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on Microeconomic European Issues |
| By: | Fabrizio Mazzonna (IDEP and CEPRA, Facoltà di scienze economiche, Università della Svizzera italiana, Svizzera.); Franco Peracchi (Istituto Einaudi per l'Economia e la Finanza (EIEF) and Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza Facoltà di Economia Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergataâ€, Roma, Italia.) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the causal effect of retirement on health and cognitive abilities by exploiting the variation between and within European countries in old age retirement rules. We show negative and significant effect of retirement on both health and cognitive abilities. We also show evidence of significant heterogeneity across occupational groups. In particular, the negative effect of retirement disappears and turn to be even positive for those working in very physically demanding jobs. |
| Keywords: | Aging, cognitive abilities, retirement, occupation, SHARE |
| JEL: | C26 I14 J14 J24 J26 |
| Date: | 2014–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lug:wpidep:1401&r=eur |
| By: | Güth, Werner; Pull, Kerstin; Stadler, Manfred; Zaby, Alexandra |
| Abstract: | Based on the acquiring-a-company game of Samuelson and Bazerman (1985), we theoretically and experimentally analyze the acquisition of a firm. Thereby we compare cases of symmetrically and asymmetrically informed buyers and sellers. This setting allows us to predict and test the effects of information disclosure as prescribed by two recently implemented directives of the European Union, the Transparency and the Takeover-Bid Directive. Our theoretical and experimental results suggest a welfare-enhancing effect of compulsory information disclosure. Hence, the EU Transparency and the EU Takeover-Bid Directive should both be welfare enhancing. -- |
| Keywords: | acquisition of firms,disclosure of private information,experimental economics |
| JEL: | C91 D61 D82 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuewef:69&r=eur |
| By: | Daniel Nepelski (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Giuditta de Prato (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | The EIPE project aims to identify ICT R&D&I-related activities which are geographically concentrated and which demonstrate high performance in ICT innovative activities: the European ICT Poles of Excellence. It also aims to help map the dynamics of ICT-related innovation and economic geography in Europe, pointing to the presence and possibly the emergence of agglomerated and globally performing ICT activities. An additional challenge of the EIPE project is that this identification process had to be based only on the analysis of quantitative data, and built on a set of relevant criteria leading to measurable indicators. The present report documents the methodologies and data sources used for this purpose. |
| Keywords: | ICT; information and communication technologies; innovation, R&D, ICT industry; region; Europe; Poles of Excellence; clusters; indicators; methods |
| JEL: | O32 O52 R12 R28 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc85356&r=eur |
| By: | Alison Burrell; Mihaly Himics (Institute for Food and Resource Economics, Bonn University, Germany); Benjamin Van Doorslaer (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Pavel Ciaian (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Shailesh Shrestha (Scottish Agricultural College) |
| Abstract: | This report compares the production and market outcomes of two alternative policy scenarios, namely expiry of EU sugar quotas in 2015/16 and extension of the current sugar quota scheme. All other EU policy measures pertaining to the sugar sector, and to agriculture more generally, are assumed the same in both scenarios. The year of comparison is 2020. The CAPRI model was used for the simulations. The report begins with a description of sugar production within the EU, and outlines the policies applied in the sugar sector within the EU’s Common Agricultural policy. This is followed by a description of the EU sugar market. A theoretical model is used to summarise the main functional relationships in the EU sugar market and related markets, and the EU’s trade in sugar, from which a number of theory-based predictions about the impacts of quota expiry are derived. Isoglucose quotas will expire along with sugar quotas, and there is much speculation about the extent of potential competitive substitution between the two sweeteners. Sensitivity analysis was performed to obtain greater insight into this issue. Two additional quota-expiry scenarios were run, in which isoglucose was assumed to take a 10% and a 20% share of the sweetener market at the expense of sugar. The main findings are: production of sugar beet and white sugar increases by around 4%; there is little net impact on the production of cereals; total ethanol production hardly changes, but the importance of sugar as an ethanol feedstock declines by a few percentage points; raw sugar imports from high-cost third countries decline very substantially, but those from the low-cost producer Brazil decrease only slightly; EU sugar exports fall; EU human consumption of sugar increases only marginally, despite a fall of 15-16% in beet prices for sugar for internal human consumption; there is a very small positive welfare change, although income accruing to sugar beet producers falls by over 17%. |
