Multinational Companies,Technology Spillovers and Plant Survival*

How does the presence of multinational companies affect plant survival in the host country? We postulate that multinational companies can impact positively on plant survival through technology spillovers. We examine the nature of the effect of multinationals using a Cox proportional hazard model, which we estimate using plant‐level data for Irish manufacturing industries. Our results show that the presence of multinationals has a life‐enhancing effect only on indigenous plants in high‐tech industries, suggesting the presence of technology spillovers. In contrast, multinationals compete with each other in low‐tech sectors in the host country.     

Issues in privatisation

In 1990 the privatisation debate in the ex-socialist countries advanced considerably. By now, the fundamental importance of private property for a market economy and the pitfalls of employee-ownership schemes are rarely disputed. Instead, the need for rapid privatisation and suitable methods of achieving it have become the main topics of discussion and the major challenge for policy-making.     

Analysis of cointegrated VARMA processes

VARMA (vector autoregressive moving average) processes are proposed for modelling cointegrated variables. For this purpose the echelon form is combined with the error correction form. Procedures for estimating the Kronecker indices which characterize the echelon form and for specifying the cointegration rank are discussed. The asymptotic distribution of the coefficient estimators is given. An example based o n US macroeconomic data illustrates the procedure and demonstrates its feasibility in practice.     

Langlebigkeit und Altern: Gene oder Umwelt?

Aging is defined as loss of homeostasis which affects all metabolic systems, including DNA. Interspecies comparisons and lessons from the human genetic instability syndromes suggest a correlation between DNA-homeostasis and maximum lifespan, whereas average lifespan depends mainly on environmental factors. Current demographic data suggest a maximum lifespan in humans of 110–115. The average life expectancy at birth has reached 80 years in the wealthy nations and may exceed, at least in females, 90 years by the year 2050. Genetic and biological reasons, but also lifestyle factors, account for the greater longevity of women. Attempt to define a ?longevity“ genotype so far have not been met with success, but carriers of the ApoE4-Allele appear to have a disadvantage. Unlike the situation in model organisms, aging and longevity in humans seem to be influenced by numerous genes and environmental interactions. Most people do not die of old age but of age-related diseases which are frequent because of lack of natural selection against genetic defects that cause late-onset diseases. Moreover, genes causing late-onset diseases show evidence of antagonistic pleiotropy, rendering these genes resistant to removal from our genome. Likewise, thermoinstability of DNA and generation of reactive oxygen species during oxidative phosphorylation are two endogenous sources of genomic instability that limit our lifespan and cannot be overcome without fundamentally altering the biological make-up of our species. Genomic instability causes cancer and accelerates the aging process, as evidenced by the human caretaker gene syndromes which typically show progeroid features. From a genetic point of view, cancer and aging may be moderately delayed and / or mitigated by lifestyle and medical / environmental interventions, but given the constraints of our biological make-up, they cannot be eradicated.     

Cyclically‐Neutral Generational Accounting

This paper introduces a key methodological innovation into generational accounting. By incorporating cyclically‐adjusted balances into the forward‐looking budget projections underlying the concept, we isolate pure policy effects, which render comparisons of the fiscal sustainability indicators obtained across time and countries truly meaningful. We also show that a demographic effect and a debt effect may drive fiscal sustainability measures over time, and establish a routine to control for these effects in the generational accounting framework. An empirical application for Spain illustrates that our proposed decomposition of indicators is empirically relevant. Standard generational accounting suggests that fiscal sustainability in Spain improved substantially in preparing for EMU. However, calculation of the pure policy effects reveals that this has not been the case.     

The disposition effect and loss aversion: Do gender differences matter?

This paper analyzes gender differences in the disposition effect in an experiment based on Weber and Camerer (1998). The results emphasize that female investors realize less capital losses, have significantly higher disposition effects and are more loss averse than men.     

Foreign Acquisitions,Domestic Multinationals,and R&D

Our aim in this paper is to evaluate the causal effect of foreign acquisition on research and development (R&D) intensity in targeted domestic firms. We are able to distinguish domestic multinational enterprises (MNEs) and non‐MNEs, which allows us to investigate the fear that the change in ownership of domestic MNEs to foreign MNEs leads to a reduction in R&D activity in the country. Overall, our results give no support to the fears that foreign acquisition of domestic firms leads to a relocation of R&D activity in Swedish MNEs. Rather, in this paper, we find robust evidence that foreign acquisitions lead to increasing R&D intensity in acquired domestic MNEs and non‐MNEs.     

Wertorientierte Unternehmenssteuerung in der Versicherung

Praxis / MagazinNews

Who is Who