http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/1744 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:51:13 GMT 2013-06-18T21:51:13Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/bitstream/id/34047/ http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/1744 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/212205 The Geographical Scope of Industrial Location Determinants: An Alternative Approach Martínez Ibáñez, Óscar; Manjón Antolín, Miguel C.; Arauzo Carod, Josep Maria This paper considers the estimation of the geographical scope of industrial location determinants. While previous studies impose strong assumptions on the weighting scheme of the spatial neighbour matrix, we propose a exible parametrisation that allows for di fferent (distance-based) de finitions of neighbourhood and di fferent weights to the neighbours. In particular, we estimate how far can reach indirect marginal e ffects and discuss how to report them. We also show that the use of smooth transition functions provides tools for policy analysis that are not available in the traditional threshold modelling. Keywords: count data models, industrial location, smooth transition functions, threshold models. JEL-Codes: C25, C52, R11, R30. Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/212205 2012-11-05T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/212195 CO2 emissions embodied in international trade: A multiregional Inputoutput model for Spain Gemechu, Eskinder D.; Butnar, Isabela; Llop Llop, Maria; Sangwong, S.; Castells i Piqué, Francesc As a result of globalization and free trade agreements, international trade is enormously growing and inevitably putting more pressure on the environment over the last few decades. This has drawn the attention of both environmentalist and economist in response to the ever growing concerns of climate change and urgent need of international action for its mitigation. In this work we aim at analyzing the implication of international trade in terms of CO2 between Spain and its important partners using a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model. A fully integrated 13 regions MRIO model is constructed to examine the pollution responsibility of Spain both from production and consumption perspectives. The empirical results show that Spain is a net importer of CO2 emissions which is equivalent to 29% of its emission due to production. Even though the leading partner with regard to import values are countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain, the CO2 embodied due to trade with China takes the largest share. This is mainly due to the importation of energy intensive products from China coupled with Chinese poor energy mix which is dominated by coal-power plant. The largest portion (67%) of the global imported CO2 emissions is due to intermediate demand requirements by production sectors. Products such as Motor vehicles, chemicals, a variety of machineries and equipments, textile and leather products, construction materials are the key imports that drive the emissions due to their production in the respective exporting countries. Being at its peak in 2005, the Construction sector is the most responsible activity behind both domestic and imported emissions. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/212195 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/212194 The equity core and the Lorenz-maximal allocations in the equal division core Llerena Garrés, Francesc; Vilella Bach, Misericòrdia In this paper, we characterize the non-emptiness of the equity core (Selten, 1978) and provide a method, easy to implement, for computing the Lorenz-maximal allocations in the equal division core (Dutta-Ray, 1991). Both results are based on a geometrical decomposition of the equity core as a finite union of polyhedrons. Keywords: Cooperative game, equity core, equal division core, Lorenz domination. JEL classification: C71 Tue, 28 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/212194 2013-05-28T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/212193 From bargaining solutions to claims rules: a proportional approach Giménez Gómez, José Manuel; Osório Costa, Antonio Miguel; Peris, Josep E. Is it important to negotiate on proportions rather than on numbers? To answer this question, we analyze the behavior of well-known bargaining solutions and the claims rules they induce when they are applied to a "proportionally transformed" bargaining set SP -so-called bargaining-in-proportions set. The idea of applying bargaining solutions to claims problems was already developed in Dagan and Volij (1993). They apply the bargaining solutions over a bargaining set that is the one de ned by the claims and the endowment. A comparison among our results and theirs is provided. Keywords: Bargaining problem, Claims problem, Proportional, Constrained Equal Awards, Constrained Equal Losses, Nash bargaining solution. JEL classi fication: C71, D63, D71. Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/212193 2013-05-22T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211886 Innovation and firm growth: Does firm age play a role? Coad, Alex; Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Teruel, Mercedes This paper explores the relationship between firm growth, innovation and firm age. We hypothesize that young firms undertake riskier innovation activities and are more oriented towards employment growth than towards harvesting returns in the form of sales growth. Using an extensive sample of Community Innovation Survey for the period 2004-2010, we apply quantile regressions and a Heckman sample selection technique to study the impact of R&D activities on firm growth according to firm age. Our results show that R&D intensity is positively associated with firm growth. However, for young firms R&D shows an increasing influence across the quantiles, while for old firms R&D shows a stable or perhaps decreasing effect over the quantiles. Firm age shows a significant negative impact among young firms, while for the sample of old firms the impact of firm age becomes non-significant. Our Heckman estimations show the evolution of the impact of the R&D on firm growth confirming a significant impact on sales and productivity growth, while the impact is negligible for employment growth. Keywords: firm age, firm growth, innovation, quantile regression. JEL CODES: L25, L20 Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211886 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211885 How did the Financial Crisis affect the Real Interest Rate Dynamics in Europe? Aslanidis, Nektarios; Demiralp, Selva We investigate the effects of the financial crisis on the stationarity of real interest rates in the Euro Area. We use a new unit root test developed by Peseran et al. (2013) that allows for multiple unobserved factors in a panel set up. Our results suggest that while short-term and long-term real interest rates were stationary before the financial crisis, they became nonstationary during the crisis period likely due to persistent risk that characterized financial markets during that time. JEL codes: E43, C23. Keywords: Real interest rates, Euro Area, financial crisis, panel unit root tests, cross-sectional dependence. Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211885 2013-05-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211884 Contagion or Interdependence in the recent Global Financial Crisis? An application to the stock markets using unconditional cross-market correlations Urbina, Jilber We consider stock market contagion as a significant increase in cross-market linkages after a shock to one country or group of countries. Under this definition we study if contagion occurred from the U.S. Financial Crisis to the rest of the major stock markets in the world by using the adjusted (unconditional) correlation coefficient approach (Forbes and Rigobon, 2002) which consists of testing if average crossmarket correlations increase significantly during the relevant period of turmoil. We would not reject the null hypothesis of interdependence in favour of contagion if the increase in correlation only suggests a continuation of high linkages in all state of the world. Moreover, if contagion occurs, this would justify the intervention of the IMF and the suddenly portfolio restructuring during the period under study. Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211884 2013-05-13T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211883 The Building Blocks of International Ecological Footprint inequality: A Regression-Base Decomposition Teixidó Figueras, Jordi; Duro Moreno, Juan Antonio This paper performs an empirical Decomposition of International Inequality in Ecological Footprint in order to quantify to what extent explanatory variables such as a country’s affluence, economic structure, demographic characteristics, climate and technology contributed to international differences in terms of natural resource consumption during the period 1993-2007. We use a Regression- Based Inequality Decomposition approach. As a result, the methodology extends qualitatively the results obtained in standard environmental impact regressions as it comprehends further social dimensions of the Sustainable Development concept, i.e. equity within generations. The results obtained point to prioritizing policies that take into account both future and present generations. Keywords: Ecological Footprint Inequality, Regression-Based Inequality Decomposition, Intragenerational equity, Sustainable development. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211883 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211882 Market Transparency, Market Quality and Sunshine Trading Frutos, M. A. de; Manzano, Carolina This paper analyzes the implications of pre-trade transpareny on market performance. We find that transparency increases the precision held by agents, however we show that this increase in precision may not be due to prices themselves. In competitive markets, transparency increases market liquidity and reduces price volatility, whereas these results may not hold under imperfect competition. More importantly, market depth and volatility might be positively related with proper priors. Moreover, we study the incentives for liquidity traders to engage in sunshine trading. We obtain that the choice of sunshine/dark trading for a noise trader is independent of his order size, being the traders with higher liquidity needs more interested in sunshine trading, as long as this practice is desirable. Key words: Market Microstructure, Transparency, Prior Information, Market Quality, Sunshine Trading Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211882 2013-03-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211881 Rational Partisan Theory with fiscal policy and an independent central bank Ferré Carracedo, Montserrat; Manzano, Carolina The empirical evidence testing the validity of the rational partisan theory (RPT) has been mixed. In this article, we argue that the inclusion of other macroeconomic policies and the presence of an independent central bank can partly contribute to explain this inconclusiveness. This article expands Alesina s (1987) RPT model to include an extra policy and an independent central bank. With these extensions, the implications of RPT are altered signi ficantly. In particular, when the central bank is more concerned about output than public spending (an assumption made by many papers in this literature), then the direct relationship between in flation and output derived in Alesina (1987) never holds. Keywords: central bank, conservativeness, political uncertainty. JEL Classi fication: E58, E63. Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211881 2013-03-22T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211880 Domestic and International Research Joint Ventures: The Effect of Collusion Flores-Fillol, Ricardo; Ibañez-Zarate, Guiomar; Theilen, Bernd, 1965- We analyze the effect of research joint ventures (RJVs) on consumer welfare in an international context when collusion can occur. The main novelty of our analysis is to study the differentiated effect of domestic and international RJVs. The recent literature shows that RJVs with collusion harm consumers. However, our results introduce a qualifi cation to this statement: international RJVs with collusion might be bene ficial for consumers when internationalization costs are high. The EU and US competition policy advises against RJVs that facilitate collusion on the grounds of their expected negative effects. Our results suggest that antitrust authorities should distinguish between domestic and international RJVs and, in certain cases, be more benevolent with international RJVs. Keywords: collusion; domestic research joint venture; international research joint venture JEL Classi fication Numbers: K21, L24, L44, O32 Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211880 2013-03-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211807 Financial constraints and the failure of innovation projects Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; García Quevedo, José; Teruel, Mercedes Theoretical and empirical approaches have stressed the existence of financial constraints in innovative activities of firms. This paper analyses the role of financial obstacles on the likelihood of abandoning an innovation project. Although a large number of innovation projects are abandoned before their completion, the empirical evidence has focused on the determinants of innovation while failed projects have received little attention. Our analysis differentiates between internal and external barriers on the probability of abandoning a project and we examine whether the effects are different depending on the stage of the innovation process. In the empirical analysis carried out for a panel data of potential innovative Spanish firms for the period 2004-2010, we use a bivariate probit model to take into account the simultaneity of financial constraints and the decision to abandon an innovation project. Our results show that financial constraints most affect the probability of abandoning an innovation project during the concept stage and that low-technological manufacturing and non-KIS service sectors are more sensitive to financial constraints. Keywords: barriers to innovation, failure of innovation projects, financial constraints JEL Classifications: O31, D21 Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211807 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211806 The Lottery Blotto Game Osório Costa, Antonio Miguel In this paper we relax the Colonel Blotto game assumption that for a given battle the player who allocates the higher measure of resources wins that battle. We assume that for a given battle, the Colonel who allocates the higher measure of resources is more likely to win that battle. We have a simpler model for which we are able to compute all Nash equilibria in pure strategies for any valuations pro le that players might have. Something that is not possible for the original Blotto game. JEL: C72, D74, H56. KEYWORDS: Colonel Blotto game; lottery contest function. Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211806 2013-01-16T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211799 The Determinants of Urban (Un)employment Duration: Evidence from Barcelona Jordi Amorós, Catalina; Manjón Antolín, Miguel C. This paper analyses the likelihood of leaving and joining employment in an urban area. Estimates show that individual, firm, regulatory and macroeconomic factors a ffect urban (un)employment duration in di fferent degrees. Also, national and urban (un)employment seem to share a common baseline hazard and similar macroeconomic and regulatory drivers. Individual characteristics are the only source of di fference we can identify between national and urban (un)employment duration. Keywords: Duration Models, Urban (Un)employment. JEL Classi fication: J64, R23. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211799 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211796 Hours worked - Productivity puzzle: identification in fractional integration settings Lovcha, Yuliya; Pérez Laborda, Àlex A recent finding of the structural VAR literature is that the response of hours worked to a technology shock depends on the assumption on the order of integration of the hours. In this work we relax this assumption, allowing for fractional integration and long memory in the process for hours and productivity. We find that the sign and magnitude of the estimated impulse responses of hours to a positive technology shock depend crucially on the assumptions applied to identify them. Responses estimated with short-run identification are positive and statistically significant in all datasets analyzed. Long-run identification results in negative often not statistically significant responses. We check validity of these assumptions with the Sims (1989) procedure, concluding that both types of assumptions are appropriate to recover the impulse responses of hours in a fractionally integrated VAR. However, the application of longrun identification results in a substantial increase of the sampling uncertainty. JEL Classification numbers: C22, E32. Keywords: technology shock, fractional integration, hours worked, structural VAR, identification Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211796 