1,721,040 research outputs found

    Counterterrorism - Does It Work?

    Full text link
    The terrorist threat has increased in importance over the last decade and Western governments have implemented a multitude of measures to address it. Their numbers and the significant financial cost they involve have, however, not been matched with an adequate evaluation of effectiveness. We can therefore only make limited statements on whether or not counterterrorism policy has been effective. Three conclusions with policy implications can nevertheless be drawn from our analysis: the dependency on the local context; the ineffectiveness of measures entailing the use of force; and the need for more evaluation research on protective measures.

    Après nous le Déluge: Fertility and the Intensity of Struggle against Immigration

    Full text link
    This paper is inspired by a puzzling empirical fact that despite the importance of controlling migration for their future, the host countries allocate very limited amounts of resources to the struggle against illegal immigration. The present model analyzes this issue in the context of low fertility in the host countries and suggests a novel channel though which the intensity of the struggle against immigration can be related to fertility. The analysis shows that for childless individuals, who have no reason to care about the future, it is optimal to contribute less to the costly immigration-prevention measures.immigration, border enforcing, low fertility

    Why do 16% of the world’s adults dream of moving to another country permanently?

    No full text
    Economic freedom is a factor – especially for skilled workers, write Daniel Meierrieks and Laura Renne

    A Race beyond the Bottom: The Nature of Bidding for a Firm

    Full text link
    We examine how the bidding environment may affect the outcome of tax competition between two countries (or two regions) in attracting a firm’s foreign direct investment (FDI).We compare the equilibrium location choice and payoffs from an English auction, with both complete and incomplete information, relative to those in the traditional setting of a sealed-bid first-price auction. We find that an English auction leads to more aggressive bidding in “race beyond the bottom,” where the nations may bid beyond their own valuations of the FDI. We also discuss the roles of auction protocol and information asymmetry on the auction outcome.tax competition, foreign direct investment, international ownership, English auction, information asymmetry

    The Patterns of Inter-firm and Inter-industry Knowledge Flows in the Netherlands

    Full text link
    This paper presents a study of backward and forward patent citations in patents granted to firms and institutions in the Netherlands by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The study establishes different patterns of patent citation in recent Dutch patents belonging to different industrial classes. We run our model in the set of backward citations made in Dutch applicants’ patents during 1996-2006 and in the set of forward citations to patents issued to firms and organizations in the Netherlands during 1993-2006. We compare the patterns of knowledge utilization (represented by backward patent citations) and knowledge dissemination (represented by forward patent citations) and obtain evidence of inter- or intra-firm and inter- or intra-industry knowledge spillovers. In the context of effective competition and innovation policies we advocate for paying special attention to industry specifics when designing policy programs and measures directed at stimulating R&D cooperation and knowledge spillovers. We present evidence that policies for promoting better knowledge exchange among firms should also distinguish between the measures for promoting the inward and the outward knowledge flows for companies in the Netherlands.knowledge flows, R&D spillovers, backward and forward patent citations

    Why do Scandinavians Work?

    Full text link
    Recent debates have suggested that taxation is very detrimental to labour force participation and employment. However, some countries - notably the Scandinavian - stand out as contradictions to this view since they have managed to sustain high labour force participation rate despite high tax rates and a generous social safety net. This either refutes the standard incentive argument or leave the Scandinavian countries as a puzzle. This paper argues that both the standard view and the Scandinavian experience can be reconciled when taking into account both the pecuniary and non-pecuniary incentives build into the social safety net. The social safety net in the Scandinavian countries is at the same time both generous and employment conditioned. It is shown that these conditionalities can make high labour force participation consistent with a high marginal effective taxation of labour, and that it on the margin lowers the marginal costs of public funds. Such employment conditionalities make it possible to achieve distributional objectives without jeopardizing the incentive structure.tax incentives, labour supply, activation

    Replication Data for "Population Size and the Size of Government"

    No full text
    Replication Data for "Population Size and the Size of Government&quot

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

    Full text link
    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Exports and Property Prices in France: Are they Connected?

    Full text link
    France has seen a marked deterioration in its export performance in the last 10 years or so. Previous empirical research pointed out that weak export performance was due to i) vigorous domestic demand; ii) lower mark-ups due to head-to-head competition with Germany; iii) low non-price competitiveness of French export goods; iv) offshoring of entire production processes (especially in the automobile sector); and v) difficulties of French manufacturing firms to reach critical size for exporting. This paper adds an additional explanation to this list. We argue that resource reallocation from the exporting to the construction sector triggered by fast rising property prices hindered France to meet world export demand vis-à-vis its products. Our econometric analysis shows that the resource reallocation argument helps explain French export performance between the early 2000s and 2007, unexplained by traditional models. This result is confirmed for a set of OECD countries that experienced a marked decline in their export performance and sustained real-estate boom after 2000.OECD, France, competitiveness, exports, export performance, construction, house prices, resource allocation
    corecore