Solidarity based economy： The success of work integration social firms in Spain

The work insertion social firms have grown in the last decade in Spain. The aim of this work is to help unemployees and workers with several problems （being in prison, drugs...） to start in ＂normalized＂ companies as workers. The aim of the paper is to analyze the success of work insertion social firms defined by social and commercial dimensions. Using a sample of 49 companies in Spain, the authors have developed an explanatory model in which the doubt about the success of these companies is explained. This paper seeks to analyze the main problems of the poor financial situation of companies that are based on social help. The work integration social enterprises could be a new entrepreneurship form that helps improving work skills of workers to be able to obtain a ＂normalized job＂.     

Multidimensionality and Renegotiation: Evidence from Transport-Sector Public-Private-Partnership Transactions in Latin America

Multidimensional auctions are a natural, practical solution when governments pursue more than one objective in their public-private-partnership transactions. However, multi-criteria auctions seem difficult to implement and vulnerable to corruption and opportunistic behavior of both parties involved. Using data from road and railway concessions in Latin America, the paper examines the probability of renegotiation in connection with the selected award criteria. It shows that auctioneers tend to adopt the multidimensional format when the need for social considerations, such as alleviation of unemployment, is high. But more renegotiations would likely happen when the multidimensional format is used. Good governance, particularly regulatory quality and anti-corruption policies, can mitigate the renegotiation problem.     

Asymmetric Behaviour of Spanish Regional House Prices

In connection with the housing market, which is presently raising a great deal of concern among the general public, this paper investigates regional housing prices in Spain using variable co-integration techniques. It analyzes the asymmetric behavior in real house prices among the Spanish regions focusing on the study of the long-term relationships over time. This paper raises an important question of the national averages masking important regional asymmetries. Results indicate evidence of co-integration, which suggests a broad grouping of regions based on physical proximity or similar economic characteristics.

The effect of size on prices

We present here an analysis of the effects that the firm's size, in the sense of the quantity of its assets, has on the price charged per asset. We show that the larger the firm is, the higher the price it charges. Our argument is not based on the traditional monopoly power associated with size but rather on the ability to bear risk.     

USING AUCTIONS TO ALLOCATE AND PRICE LONG-TERM CREDIT

Most long-term credit in developing countries is allocated throughnegotiated agreements between government institutions and financialintermediaries or final borrowers, and often at administeredrates. Yet many developing countries have no long-term creditmarket whose interest rates can be used as benchmarks for theseloans. If credit is priced improperly, it will be allocatedinefficiently and the development of capital markets may bestunted. In light of the generally disappointing experiencewith conventional methods of allocating development credit,some countries have introduced credit auctions as an alternative.Among the advantages are greater transparency and fairness,lower transaction costs, and increased competition and efficiency.Among the disadvantages are a greater vulnerability to collusion,which can lead to lower interest rates and revenue, and a tendencyto attract the least desirable participants (adverse selection)and to lend for riskier projects (moral hazard), which can leadto lower repayment rates and a higher probability of default.All these factors can lead to inefficiency in the allocationof funds. This article suggests ways to lessen these negativeeffects and presents various elements of auction design thataffect the efficiency of credit auctions and their suitabilityto specific circumstances. When properly designed, auctionscan be used in a variety of environments to allocate developmentcredit more efficiently than current methods do.      

Age of rental housing units and vacancy characteristics A filtering explanation

Aggregate data on rental units indicate that older units have lower vacancy frequencies and higher vacancy durations than newer units. A formulation consistent with the filtering hypothesis of the housing literature is presented that explains the above empirical regularity.     

A theoretical and empirical analysis of the length of residency discount in the rental housing market

We present an analysis of occupancy discounts and suggest a decomposition of the discount into two components, a “sit” discount and a length of residency discount. Data from the national longitudinal survey of the Annual Housing Survey in which 75,000 housing units from around the United States were followed from 1974 to 1977 are used to obtain consistent and efficient estimates of those discounts. The econometric models account for censoring in the data by endogenously treating the tenant's staying decision. The estimation indicates that neither discount is significant. This result is contrary to the commonly accepted result in the urban literature that landlords offer discounts to their current tenants when contracts are renegotiated.     

Beyond R&D activities: the determinants of firms’ absorptive capacity explaining the access to scientific institutes in low–medium-tech contexts

A firm's search strategy is to use innovation inputs from external sources such as suppliers, clients, competitors, universities and research transfer offices (RTOs) to complement their in-house knowledge. Thus, a firm needs to be capable of identifying and valuing the potential value of certain external knowledge, i.e. absorptive capacity. Most of the studies regarding search patterns are reduced mostly to medium–high- and high-tech industries in which only the level of investment in R&D activities as determinant of a firm's search strategy is considered. In addition, when the flows of external knowledge arise from firm–university interactions, the evidence is still inconclusive, specifically for SMEs and low–medium-tech environments. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to explore the pattern of a firm's search strategy through its absorptive capacity to acquire external flows of knowledge from universities and RTOs. The paper draws especially on the role of non-R&D innovation activities in low–medium-tech sectors. Seven hundred and forty three innovative firms from the Spanish Ministry of Industry are analysed. Results suggest that human resources and other non-R&D activities are the core drivers explaining the cooperation agreements to access external knowledge from universities and RTOs. Surprisingly, R&D expenditures do not contribute to the explanation. This paper presents important implications for policy-makers beyond the classic R&D policies.     

On the joint effect of technological and management innovations on performance: increasing or diminishing returns?

Most studies on innovation are aimed at covering technological innovation, neglecting other modes of innovation based on non-technological drivers. The latter, referred to as management innovation, consists of the implementation of new management practices, processes or organisational tasks. This work advances knowledge on the topic by exploring the joint effect of simultaneously introducing technological and management innovations on performance. Based on an analysis of 12,563 Spanish firms drawn from CIS data, our findings suggest that firms frequently pursue the simultaneous or joint introduction of both technological and management innovations and that integration impacts positively on a firm’s performance, evidencing an inverted U-shape that suggest positive but diminishing returns. A theoretical framework using the capability-based view embraces the emerging conversation on management innovation issues and its relationship with the well-researched technological one.