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211795 A fractionally integrated approach to monetary policy and inflation dynamics Lovcha, Yuliya; Pérez Laborda, Àlex This paper relaxes the standard I(0) and I(1) assumptions typically stated in the monetary VAR literature by considering a richer framework that encompasses the previous two processes as well as other fractionally integrated possibilities. First, a timevarying multivariate spectrum is estimated for post WWII US data. Then, a structural fractionally integrated VAR (VARFIMA) is fitted to each of the resulting time dependent spectra. In this way, both the coefficients of the VAR and the innovation variances are allowed to evolve freely. The model is employed to analyze inflation persistence and to evaluate the stance of US monetary policy. Our findings indicate a strong decline in the innovation variances during the great disinflation, consistent with the view that the good performance of the economy during the 80’s and 90’s is in part a tale of good luck. However, we also find evidence of a decline in inflation persistence together with a stronger monetary response to inflation during the same period. This last result suggests that the Fed may still play a role in accounting for the observed differences in the US inflation history. Finally, we conclude that previous evidence against drifting coefficients could be an artifact of parameter restriction towards the stationary region. Keywords: monetary policy, inflation persistence, fractional integration, timevarying coefficients, VARFIMA. JEL Classification: E52, C32 Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211795 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211794 A note on Luttens’ Minimal rights based solidarity Giménez-Gómez, José Manuel; Peris, Josep E. Following the approach developed by Luttens (2010), we consider a model where individuals with di fferent levels of skills exert di fferent levels of e ffor. Speci fically, we propose a redistribution mechanism based on a lower bound on what every individual deserves: the so-called minimal rights (O'Neill (1982)). Our re finement of Luttens' mechanism ensures at the same time minimal rights based solidarity, participation (non-negativity) and claims feasibility. Keywords: Redistribution mechanism, Minimal rights, Solidarity, Participation, Claims feasibility. JEL classi fication: C71, D63, D71. Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211794 2013-01-10T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211755 Determinants of Decentralization within the Firm: Some Empirical Evidence from Spanish Small and Medium- Sized Enterprise Pérez, Jessica Helen; Iranzo Sancho, Susana This paper examines empirically the determinants of decentralization of decision- making in the firm for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that tend to be highly centralized. By decentralization of decisions we mean the delegation of decision rights from the owner or manager to the plant supervisor or even to floor workers. Our findings show that the allocation of authority to basic workers or a team of workers depends on firm characteristics such as firm size, the use of internal networks or the number of workplaces, and workers characteristics, in particular, the composition of the laborforce in terms of education and seniority and whether or not workers receive pay incentives. External factors such as the intensity of competition and the firm s export intensity are also important determinants of the allocation of authority. Sat, 01 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211755 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211754 Business Exits entail greater future levels of entrepreneurship? An empirical analysis at country level Albiol, Judit Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data for 41 countries this study investigates the impact of business exit on entrepreneurial activity at the country level. The paper distinguishes between two types of entrepreneurial activity according with the motive to start a new business: entrepreneurs driven by opportunity and necessity motives. The findings indicate that exits have a positive impact on future levels of entrepreneurial activity in a country. For each exit in a given year, a larger proportion of entrepreneurial activity the following year. Moreover, this e ffect turns out to be higher for opportunity entrepreneurs. The findings indicate that both types of entrepreneurial activity rates are influenced by the same factors and in the same direction. However, for some factors we find a di fferential impact on the entrepreneurship. The results show some important implications given that business exit may be overcome when there is a necessity motivation. This has important implications for both researchers and policy makers. JEL codes: L26. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, business exit, social values Sat, 01 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211754 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211753 Airport Congestion and Airline Network Structure Fageda, Xavier, 1975-; Flores-Fillol, Ricardo This paper provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationship between airport congestion and airline network structure. We find that the development of hub-and-spoke (HS) networks may have detrimental effects on social welfare in presence of airport congestion. The theoretical analysis shows that, although airline pro ts are typically higher under HS networks, congestion could create incentives for airlines to adopt fully-connected (FC) networks. However, the welfare analysis leads to the conclusion that airlines may have an inefficient bias towards HS networks. In line with the theoretical analysis, our empirical results show that