| Keywords: | Economic analysis, impact assessment, Common Agricultural Policy, sugar quota, agricultural trade, competitiveness |
| JEL: | F14 Q02 Q11 Q18 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc76619&r=eur |
| By: | Wagner, Joachim (Leuphana University Lueneburg and CESIS, Stockholm) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This study uses tailor made enterprise level data from various sources for firms from manufacturing industries to test for the link between credit constraints, measured by a credit rating score provided by a leading credit rating agency, and imports in Germany for the first time. We find empirical evidence that a better credit rating score is positively related to extensive margins of import – firms with a better score have a higher probability to import, they import more goods and they source from more countries of origin. The intensive margin of imports – the share of imports in total sales – is found not to be related to credit constraints. |
| Keywords: | Credit constraints; imports; Germany |
| JEL: | F14 |
| Date: | 2014–02–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0344&r=eur |
| By: | Boll, Christina; Leppin, Julian Sebastian |
| Abstract: | Germany's occupational and sectoral change towards a knowledge-based economy calls for high returns to education. Nevertheless, female graduates are paid much less than their male counterparts. We wonder whether overeducation affects sexes differently and whether this might answer for part of the gender pay gap. We decompose total year of schooling in years of over- (O), required (R), and undereducation (U). As ORU earnings estimations based on German SOEP cross-section and panel data indicate, overeducation pays off less than required education in the current job even when unobserved heterogeneity is taken into account. Moreover, analyses of job satisfaction and self-assessed overeducation point to some real mismatch. However, overeducation does not matter for the gender pay gap. By contrast, women's fewer years of required education reasonably do, answering for 7.61 pp. of the East German (18.79 %) and 2.22 pp. of the West German (32.98 %) approximate gap. Moreover, job biography and the household context affect the gap more seriously in the old Bundesländer than in the new ones. Overall, the West German pay gap almost doubles the East German one, and different endowments answer for roughly three quarters of the approximate gap in the Western but only for two thirds in the Eastern part. We conclude that the gendered earnings gap among German graduates is rather shaped by an employment behaviour suiting traditional gender roles and assigned gender stereotypes than being subject to gendered educational inadequacy. -- |
| JEL: | J31 J24 J16 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:147&r=eur |
| By: | Pierluigi Montalbano; Silvia Nenci; Emiliano Magrini |
| Keywords: | international trade, EU-MED integration, Preferential trade agreement, impact evaluetion, matching econometrics |
| JEL: | C21 F10 F13 F15 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0188&r=eur |
| By: | Dachs, Bernhard; Ebersberger, Bernd; Kinkel, Steffen; Som, Oliver |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of production offshoring on the innovation activities of manufacturing firms in the home country. The analysis is based on a dataset of more than 3000 manufacturing firms from seven European countries. We find that offshoring firms on average employ a higher share of R&D and design personnel, introduce new products more frequently to the market, and invest more frequently in advanced process technologies compared to non-offshoring firms. Concerns that offshoring may hurt innovation because of the lost links between production and product development are not supported by the evidence. -- |
| Keywords: | offshoring,R&D,home country effects,investment,product innovation,process innovation |
| JEL: | F23 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:39&r=eur |
| By: | Bonilla, Jorge (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Coria, Jessica (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Mohlin, Kristina (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Sterner, Thomas (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how different NOx abatement technologies have diffused under the Swedish system of refunded emissions charges and analyzes the determinants of the time to adoption. The policy, under which the charge revenues are refunded back to the regulated firms in proportion to energy output, was explicitly designed to affect investment in NOx-reducing technologies. The results indicate that a higher net NOx charge liability, i.e. a reduction in tax liabilities net of the refund due to the new technology, increases the likelihood of adoption, but only for end-of-pipe post-combustion technologies. We also find some indication that market power considerations in the heat and power industry reduce the incentives to abate emissions through investment in postcombustion technologies. Adoption of post-combustion technologies and the efficiency improving technology of flue gas condensation are also more likely in the heat and power and waste incineration sectors, which is possibly explained by a large degree of public ownership in these sectors. |
