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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2013‒09‒24
thirteen papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta University of Modena and Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Feldmann, Corinna; Hamm, Ulrich |
| Abstract: | This contribution emerged as part of the collaborative project “Data network for better European organic market information” carried out in the 7th Framework Programme of the EU. Data from a survey among organic market data collectors form the basis for the analysis of the current situation of statistics on organic market data. The results reveal a heterogeneous picture, because organic market growth and data collection within the organic food sector have developed differently throughout Europe. Building on the survey results, the quality of data collection approaches is evaluated through the application of the data quality dimensions relevance, accuracy, comparability, coherence, accessibility/clarity, and timeliness/punctuality (Eurostat, 2009). |
| Keywords: | Market data collection, statistics, organic food, data quality dimensions, data sampling, transparency, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi13:156221&r=eur |
| By: | LEFEBVRE, Mathieu (University of Liège); PESTIEAU, Pierre (University of Liège; Université catholique de Louvain, CORE, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; PSE and CEPR); PONTHIERE, Grégory (Paris School of Economics and Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris) |
| Abstract: | Income-differentiated mortality, by reducing the share of poor persons in the population, leads to what can be called the "Mortality Paradox": the worse the survival conditions of the poor are, the lower the measured poverty is. We show that the extent to which FGT measures (Foster Greer Thorbecke 1984) underestimate old-age poverty under income-differentiated mortality depends on whether the prematurely dead would have, in case of survival, suffered from a more severe poverty than the average surviving population. Taking adjusted FGT measures with ex- tended lifetime income profiles as a benchmark, we identify conditions under which the selection bias induced by income-differentiated mortality is higher for distribution-sensitive measures than for headcount measures. Finally, we show, on the basis of data on poverty in 11 European economies, that the size of the selection bias varies across different sub-classes of FGT measures and across countries. |
| Keywords: | income-differentiated mortality, FGT poverty measures |
| JEL: | I32 |
| Date: | 2013–09–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2013042&r=eur |
| By: | Dreyer, Heiko |
| Abstract: | In this contribution it is argued and empirical proven, complementary to the existing literature, that distance to a trading partner especially in agricultural trade does not only reflect transport costs but also different areas of cultivation. The study accounts for the described patterns by modeling different areas of cultivation. Without doing so the effect of distance would be underestimated. |
| Keywords: | Food and agricultural trade, distance, growing areas, panel analysis, Germany, gravity approach, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi13:156226&r=eur |
| By: | Hijzen, Alexander (OECD); Mondauto, Leopoldo (IMT Lucca); Scarpetta, Stefano (OECD) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impact of employment protection (EP) on the composition of the workforce and worker turnover using a unique firm-level dataset for Italy. The impact of employment protection is analyzed by means of a regression discontinuity design (RDD) that exploits the variation in EP provisions across firms below and above a size threshold. Using our RDD approach, we show that EP increases worker reallocation, suggesting that EP tends to reduce rather to increase worker security on average. We further show that this can be entirely explained by the fact that firms facing more stringent EP make a greater use of workers on temporary contracts. Our preferred estimates suggest that the discontinuity in EP increases the incidence of temporary work by 2-2.5 percentage points around the threshold. Moreover, further analysis suggests that the effect of employment protection persists among larger firms well beyond the threshold and may account for about 20% of the overall incidence of temporary work. There is also evidence that EP reduces labour productivity and this effect is to an important extent due to the impact of EP on worker reallocation and the incidence of temporary work. |
| Keywords: | employment protection legislation, worker reallocation, temporary contracts, labour market duality |
| JEL: | J42 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7594&r=eur |
| By: | Luca Barbone; Mikhail Bonch-Osmolovskiyi; Matthias Luecke |