network airlines are weakly infl uenced by congestion in their choice of frequencies from/to their hub airports. Consistently with this result, we con firm that delays are higher in hub airports controlling for concentration and airport size. Keywords: airlines; airport congestion; fully-connected networks, hub-and-spoke net- works; network efficiency JEL Classifi cation Numbers: L13; L2; L93 Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211753 2013-03-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211632 Airline Consolidation and the Distribution of Traffic between Primary and Secondary Hubs Bilotkach, Volodymyr; Fageda, Xavier, 1975-; Flores-Fillol, Ricardo Several airline consolidation events have recently been completed both in Europe and in the United States. The model we develop considers two airlines operating hub-and-spoke networks, using different hubs to connect the same spoke airports. We assume the airlines to be vertically differentiated, which allows us to distinguish between primary and secondary hubs. We conclude that this differentiation in air services becomes more accentuated after consolidation, with an increased number of flights being channeled through the primary hub. However, congestion can act as a brake on the concentration of flight frequency in the primary hub following consolidation. Our empirical application involves an analysis of Delta s network following its merger with Northwest. We find evidence consistent with an increase in the importance of Delta s primary hubs at the expense of its secondary airports. We also find some evidence suggesting that the carrier chooses to divert traffic away from those hub airports that were more prone to delays prior to the merger, in particular New York s JFK airport. Keywords: primary hub; secondary hub; airport congestion; airline consolidation; airline networks JEL Classi fication Numbers: D43; L13; L40; L93; R4 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211632 2013-02-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211631 Direct and indirect subsidies in markets with system goods in the presence of externalities. Preliminary version Slivko, Olga This paper derives a model of markets with system goods and two technological standards. An established standard incurs lower unit production costs but causes a negative externality. The paper derives the conditions for policy intervention and compares the effect of direct and indirect cost-reducing subsidies in two markets with system goods in the presence of externalities. If consumers are committed to the technology by purchasing one of the components, direct subsidies are preferable. For a medium-low cost difference between technological standards and a low externality cost it is optimal to provide a direct subsidy only to the first technology adopter. As the higher the externality cost raises, the more technology adopters should be provided with direct subsidies. This effect is robust in all extensions. In the absence of consumers commitment to a technological standard indirect and direct subsidies are both desirable. In this case, the subsidy to the first adopter is lower then the subsidy to the second adopter. Moreover, for the low cost difference between technological standards and low externality cost the fi rst fi rm chooses a superior standard without policy intervention. Finally, a perfect compatibility between components based on different technological standards enhances an advantage of indirect subsidies for medium-high externality cost and cost difference between technological standards. Journal of Economic Literature Classi fication Numbers: C72, D21, D40, H23, L13, L22, L51, O25, O33, O38. Keywords: Technological standards; complementary products; externalities; cost-reducing subsidies; compatibility. Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/211631 2012-09-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203171 The Limits of Discrete Time Repeated Games:Some Notes and Comments Osório Costa, Antonio Miguel This paper studies the limits of discrete time repeated games with public monitoring. We solve and characterize the Abreu, Milgrom and Pearce (1991) problem. We found that for the "bad" ("good") news model the lower (higher) magnitude events suggest cooperation, i.e., zero punishment probability, while the highrt (lower) magnitude events suggest defection, i.e., punishment with probability one. Public correlation is used to connect these two sets of signals and to make the enforceability to bind. The dynamic and limit behavior of the punishment probabilities for variations in ... (the discount rate) and ... (the time interval) are characterized, as well as the limit payo¤s for all these scenarios (We also introduce uncertainty in the time domain). The obtained ... limits are to the best of my knowledge, new. The obtained ... limits coincide with Fudenberg and Levine (2007) and Fudenberg and Olszewski (2011), with the exception that we clearly state the precise informational conditions that cause the limit to converge from above, to converge from below or to degenerate. JEL: C73, D82, D86. KEYWORDS: Repeated Games, Frequent Monitoring, Random Pub- lic Monitoring, Moral Hazard, Stochastic Processes. Wed, 03 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203171 2012-10-03T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203170 Signalling and Productivity Effects of Overeducation: Is It Really a Waste of Resources? Kedir, Abbi; Kyrizi, Andri; Martínez Mora, Francisco, Overeducation raises concerns that governments may be overinvesting in education. To inform the debate, this paper studies the impact of overeducation on productivity. We advance the literature by considering that returns to overeducation may be due both to productivity and signalling effects. To disentangle both effects, we apply Wolpin’s (1977) methodology and compare the rates of return of screened (employed) and unscreened (selfemployed) workers. To overcome well-known endogeneity problems due to unobserved heterogeneity, we estimate a panel with individual and employment-status fixed effects. Our results show that signalling effects are relevant and that overeducation does not carry a productivity penalty. Keywords: Overeducation, signalling model, human capital model, unobserved heterogeneity. JEL classification: I20, J24, J31. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203170 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203169 Ecological Footprint Inequality across countries: the role of environment intensity, income and interaction effects Teixidó Figueras, Jordi; Duro Moreno, Juan Antonio Recently, White (2007) analysed the international inequalities in Ecological Footprints per capita (EF hereafter) based on a two-factor decomposition of an index from the Atkinson family (Atkinson (1970)). Specifically, this paper evaluated the separate role of environment intensity (EF/GDP) and average income as explanatory factors for these global inequalities. However, in addition to other comments on their appeal, this decomposition suffers from the serious limitation of the omission of the role exerted by probable factorial correlation (York et al. (2005)). This paper proposes, by way of an alternative, a decomposition of a conceptually similar index like Theil’s (Theil, 1967) which, in effect, permits clear decomposition in terms of the role of both factors plus an inter-factor correlation, in line with Duro and Padilla (2006). This decomposition might, in turn, be extended to group inequality components (Shorrocks, 1980), an analysis that cannot be conducted in the case of the Atkinson indices. The proposed methodology is implemented empirically with the aim of analysing the international inequalities in EF per capita for the 1980-2007 period and, amongst other results, we find that, indeed, the interactive component explains, to a significant extent, the apparent pattern of stability observed in overall international inequalities. Key words: ecological footprint; international environmental distribution; inequality decomposition Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203169 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203168 Ecological Footprint Inequality: A methodological review and some results Teixidó Figueras, Jordi; Duro Moreno, Juan Antonio Scarcities of environmental services are no longer merely a remote hypothesis. Consequently, analysis of their inequalities between nations becomes of paramount importance for the achievement of sustainability in terms either of international policy, or of Universalist ethical principles of equity. This paper aims, on the one hand, at revising methodological aspects of the inequality measurement of certain environmental data and, on the other, at extending the scarce empirical evidence relating to the international distribution of Ecological Footprint (EF), by using a longer EF time series. Most of the techniques currently important in the literature are revised and then tested on EF data with interesting results. We look in depth at Lorenz dominance analyses and consider the underlying properties of different inequality indices. Those indices which fit best with environmental inequality measurements are CV2 and GE(2) because of their neutrality property, however a trade-off may occur when subgroup decompositions are performed. A weighting factor decomposition method is proposed in order to isolate weighting factor changes in inequality growth rates. Finally, the only non-ambiguous way of decomposing inequality by source is the natural decomposition of CV2, which additionally allows the interpretation of marginal term contributions. Empirically, this paper contributes to the environmental inequality measurement of EF: this inequality has been quite stable and its change over time is due to per capita vector changes rather than population changes. Almost the entirety of the EF inequality is explainable by differences in the means between the countries of the World Bank group. This finding suggests that international environmental agreements should be attempted on a regional basis in an attempt to achieve greater consensus between the parties involved. Additionally, source decomposition warns of the dangers of confining CO2 emissions reduction to crop-based energies because of the implications for basic needs satisfaction. Keywords: ecological footprint; ecological inequality measurement, inequality decomposition. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203168 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203167 Modelling world investment markets using threshold conditional correlation models Aslanidis, Nektarios; Martínez Ibáñez, Óscar In this paper we propose a parsimonious regime-switching approach to model the correlations between assets, the threshold conditional correlation (TCC) model. This method allows the dynamics of the correlations to change from one state (or regime) to another as a function of observable transition variables. Our model is similar in spirit to Silvennoinen and Teräsvirta (2009) and Pelletier (2006) but with the appealing feature that it does not suffer from the course of dimensionality. In particular, estimation of the parameters of the TCC involves a simple grid search procedure. In addition, it is easy to guarantee a positive definite correlation matrix because the TCC estimator is given by the sample correlation matrix, which is positive definite by construction. The methodology is illustrated by evaluating the behaviour of international equities, govenrment bonds and major exchange rates, first separately and then jointly. We also test and allow for different parts in the correlation matrix to be governed by different transition variables. For this, we estimate a multi-threshold TCC specification. Further, we evaluate the economic performance of the TCC model against a constant conditional correlation (CCC) estimator using a Diebold-Mariano type test. We conclude that threshold correlation modelling gives rise to a significant reduction in portfolio´s variance. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203167 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203166 Economic and environmental effects of the CO2 taxation: an input-output analysis for Spain Gemechu, Eskinder D.; Butnar, Isabela; Llop Llop, Maria; Castells i Piqué, Francesc CO2 emissions induced by human activities are the major cause of climate change; hence, strong environmental policy that limits the growing dependence on fossil fuel is indispensable. Tradable permits and environmental taxes are the usual tools used in CO2 reduction strategies. Such economic tools provide incentives to polluting industries to reduce their emissions through market signals. The aim of this work is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of an environmental tax on Spanish products and services. We apply an environmentally extended input-output (EIO) model to identify CO2 emission intensities of products and services and, accordingly, we estimate the tax proportional to these intensities. The short-term price effects are analyzed using an input-output price model. The effect of tax introduction on consumption prices and its influence on consumers’ welfare are determined. We also quantify the environmental impacts of such taxation in terms of the reduction in CO2 emissions. The results, based on the Spanish economy for the year 2007, show that sectors with relatively poor environmental profile are subjected to high environmental tax rates. And consequently, applying a CO2 tax on these sectors, increases production prices and induces a slight increase in consumer price index and a decrease in private welfare. The revenue from the tax could be used to counter balance the negative effects on social welfare and also to stimulate the increase of renewable energy shares in the most impacting sectors. Finally, our analysis highlights that the environmental and economic goals cannot be met at the same time with the environmental taxation and this shows the necessity of finding other (complementary or alternative) measures to ensure both the economic and ecological efficiencies. Keywords: CO2 emissions; environmental tax; input-output model, effects of environmental taxation. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203166 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203165 Innovación, frontera tecnológica y capacidad absortiva: un estudio a nivel de países Gombau, Verònica; Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958- La principal aportación de este trabajo es poner de manifiesto que la capacidad absortiva de las economías cambia en función de si el país es el líder o es un seguidor. Aunque tampoco olvidamos otras variables como son la I+D interna, la I+D externa, el desarrollo del sistema financiero y las instituciones. Para ello, primero se prueba la presencia de una raíz unitaria y después se asegura una relación de cointegración entre las variables implicadas en el modelo para poder sacar conclusiones a largo plazo. Y por último, para estimar el modelo, se utilizará una técnica econométrica que combina el tratamiento tradicional de los datos de panel con las técnicas de cointegración: los Dynamics Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS). Esta técnica soluciona las limitaciones de los OLS, ya que su distribución no suele ser estándar por la presencia de un sesgo de muestras finitas (causado bien por la endogeneidad de las variables explicativas bien por la correlación serial de la perturbación). Utilizando un panel de datos que comprende 8 países de la OECD entre 1973-2004 y para el Business Sector, se encuentran diversos resultados, entre los que destacamos que la I+D interna, la I+D externa, la frontera tecnológica, la capacidad absortiva y el desarrollo de las instituciones tienen un impacto positivo sobre el nivel de la PTF. En cambio, el desarrollo del sistema financiero tiene un impacto negativo. Palabras claves: fuentes de la I+D, frontera tecnológica, capacidad absortiva, raíces unitarias, cointegración, DOLS. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203165 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203164 Estimación del impacto sobre precios de la fusión Acer- Gateway y de su anuncio en América del Norte Fuks Aguilar, Mariela R. Esta investigación representa una contribución a la literatura sobre el análisis retrospectivo de las fusiones. Su principal objetivo es la evaluación del impacto de la fusión entre Acer y Gateway, concretada a mediados de octubre de 2007 y que permitió a estas dos firmas convertirse en el tercer proveedor mundial de ordenadores personales. En particular, se examinan los efectos que durante el período previo e inmediatamente posterior a la fusión se produjeron sobre los precios de los productos. Para ello, se aplica el método de diferencias-endiferencias, utilizando como grupo de control el conjunto de mercados americanos con mayor volumen de ventas en los previamente las empresas fusionadas no competían. Los resultados obtenidos apuntan a la existencia de un comportamiento anticompetitivo que se habría manifestado en Norteamérica antes de que la fusión se completara. Palabras clave: fusión, ordenadores personales, canibalización, diferencias-endiferencias, análisis retrospectivo. JEL: L13, L41, L42, L81. Sun, 01 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/203164 2012-07-01T00:00:00Z