scholarly journals Political Stability, Firm Characteristics and Performance: Evidence from 6,083 Private Firms in the Middle East

Author(s):  
Amr Hosny

AbstractUsing firm-level data from an EBRD/EIB/WB joint survey covering more than 6,000 private firms in eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa, this paper (i) examines the relationship between firm characteristics and their perception of the effect of political instability on their operations and (ii) tests whether political instability has had a negative effect on firm performance. Using ordered and binary probit/logit models, we find that (i) export-oriented and larger-sized firms are more likely to report political instability as a sever obstacle to their operations. Using OLS and an endogenous treatment linear regression models, we find that (ii) the perception of political instability is negatively

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ari Kokko ◽  
Tran Toan Thang

Foreign direct investment (FDI) may benefit local firms in the host country through various kinds of spillovers, but it may also raise competition and result in the crowding out of domestic firms. Using detailed firm-level data for the period 2001–2008, this paper examines the aggregate effect of FDI on the survival of domestic private firms in Viet Nam. We estimate the impact of both horizontal and vertical FDI and explore how the presence of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) influences the exit hazard for private firms. The results suggest that horizontal and upstream FDI raise the exit hazard significantly, while downstream FDI may reduce the hazard. The presence of SOEs has a direct negative effect on the survival odds of local private firms in the same industry, but there is also an indirect impact on the exit hazard from FDI. Local firms are more vulnerable to foreign entry in sectors with high SOE shares. Looking at the net effects of FDI during the period 2001–2008, we find that results vary between sectors and over time but that the overall impact has been surprising small. The paper also discusses policy conclusions and implications for empirical analyses of spillovers from FDI.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ninghua Zhong ◽  
Mi Xie ◽  
Zhikuo Liu

This paper analyzes various data, especially that of 4 million Chinese manufacturing company samples during the period of 1998 to 2013, to present detailed evidence regarding two questions of China's leverage issue. First, where is the leverage? We find that within the 16-year period, most sample firms have been significantly deleveraged, with the average leverage ratio declining from 65 percent in 1998 to 51 percent in 2013. In contrast, only several thousand companies have significantly leveraged, mostly large-scale, state-owned, listed firms. Second, has the change of leverage been supported by the firms’ fundamentals? We find that for private firms, changes of firm characteristics are consistent with their leverage changes, whereas firm-level factors can hardly explain the leverage of state-owned enterprises. We provide further evidence from aggregate-level data, which suggest that the huge amount of credit being allocated to the state sector is the reason for the declining credit efficiency in China.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5776 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Doloreux ◽  
Luisa Kraft

The paper examines eco-innovation strategies in the Canadian wine industry. It uses firm-level data of 151 wine firms that developed eco-innovations between 2015 and 2017 to build a taxonomy of four eco-innovation strategies: (i) eco-innovation laggers, (ii) product-oriented eco-innovators, (iii) process-oriented eco-innovators, and (iv) fully integrated eco-innovators. We then characterize these eco-innovation strategies with respect to firm-level innovation capabilities, firms’ knowledge openness, and firms’ specific characteristics. The results reveal heterogeneity in eco-innovation strategies and show that these strategies exhibit different configurations of innovation-related conditions and firm characteristics.


ILR Review ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Yves Crémieux

Previous studies of the effect of the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act on employee earnings have reported mixed results: some have found no negative long-run effect of deregulation and others have found a negative effect of up to 10%. Most of these studies relied on cross-sectional analysis of a few years' data. This paper, in contrast, examines the long-term trends in airline earnings, based on 34 years of newly collected firm-level data from the Department of Transportation's Form 41 and airline workers' unions. The author finds that although deregulation had no statistically significant effect on the earnings of mechanics, it strongly affected the earnings of flight attendants and pilots. Flight attendants' earnings were at least 12% lower by 1985 and 39% lower by 1992 than they would have been if deregulation had not occurred, and the corresponding shortfalls for pilots were 12% and 22%.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 801-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjun Liu ◽  
Tomokazu Nomura ◽  
Shoji Nishijima