| Abstract: | This study is part of the project entitled “Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Countries” for the European Commission1. The study was written by Luca Barbone (CASE) Mikhail Bonch- Osmolovskiy (CASE) and Matthias Luecke (Kiel). It is based on the six country studies for the Eastern Partnership countries commissioned under this project and prepared by Mihran Galstyan and Gagik Makaryan (Armenia), Azer Allahveranov and Emin Huseynov (Azerbaijan), Aleksander Chubrik and Aliaksei Kazlou (Belarus), Lasha Labadze and Mirjan Tukhashvili (Georgia), Vasile Cantarji and Georgeta Mincu (Moldova), Tom Coupé and Hanna Vakhitova (Ukraine). The authors would like to thank for their comments and suggestions Kathryn Anderson, Martin Kahanec, Costanza Biavaschi, Lucia Kurekova, Monica Bucurenciu, Borbala Szegeli, Giovanni Cremonini and Ummuhan Bardak, as well as the dbaretailed review provided by IOM. The views in this study are those of the authors’ only, and should not e interpreted as representing the official position of the European Commission and its institutions. |
| Keywords: | Labour economics, Labour markets, Labour mobility, ENPI, EU, Eastern Partnership, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine |
| JEL: | F22 F24 D78 I25 J15 J83 J01 J40 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sec:cnrepo:0113&r=eur |
| By: | Arthur HENRIOT; Jean-Michel GLACHANT |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses a series of Numbers regarding the economic integration of intermittent renewables into European electricity markets. This debate has gained in importance following the large-scale deployment of wind farms and photovoltaic panels. As intermittent renewables constitute a significant share of the installed generation capacity, they cannot be kept isolated from the electricity markets. We argue that RES integration is first and foremost an Number of economic efficiency, and we review the main debates and frameworks that have emerged in the literature. We first consider to what extent intermittent resources should be treated the same way as dispatchable resources. We then analyse the different tools that have been proposed to ensure the required flexibility will be delivered: finer temporal granularity and new price boundaries, integration of a complex set of balancing markets, and introduction of tailor-made capacity remuneration mechanisms. Finally we introduce the topic of space redistribution, confronting cross-continental markets integration to the emergence of a mosaic of local markets. |
| Keywords: | Electricity market design, large-scale renewables, intermittency |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2013/55&r=eur |
| By: | Vincent Bertrand |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the development of emission trading models from the earliest to recent contributions. First, we introduce the economics of pollution control and the origins of emission trading. We give a brief description of policy instruments for the control of pollution, and explain why economic instruments (Pigouvian tax and emission trading) produce better results than “command-and-control” approaches. Second, we review several papers on modeling of emission trading systems, with a focus on dynamic models in case of perfect competition. We begin with the earliest static models, investigating a number of factor that can affect the effectiveness of emission trading (e.g. market power, transaction-costs, political pressures, etc). Next, we present dynamic models of permit markets, analysing questions such as banking/borrowing, relationship between spot and future markets, exogenous factors influencing the marginal abatement cost, etc. Finally, we end the paper with recent studies that model the main features of the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) in a dynamic framework with stochastic emissions. |
| Keywords: | Emission Trading, EU ETS, Partial Equilibrium Modeling |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cec:wpaper:1304&r=eur |
| By: | Sophie Pommet (GREDEG CNRS; University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, France) |
| Abstract: | Using a sample of 212 IPOs, this paper analyzes the impact of venture capital involvement on the survival time of French IPOs. We find that the ability of venture capitalists to improve the survival of companies is related to the duration of their investment. We show that venture capitalists do not create additional value if investment duration is too short while longer duration allows venture capitalists to monitor the firm efficiently. Our paper provides some interesting results that qualify the findings from empirical studies that highlight the absence of a positive effect of this financing on firm performance in France. |
| Keywords: | Venture capital, IPO, survival, France |
| JEL: | G24 G32 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2013-32&r=eur |