| Keywords: | technology diffusion; NOx; abatement technologies; environmental regulations; refunded emission charge |
| JEL: | H23 O33 O38 Q52 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0585&r=eur |
| By: | Andersson, Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University); Gråsjö, Urban (University West); Karlsson, Charlie (Jönköping International Business School, and Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS)) |
| Abstract: | Multinational firms (MNFs) have been shown to have a set of defining characteristics. Compared to domestic firms, they have a larger fraction of skilled workers, higher R&D to sales ratios and established networks to knowledge sources in several different countries. As illustrated by the so-called ‘anchor-tenant’ hypothesis, they can be described as “knowledge spillover agents”. MNF affiliates, as defined in this paper, are firms that are part of large domestic and foreign MNFs. In this paper we test whether the local presence of MNF affiliates generate spillover effects on the local industry. The empirical analysis focuses on as¬sessing whether the productivity of the regional manufacturing industry of non-affiliated firms is higher in regions with a large fraction of MNF affiliates. The analysis uses data on Swedish firms and is conducted on regional level as well as on firm level. The regressions show that local presence of MNFs in a region has a positive effect on Gross Regional Product (GRP) from non-MNFs. The paper also shows that regions where the low-productive non-MNFs are located appear to benefit the most from local presence of MNFs. The MNFs have, on the other hand, no effect on non-MNF productivity in regions where the high-productive non-MNFs are located. |
| Keywords: | Multinational firms; affiliates; productivity; R&D; knowledge; spillovers; skilled workers; region |
| JEL: | F23 J24 O33 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–02–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0343&r=eur |
| By: | Hottenrott, Hanna; Lawson, Cornelia (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically investigates complementarities between different sources of research funding with regard to academic publishing. We find for a sample of UK engineering academics that competitive funding is associated with an increase in ex-post publications but that industry funding decreases the marginal utility of public funding by lowering the publication and citation rate increases associated with public grants. However, when holding all other explanatory variables at their mean, the negative effect of the interaction does not translate into an effective decrease in publication and citation numbers. The paper also shows that the positive effect of public funding is driven by UK research council and charity grants and that EU funding has no significant effect on publication outcomes. |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201318&r=eur |
| By: | Thomas Barnay (TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - CNRS : FR3435 - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEMLV), ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l'Utilisation des Données Individuelles Temporelles en Economie - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne (UPEC) : EA437 - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEMLV)); Sandrine Juin (TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - CNRS : FR3435 - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEMLV), ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l'Utilisation des Données Individuelles Temporelles en Economie - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne (UPEC) : EA437 - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEMLV), INED - Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques Paris - INED); Renaud Legal (DREES - Centre de Recherche du DREES - Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité) |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this study is to analyse the effect of the professional environment on sick leaves. The professional context is approximated by the sector of activity. The database used - Hygie (2005-2008) - allows taking individual heterogeneity into account thanks to the longitudinal dimension. Sick leave probability is estimated through a fixed effects logit model and the duration (number of days absent due to sickness) is estimated through a fixed effects Poisson model. The results show that sectors of activity differ in sick leave duration rather than in the occurrence. Indeed, taking into account individual heterogeneity and differences in health status and wages reduces the variability in sick leave probability between sectors by half. On the other hand, the sector remains decisive in explaining sick leave durations. This residual variability may refer to unobserved differences in working conditions, in the generosity of daily sick pay benefits or in job insecurity. |
| Keywords: | sick leaves; health insurance; government policy; longitudinal data; fixed-effects; conditional maximum likelihood |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00943327&r=eur |
