1,720,999 research outputs found
Law, Finance and Innovation: The Dark Side of Shareholder Protection
No full textProponents of minority shareholder protection state that national legal institutions protecting small investors boost stock markets and, in turn, the long-term performance of countries. In this paper we empirically challenge this argument. We perform three-stage least squares estimation on a sample of 48 countries during 1993–2006 and find that countries with stronger shareholder protection tend to have larger market capitalisation but also lower innovative activity. We cope with stock market endogeneity and industry heterogeneity, and circumvent omitted variables bias, so that this finding is unlikely to be driven by misspecification problems. The estimation results are interpreted, arguing that stronger shareholder protection may depress rather than encourage the most valuable corporate productions, because it enables small and diversified shareholders to play opportunistic actions against undiversified stockholders, after specific investments are undertaken by the company; innovative activity, largely based on specific investing, is particularly exposed to this problem
Are We Really Mama's Boys? How Incomes Affect Italians' Leaving Home Decisions
No full textThe aim of this paper is to identify the main determinants of Italians’ leaving home decisions. We use data from the Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) by the Bank of Italy. The empirical study is performed by cross-section probit and panel-probit estimation.
Contrary to the predominant literature’s claim, our findings unveil the positive and statistically significant effects of both children’s and parents’ income on the departure probability. We interpret this positive parents’ income effect as a signal for inter-household transfers. Finally, we distinguish by gender and find that while the young men’s leaving home is strongly dependent on such transfers, the same does not hold for young women
Working Time under Alternative Pay Contracts in the Ride-Sharing Industry
Full text linkWe study hours worked by drivers in the peer-to-peer transportation sector with cross-side network effects. Medallion lease (regulated market), commission-based (Uber-like pay) and profit-sharing (“pure” taxi coop) compensation schemes are compared. Our static model shows that network externalities matter, depending on the number of active drivers. When the number of drivers is limited, in the presence of positive network effects, a regulated system always induces more hours worked, while the commission fee influences the comparative incentives towards working time of Uber-like pay versus profit-sharing. When the number of drivers is infinite (or close to it), the influence of network externalities on optimal working time vanishes. Our model helps identifying which is the pay scheme that best remunerates longer working times and offers insights to regulators seeking to improve the intensive margin of coverage by taxi services
Innovation in State-owned Enterprises: Reconsidering the Conventional Wisdom
Full text linkA very well established economic literature maintains that State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are inefficient comparatively to privately-owned ones (POEs). In this paper we argue that SOEs' inefficiency is not due to the State ownership per se, rather it is caused by some conditions other than ownership which SOEs often, but not necessarily, relate to. In particular, we focus on dynamic efficiency - specifically, the production of technological innovation - of SOEs in manufacturing industries, where SOEs should contend with POEs in a competitive environment. We suggest that targeted measures aimed at increasing managers' commitment to long-term investment strategies and at reducing corruption and political interference, though being complex and difficult to implement, can be much more (positively) incisive on long-run technical progress than the simple privatization of companies. This leaves room for exploration and implementation of policies that might reconcile State ownership and market competition in industrial sectors
How to Measure the Economic Impact of Vector-Borne Diseases at Country Level
No full textVector-borne diseases (VBDs) are widespread in less developed countries and reemerging
in developed ones. Available economic studies agree that VBDs have significant effects on countries’
economic outcomes, and affirm that a systematic evaluation of such effects is crucial for the efficient
allocation of resources to health-related priorities. This paper provides a comparative assessment of
available methodologies for measuring the economic impact of VBDs at national level. We review
both macroeconometric and micro-based approaches, and examine advantages and disadvantages of
current methods. We conclude by suggesting possible areas for future research
International Economic Assistance and Migration: The Case of Sub-Saharan Countries