| By: | Alessandra Colombelli (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis [UNS] - CNRS : UMR6227); Francesco Quatraro (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR7321 - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis [UNS]) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between the creation of new firms and the properties of the local knowledge bases, like coherence, cognitive distance and variety. By combining the literature on the knowledge spillovers of entrepreneurship and that on the recombinant knowledge approach, we posit that locally available knowledge matters to the entrepreneurial process, but the type of knowledge underlying theses dynamics deserve to be analyzed. The analysis is carried out on 104 Italian NUTS 3 regions observed over the time span 1995-2011. The results show that the complementarity degree of local knowledge is important, while increasing similarity yields negative effects. This suggests that the creation of new firms in Italy is associated to the exploitation of well established technological trajectories grounded on competences accumulated over time, although cognitive proximity is likely to engender lock-in effects and hinder such process. |
| Keywords: | New Firm Formation; Knowledge-Spillovers Theory of Entrepreneurship; Recombinant Knowledge; Knowledge Coherence; Variety; Cognitive Distance; Italy |
| Date: | 2013–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00858989&r=eur |
| By: | Yan Liu; Christoph B. Rosenberg |
| Abstract: | The private non-financial sector in Europe is facing increased challenges in meeting its debt servicing obligation. In response, governments are revisiting legal tools and—in some cases—institutional arrangements to deal with over-indebtedness. For households, where the problem in some countries is large but no established best practice exists, reforms have generally sought to allow debtors a fresh start while minimizing moral hazard and preserving bank solvency and credit discipline. For the corporate sector, efforts have focused on facilitating debt restruturing (including through out of court mechanisms). Direct government intervention has been rare. |
| Keywords: | Financial crisis;Europe;Private sector;Corporate sector;Debt burden;Debt restructuring;Cross country analysis;private sector debt, household insolvency, corporate insolvency |
| Date: | 2013–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:13/44&r=eur |
| By: | Rau, Marie-Luise |
| Abstract: | With the lock-up of multinational negotiations under the Doha Round, bilateral agreements have multiplied. The number of regioanl free trade agreements (FTAs) between and across countries has been growing considerably. The objective of the research projectis is to give an overview on the contents of the FTAs between the EU and partner countries in a systematic way. The result will be a systematic comparative analysis, pointing out differences and similarity of EU FTAs as well as indicating main issues. Implications for trade relations and negotiations new trade agreements will be elaborated as well as provide useful insights for quantifying effects. |
| Keywords: | International trade, regional trade agreements, trade liberalisation, tariff, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi13:156256&r=eur |
| By: | Massimo Florio (DEAS, Universita' di Milano); Emanuela Sirtori (CSIL Centre for Industrial Studies) |
| Abstract: | Discounting enables to express future monetary or socio-economic effects in terms of present values when inter-temporal decisions are to be taken. In the context of the cost-benefit analysis, this allows for directly comparing net benefits expressed in terms of their net present values, and, subsequently, for aggregating them to obtain a single measure of the project value (the net present value). This paper deals with the social discount rate used to discount economic flows and estimate the investment’s economic profitability indicators. It discusses the two most popular approaches for estimating the social discount rate, namely the social rate of return on private investment and the social rate of time preference, as well as the important implications on present and future generations deriving from using one discount rate instead of another. An overview of the social discount rates applied in several countries worldwide is provided and country-specific social discount rates for some EU Member States are empirically estimated using the social rate of time preference approach. |
| Keywords: | Social discount rate, cost-benefit analysis, project evaluation |
| JEL: | D61 D63 D91 H43 |
| Date: | 2013–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mst:wpaper:201303&r=eur |
| By: | Götz, Linde; Qiu, Feng; Gervais, Jean-Philippe; Glauben, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Only few models exist which allow for a regime-dependent spatial price equilibrium. This paper focuses on the price insulating effects of export restrictions. Theory suggests that export restrictions lead to multiple spatial equilibria between the domestic and the world market price. Our analysis is unique in testing for linear versus non-linear cointegration within a smooth transition cointegration model. The application to the wheat export quota in Ukraine shows that the domestic wheat price was stabilized about 30% below the international wheat price during the two recent price booms. From a global point of view, the domestic wheat price in Ukraine would have increased to the same degree, if no country had engaged in price insulating behaviour 2006-2008 worldwide. |
| Keywords: | Export restrictions, multiple spatial price equilibria, non-linear cointegration, Ukraine, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi13:156135&r=eur |