| By: | Bodas Freitas , Isabel Maria; Geuna, Aldo; Lawson, Cornelia; Rossi, Federica (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | We investigate under what circumstances firms (industry inventors) are more likely to engage in interactions where governance of the relationship is shared between the firm and the university, as opposed to interactions where the relationship is governed unilaterally by the firm. Using PIEMINV, an original dataset of European industry patents in the Italian region of Piedmont, we analyse the characteristics of inventors with diverse experience in projects involving interactions with universities, governed by institutional contracts or personal contracts. Our results suggest that reliance among inventors of the two forms of governance is almost equal, and that unilateral governance forms are preferred when there are high levels of trust among the parties based on embeddedness in local social and education networks. This is likely because it involves less cumbersome and more direct interactions. We find also that knowledge characteristics are not particularly important discriminants of the choice between governance forms: the advantage of shared governance seems to reside mainly in the possibility to mitigate monitoring and asymmetric information problems in contexts of relatively low levels of mutual knowledge and trust. |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201401&r=eur |
| By: | Rey Dang; Anne-Françoise Bender; Marie-José Scotto |
| Abstract: | Our research aims at exploring individual’s characteristics of women on Boards in the French context. In the first part of our paper, we discuss the different theoretical frameworks which supported the business case of gender diversity on Boards of Directors and expose our hypothesis regarding differences in women and men characteristics. The second part presents our methods, measurements and data. Then, we focus on our empirical study. Our sample consists of the French Index SBF 120 companies. We studied the profile of 1,250 directors collecting information from the firms’ annual reports of year 2010, using various scales defined by previous research on that field in the Anglo–Saxon literature. Our findings confirm that integrating women on boards has an impact on the Human and Social Capital of Boards but not as much as might have been expected. It is worth noting that men and women board members seem to build their human and social capital through the same educational process in France. Nonetheless, our work shows significant differences between men and women regarding professional experience and board member status. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Governance, Boards of Directors, Diversity, Gender, Board Composition |
| Date: | 2014–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-054&r=eur |
| By: | Muriel Fadairo (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - École Normale Supérieure (ENS) - Lyon - PRES Université de Lyon - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne - Université Claude Bernard - Lyon I); Jianyu Yu (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics - Southwest University of Economics and Finance) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the rationales of exclusive dealing (ED), which is one of the most common forms of vertical restraint and attracts intense policy debates in anti-trust regulations. Based on a survey of the theoretical literature, we derive several hypotheses relative to the anti- and pro-competitive motivations of ED. These hypotheses are submitted to French data regarding several types of distribution networks in a wide range of sectors. Considering the industry features, our empirical analysis indicates that in the French distribution system, ED contracts tend to be procompetitive. The evidence suggests that the motivation of ED mainly lies in its positive role to foster the investment of upstream firms. |
| Keywords: | Exclusive dealing; Vertical restraints ; Competition policy |
| Date: | 2014–02–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00945551&r=eur |
| By: | Christophe Godlewski (LaRGE Research Center, Université de Strasbourg) |
| Abstract: | Debt renegotiation matters for the borrower-lender relationship to ensure the credit agreement is regularly amended to include new information and make it more “complete”. I investigate the determinants of the dynamics of bank loan renegotiations using a sample of 1 600 amendments to private debt contracts in Europe. The median duration between loan amendments equals 1 year, although frequently renegotiated contracts are amended every 5 months. Employing a stratified Cox-type hazard model, I find that initial loan terms, banking pool features, amendments’ characteristics, and the legal environment significantly influence the duration time between renegotiations. Contract complexity, informational frictions in the borrower-lender relationship, the uncertainty of the economic environment, and the legal protection of creditors also play a major role in shaping the dynamics of bank loan renegotiation in Europe. |
| Keywords: | renegotiation process, bank loans, multiple failure-time data, Cox model, Europe. |
| JEL: | C41 G14 G20 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lar:wpaper:2014-01&r=eur |
| By: | Catherine Bruneau; Nadia Sghaier |