No full textDevelopment aid is commonly advocated as one of the most effective instruments to reduce international migration. Nevertheless, empirical evidence shows that push factors do not automatically result in massive migrations and that aid policies systematically fail to meet their stated objectives. Recently, several contributions have argued that an increase in sending countries’ wealth may lead to a rise in migration, rather than to a reduction, because it enables people to assume the costs and risks of migrating. However, despite the growing number of studies on this phenomenon, the role played by Official Development Assistance (ODA) has not received attention yet. This paper aims at providing empirical evidence on this specific issue. In particular, we investigate the relation between ODA and international migration rates of sub‐Saharan countries. We argue that ODA may have a positive effect on migration decisions for two reasons. First, ODA improves workers’ ability to cover the costs of migration, by providing new job opportunities and in turn increasing incomes in the recipient country. Second, ODA, which is often associated with development programs in education, communication services, and business opportunities, may also stimulate mobility aspirations of potential migrants. We develop an econometric analysis in order to investigate this hypothesis. Specifically, we perform a three‐stage least square estimation on a sample of 48 sub‐Saharan countries. We build a two‐equation model, so as to allow for endogeneity of ODA, and find that ODA has a positive and statistically significant effect on migration outflows. Thus, as our main contribution, we argue that development aids are not substitute for migration and that the traditional aid policies (such as those of the European Union), aimed at curbing migration by providing international financial aids, might need to be reconsidered
Scelte di uscita dalla famiglia e disuguaglianze nelle opportunità
No full textIn Italy young people leave their parental household later than in the other European countries. The aim of this paper is to identify the main determinants of leaving home decisions, and to investigate how leaving home opportunities differ among individuals, considering the professional status of sons and breadwinners. In order to pursue this goal, we use data from the Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) by the Bank of Italy. The empirical study is performed by cross-section probit and panel probit estimation and factor analysis. Our findings unveil the crucial role played by the economic resources available to the individual and, in particular, by income. As a consequence, the labour market segmentation in terms of professional status, which strongly influences income distribution in Italy, also affects leaving home opportunities
Corporate governance and innovation : a survey
No full textThe traditional economics of innovation, inspired by Schumpeter and more recentadvances on his work, seem unable to explain why firms with similar external conditions may showgreatly different performance in innovation. Contrastingly, the literature on corporate governanceprovides some useful insights for understanding corporate innovation activity, to the extent thatsuch literature examines the economic effects of different modes of coordination between firmmembers. The process through which individuals integrate their human and physical resourceswithin the firm is central to the dynamics of corporate innovation. This paper provides the firstsurvey of the literature on this issue. We start by discussing how various theoretical approachesto the analysis of the firm deal with technological innovation. We then describe three mainchannels – corporate ownership, corporate finance and labour – through which a system of corporategovernance shapes a firm’s innovation activity. Finally, we examine the relationship betweencountry-level institutional settings, national patterns of corporate governance and the aggregateinnovation activity of corporations. We conclude by suggesting that future research should focusmore deeply on the interrelation between the various dimensions of corporate governance and ontheir joint effect on firm innovation
Unbundling technology adoption and tfp at the firm level. Do intangibles matter?
Full text linkWe use a panel of European firms to investigate the relationship between intangible assets and productivity. We disentangle between tfp and technology adoption, while available studies so far have considered only a notion of productivity conflating the two effects. To this aim, we estimate production function parameters allowing, within each sector, for the existence of multiple technologies. We find that intangible assets both push the firm towards better technologies (technology adoption effects) and allow for a more efficient exploitation of a given technology (tfp effects)
Group attitude and hybrid sanctions: Micro-econometric evidence from traffic law
No full textIn many legal domains hybrid sanctions – i.e. the joint use of both monetary and
non-monetary sanctions – are usually applied. We suggest that one possible rationale
behind this form of sanction is targeting group-specific deterrence. For some groups of
agents, hybrid sanctions act indeed as a self-selection mechanism such that deterrence is
obtained only after a critical threshold of infractions is reached. We apply our model to
traffic law infractions and further test it, performing a micro-econometric analysis on a
unique dataset of a representative sample of 50,000 Italian drivers, over six years (2003–
2009), after the introduction of a penalty points system. Our findings empirically confirm
our theoretical predictions. When repeated infractions are at stake, well-designed hybrid
sanctions, such as the penalty point system designed for traffic law enforcement, may
indeed increase overall deterrence. Our results shed new light on the role of the combined
monetary and non-monetary sanctions to perform general and specific deterrence
- …