Purpose This paper investigates discrimination against women within the Brazilian labour market using firm-level data from the World Bank Investment Climate Survey. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the female employees in the Brazilian labour market are paid less than their productivity warrants due to the existence of discrimination. Design/methodology/approach Based on employer discrimination model proposed by Becker (1971) that considered the proportion of female employees as a proxy for the extent of discrimination, the authors estimate the profit function using OLS analysis, and regress it on the proportion of female employees and other firm characteristics. To address the endogeneity problem caused by unobservable productivity shocks, the authors employed the methods proposed by Olley and Pakes (1996) and Levinsohn and Petrin (2003), respectively. Findings The results indicate that the proportion of female employees has positive effect on firms’ profit in 2002, but has no effect in 2007. This finding gives evidence of the existence of discrimination against female employees within the Brazilian labour market in the early 2000s, while the gender discrimination was reduced overtime. Originality/value This paper’s main contribution is to provide an approach that differs from that of previous research to determine whether discrimination exists within the Brazilian labour market. This paper also provides policy insights for Brazilian labour market.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-179
Author(s):  
Areej Aftab Siddiqui ◽  
Parul Singh

The study is an attempt to examine the determinants and impact of export propensity and export intensity for firm-level performance in India. The factors determining export propensity are political stability, corruption, and competition from the informal sector while the determinants of export intensity in the present study are identified as a skill of the labour force, the technological capability of a firm, and foreign ownership of technology in a firm in India. A two-stage Heckman selection model has been advanced to investigate the linkage between the export performance of Indian firms with the home institutional environment and firm competencies. Firm-level data of approximately 8,000 Indian firms are used as available from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys (WBES) database. The results indicate that political stability and competition effect export propensity of Indian firms while export intensity is impacted by access to technology and employing skilled labour. The study has important theoretical implications in terms of understanding the exporting behaviour of firms. It indicates that the decision of firms to export and their export performance are interlinked. It is affirmed that export intensity is dependent on firm-specific competencies while institutions indirectly influence the decision of firms to export. The policy measures of Skill India and Make in India strongly favour increased access to the skilled labour force and strengthening the domestic industry which may lead to an increase in the export intensity of Indian firms. The recent institutional measures adopted favour a stable environment of doing business as well as providing firms opportunities to focus and leverage their competencies in the best possible manner. The current nascent steps of policy reforms need to be aggressively implemented for enhanced export capabilities of Indian firms


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Starling ◽  
Anthony Spurrett ◽  
Paul McGreevy

AbstractThe racing greyhound industry in Australia has come under scrutiny in recent years due to animal welfare concerns, including so-called behavioural wastage whereby physically sound greyhounds are removed from the racing industry because of poor performance. The non-medical reasons why greyhounds perform poorly at the racetrack are not well understood, but may include insufficient reinforcement for racing, or negative affective states associated with the context of racing. This study sought evidence for the affective states of greyhounds (n=525) at race meets and associations of those states with performance. It collected demographic, behavioural and performance data, along with infrared thermographic images of greyhounds at race-meets to investigate whether arousal influenced performance. It also collected behavioural data in the catching pen at the completion of races to examine possible evidence of frustration that may reflect sub-optimal behavioural reinforcement.Linear regression models were built to determine factors affecting greyhound performance. Increasing mean eye temperature after the race and increasing greyhound age both had a statistically significant, negative effect on performance. The start box number also had a significant effect, with boxes 4, 5 and 7 having a negative effect on performance. There was a significant effect of track on mean eye temperatures before and after the race, suggesting that some tracks may be inherently more stressful for greyhounds than others. Behaviours that may indicate frustration in the catching pen were extremely common at two tracks, but much less common at the third, where play objects in motion were used to draw greyhounds into the catching pen. The study provides evidence for the use of eye temperature in predicting performance, guidance for assessment of poor performance in greyhounds and suggested approaches to the management of frustration in racing greyhounds.


Author(s):  
Osama D. Sweidan

AbstractThis paper explores the link between political instability and economic growth in Jordan, which is a lower middle-income country located at the heart of the Middle East. Historically, this region has been living under protracted wars, clashes, violence and terrorist attacks. We can expect these events to influence economic growth via their effect on government spending. We employ two econometric techniques: ARDL model (OLS) and Kalman filter (ML) and use data over the period 1967–2009. We find political instability has a statistically significant negative effect on economic growth as well as on real government expenditures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 177-198
Author(s):  
Michael Asiedu

The study employed firm level data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey Indicator Database to investigate firm characteristics associated with firm innovation in 32 African countries, for the period 2009 to 2018. We find that firm level innovation, including the introduction of significantly new products (H1), new or significantly improved methods of manufacturing products (New Technology) are strongly associated with external funding sources (funds from Banks and non-banking institutions). In addition, firm level characteristics such as firm age, female ownership, capacity utilization, educated labor force, exposure to competition is strongly associated with firm innovation. These findings are very important for countries in Africa (and other less-developed countries) who spend less on research and development due financing and structural constraints but want to accelerate economic growth and increased productivity.


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