| Abstract: | This paper reinvestigates the presence and the causes of the underwriting cycle in the French property-liability insurance industry as displayed by the combined ratio for the 1963-2008 period. The question is still a timely issue if we refer to regulation issues and the recent proposals in the Sovency framework to take into account the fluctuations of the profitability in specifying the solvency capital requirement. In the literature, two approaches are traditionally adopted to investigate the underwriting cycle : the first one refers to an endogeneous characterization of the cyclical properties from an AR(2) model. The second one claims that the cycle in the property-liability insurance has exogeneous sources related to the financial markets and the general economy. In this article, we reconcile the two approaches by using a smooth transition regression (STR) model. This model shows that the AR(2) model is relevant in a first regime where the capacity constraint is binding. In contrast, the fluctuations in the combined ratio are positively influenced by the lagged stock market return in a second regime where the capacity is not constrained, as for the most recent period. Moreover, we find that the current capacity is related to the lagged inflation rate in the latter case. These results confirm the idea that the European rules regarding the solvency capital requirement for insurance companies should take into account the state of the economy and the financial markets. |
| Keywords: | underwriting cycle, property-liability insurance, combined ratio, AR(2) model,financial markets, general economy, STR model, capacity constraint, solvency. |
| Date: | 2014–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-047&r=eur |
| By: | Camilla Jensen; Itzhak Goldberg |
| Abstract: | The objective of the PICK-ME (Policy Incentives for Creation of Knowledge – Methods and Evidence) research project is to provide theoretical and empirical perspectives on innovation which give a greater role to the demand-side aspect of innovation. The main question is how can policy make enterprises more willing to innovate? This task is fulfilled by identifying what we consider the central or most salient aspect of a demand-side innovation-driven economy, which is the small and entrepreneurial yet fast growing and innovative firm. We use the term ?Gazelle? to signify this type of firm throughout the paper. The main concern of policy-makers should therefore be how to support Gazelle type of firms through various policies. The effectiveness of different policy instruments are considered. For example, venture capitalism is in the paper identified as an important modern institution that renders exactly the type of coordination necessary to bring about an innovation system more orientated towards the demand side. This is because experienced entrepreneurs with superior skills in terms of judging the marketability of new innovations step in as financiers. Other factor market bottlenecks on the skills side must be targeted through education policies that fosters centers of excellence. R&D incentives are also considered as a separate instrument but more a question for future research since there is no evidence available on R&D incentives as a Gazelle type of policy. Spatial policies to foster more innovation have been popular in the past. But we conclude that whereas the literature often finds that new knowledge is developed in communities of physically proximate firms, there is no overshadowing evidence showing that spatial policies in particular had any impact on generating more of the Gazelle type of firms. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, demand-side driven policies, Gazelles, bottlenecks in factor markets, venture capitalism, ontology of knowledge, education systems, clusters |
| JEL: | B52 B53 D78 D83 G24 M13 N94 O3 O43 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sec:cnstan:0468&r=eur |
| By: | Mohamed Akli Achabou; Sihem Dekhili; Linda Prince |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this research is to study the determinants of the environmental commitment in France. 25 companies responded to a survey. The results show that the regulation constitutes a relevant vector of the environmental commitment of companies but it comes in a second order after the customer satisfaction. The search for legitimacy with the customers seems to be fundamental for the enterprises’ survival. |
| Keywords: | Environmental commitment, Financial performance, Customer satisfaction, Corporate social responsibility (CSR). |
| Date: | 2014–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-075&r=eur |
| By: | Wagner, Joachim (Leuphana University Lueneburg and CESIS, Stockholm) |
| Abstract: | A stylized fact from the emerging literature on the micro-econometrics of international trade and a central implication of the heterogeneous firm models from the new new trade theory is that exporters are more productive than non-exporters. However, many firms from the lower end of the productivity distribution are exporters. Germany is a case in point. A recent study reports that these low-productivity exporters are not marginal exporters defined according to the share of exports in total sales, or export participation over time, or the number of goods exported, or the number of countries exported to. This paper documents that low-productive exporters are competitive because they export high-quality goods. The quality of exports is much higher among exporters from the lower end of the productivity distribution than among highly productive exporters. |
| Keywords: | Exports; productivity; low-productive exporters; export quality |
| JEL: | F14 |
| Date: | 2014–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0341&r=eur |