germany and the UK.     

Consumers’ attitudes,knowledge, self‐reported and actual hand washing behaviour: a challenge for designers of intervention materials

Cross contamination by microbial pathogens in the kitchen environment may play an important role in many cases of food borne illnesses. Hand washing has been shown to be one of the most important factors in controlling the spread of microorganisms and in preventing the spread of disease. However, educational campaigns such as distribution of information leaflets, workshops, performance feedback and lectures have been, at best, associated with a transient improvement in compliance rates. In addition, the majority of research investigating UK consumers’ food safety behaviour has examined self‐reported as opposed to actual hand washing behaviour. This research utilises psychological theory in an attempt to understand how one might design a more effective hand washing campaign. Social cognition models were utilised to explore the relationship between consumers’ knowledge, attitudes, self‐reported and actual hand washing behaviour. The research was conducted in two stages. Firstly, salient beliefs of 100 consumers towards food safety were obtained using open‐ended questions. Secondly, the food handling practices of 40 consumers were observed and their food safety attitudes and knowledge determined using structured questionnaires. All the participants were knowledgeable about hand washing techniques, intended to wash their hands and generally had positive attitudes towards the importance of washing their hands. However, none of the participants adequately washed their hands on all appropriate occasions. The attitude statement results suggest measures of perceived behavioural control, perceived barriers and perceived risk may provide developers of food safety intervention materials with more useful information compared with measures of consumers’ knowledge or intention. Issues of habit and optimistic bias also need to be given consideration when designing intervention materials to change hand washing behaviour of consumers.