scholarly journals Corruption and Productivity: Firm-level Evidence

2015 ◽  
Vol 235 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donato De Rosa ◽  
Nishaal Gooroochurn ◽  
Holger Görg
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Full Sample ◽  
Testing Effects ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Red Tape

Summary Using enterprise data for the economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, this study examines the effects of corruption on productivity. Corruption is narrowly defined as the occurrence of informal payments to government officials to ease the day-to-day operation of firms. The effects of this “bribe tax” on productivity are compared to the consequences of red tape, which may be understood as imposing a “time tax” on firms. When testing effects in the full sample, only the bribe tax appears to have a negative impact on firm-level productivity, while the effect of the time tax is insignificant. We also find that the surrounding environment influences the way in which firm behaviour affects firm performance. In particular, in countries where corruption is more prevalent and the legal framework is weaker, bribery is more harmful for firm-level productivity.

Convergent and Divergent Elements in the Reporting of Key Audit Matters at the Level of the Banking Sector from Central and Eastern Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (161) ◽  
pp. 130-144
Author(s):  
Aurelia STEFANESCU ◽  
◽  
Denis-Adrian LEVANTI ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
National Level ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Important Change ◽  
Audit Report ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Audit Reports ◽  
Informational Value

The current economic turmoil manifested at international and national level is influencing the banking sector, situation which calls for an innovative approach to the informational value of the independent auditor’s report. In order to reduce the information asymmetry of the audit reports from a stakeholder’s perspective, competent authorities have issued a series of regulations aiming to change the structure and the content of these reports. The most important change relates to the reporting of the key audit matters, which are considered to bring many benefits to stakeholders. In this context, this research aims to identify, analyze and compare the key audit matters reported by the statutory auditors of credit institutions operating in Central and Eastern Europe. The results revealed that the reported key audit matters reflect the particularity of the industry and of the activities carried out by these institutions. Also, the research highlighted a portfolio of convergent and divergent elements in the key audit matters reporting both at the level of the analyzed territories and at audit firm level. The results of the research are useful to stakeholders of the banking industry, professional bodies and regulators from two perspectives: firstly, by generating value added to the informational value of the audit report and secondly, by building an informational symmetry of the audit report in relation to its stakeholders.

Are the costs of pollution abatement lower in Central and Eastern Europe? Evidence from Lithuania

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
RANDALL BLUFFSTONE
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Pollution Abatement ◽  
Abatement Cost ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Using Data

It is often claimed that pollution reductions can be achieved at lower cost in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, because more possibilities exist to update production processes and reduce waste. To date, however, there has been little or no systematic evaluation of what the costs actually are in these countries. The main purpose of this paper is to partially fill this research gap using firm-level data from Lithuania. Abatement cost estimates for key air pollutants are presented based on investments made in Lithuania during 1993–4. The paper also attempts to estimate the demand for pollution directly using data on pollution charges from 1994. Using both methods, it is shown that for at least some key pollutants marginal and average abatement costs are probably substantially lower in Lithuania than in western countries.

scholarly journals Variations and (a)symmetries in trust between employees and employers in Europe: Some (not so) well-known stylized facts

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-329
Author(s):  
Bernd Brandl
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Mutual Trust ◽  
Stylized Facts ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Trust Relationship ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
Reverse Relationship ◽  
High Degree

I analyse the incidence of trust between employee representatives and management at the firm level in EU member states. Most previous analyses focus primarily on employees’ trust in the employer, but I consider both sides. The analysis confirms, but generalizes, some known stylized facts such as that trust is relatively high in Scandinavian countries but relatively low in Mediterranean countries. My analysis also reveals a number of novel stylized facts, including a high degree of variability in Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, strong mutual trust is very rare throughout Europe and the trust relationship is systematically asymmetric, as employers’ trust in the employee side is systematically higher than the reverse relationship.

Capital structure and its choice in Central and Eastern Europe

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Péter Hernádi ◽  
Mihály Ormos
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Order Theory ◽  
Pecking Order Theory ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Financial Decision

We analyze the determinants of capital structure and its choice by small and medium-sized enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe from 2002 to 2007. We test the relevance of the three main theories: the Static Trade-off Theory, the Pecking Order Theory, and the Agency Theory, which have been derived primarily for developed markets, because our knowledge on their validity for emerging European countries is limited. We confirm the positive impact of size and asset tangibility on the leverage, while rejecting both the positive impact of profitability and tax, as well as the negative impact of business risk and non-debt tax shields. We report that SMEs behave homogeneously, and the relevant capital structure determinants show remarkable steadiness. Our results show a special time varying behaviour, in which the relevant determinants become stronger, while most of the country-specific factors present weakening effects. We argue that firms of the CEE countries remarkably converged their financial decision-making procedure to that of developed countries through the investigated period. The relevance of the Trade-off Theory is weak, as firms respect a one-sided upper threshold rather than converging to a fixed target on both sides, while they are not indifferent to the hierarchy of financing alternatives.

University—Enterprise Cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-16
Author(s):  
Nadine Burquel
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Degree Structure ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
European Training ◽  
The University ◽  
Interface Structures

This paper highlights the main findings of a study carried out within the framework of the European Commission's Tempus programme on university–enterprise cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe. The study was launched in 1996 by the Commission with the technical assistance of the European Training Foundation and developed with the European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities (ESMU) and the Slovak Tempus Office. The author presents the results of desk research on a sample of Tempus projects, and sets out the conclusions and recommendations to policy makers, to project promoters and to the Tempus programme. She describes the nature of university–enterprise cooperation projects in Central and Eastern European countries, showing the active role of individuals, development agencies, local authorities and various interface structures. However, she points out that university–enterprise cooperation is still confronted by major constraints linked to people (the vision of the university, the place of university–enterprise cooperation in that vision, the lack of initiatives and skills to develop it) and to systems (the internal management structure of universities, the hierarchical positioning of university representatives, the legal framework and degree structure which impact on agreements between universities and enterprises).

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