showing 23 related works from this author
Reconsidering learning by exporting
2012
Self-selection and learning by exporting are the main explanations for the higher productivity of exporting firms. But, whereas evidence on self-selection is largely undisputed, results on learning by exporting are mixed and far from conclusive. However, recent research by De Loecker (J Int Econ 73(1):69–98, 2007) has shown that the conclusions from previous learning by exporting studies may have been driven by strong assumptions about the evolution of productivity and the role of export status. Relaxing these assumptions turns out to be critical to find evidence of learning by exporting in a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms. Our results indicate that the yearly average …
Multinationals, R&D and productivity: Evidence for UK Manufacturing firms
2010
In this study, we analyze multinationality (domestic-based firms versus multinationals) and foreignness (foreign versus domestic firms) effects in the returns of R&D to productivity. We follow a two-step strategy. In the first step, we consistently estimate firm's productivity by GMM and numerically compute the sample distribution of the R&D returns. In the second step, we use stochastic dominance techniques to make inferences on the multinationality and foreignness effects. Results for a panel of UK manufacturing firms suggest that multinationality and foreignness effects operate in an opposite way: whilst the multinationality effect enhances R&D returns, the foreignness diminishes them. C…
Are Low Prices Compromises Collusion Guarantees? An Experimental Analysis of Price Matching Policies
2001
In this paper we experimentally test the ability of Price-Matching Guarantees (PMG) to rise prices above the competitive level. We implement three different treatments of symmetric duopolies to check the effect of PMG both as a market institution and as a business strategy. In the absence of any low-price guarantee, prices get close to the Bertrand-Nash equilibrium although in the 50 rounds of the experiment no full convergence is obtained. The existence of PMG as an institution in a market where firms decide only about prices results in a clear collusive outcome as all markets quickly and fully converge to the collusive prediction. If we allow subjects to decide whether they adopt price ma…
Production Function Estimation in Stata Using the Ackerberg–Caves–Frazer Method
2016
We present a new e-class command, acfest, that implements the method of Ackerberg, Caves, and Frazer (2015, Econometrica 83: 2411–2451) to estimate production functions. This method deals with the functional dependence problems that may arise in the methods proposed by Olley and Pakes (1996, Econometrica 64: 1263–1297) and, particularly, Levinsohn and Petrin (2003, Review of Economic Studies 70: 317–341) (implemented in Stata by Yasar, Raciborski, and Poi [2008, Stata Journal 8: 221–231] and Petrin, Poi, and Levinsohn [2004, Stata Journal 4: 113–123], respectively). In particular, the acfest command yields (nonlinear, robust) generalized method of moments estimates using a Mata function an…
Unbeatable Value Low-Price Guarantee: Collusive Mechanism or Advertising Strategy?
2006
This paper investigates the effects of a low-price guarantee (price-beating guarantee) on the patterns of price setting of three supermarkets using micro-level price data. Following recent theoretical developments, the paper analyzes the ability of low-price guarantees to sustain anticompetitive prices. My empirical analysis suggests instead that this low-price guarantee may serve as an advertising device to signal low prices. The supermarket offering the low-price guarantee, aware of its price advantage in a subset of products, uses it to signal low prices to induce consumers to switch supermarkets.
The Export-Productivity Link in Brazilian Manufacturing Firms
2015
This paper explores the link between exports and total factor productivity in Brazilian manufacturing firms over the period 2000–08. The Brazilian experience is instructive, as it is a case of an economy that expanded aggregate exports significantly, but with stagnant aggregate growth in total factor productivity. The paper first estimates firm-level total factor productivity under alternative assumptions (exogenous and endogenous law of motion for productivity) following a GMM procedure. In turn, the analysis uses stochastic dominance techniques to assess whether the ex ante most productive firms are those that start exporting (self-selection hypothesis). Finally, the paper tests whether e…
The effects of export and R&D strategies on firms’ markups in downturns: The Spanish case
2020
The Spanish economy was one of those most hit by the Great Recession in the euro area. It suffered a huge decrease in gross domestic product (GDP), affecting especially internal demand, and in busi...
THE ROLE OF SUNK COSTS IN THE DECISION TO INVEST IN R&D
2009
We present a dynamic empirical model of a firm's R&D decisions that is consistent with the existence of sunk R&D costs, taking into account that these costs may differ between small and large firms, and among different technological regimes. We estimate a multivariate dynamic discrete choice model using firm-level data of Spanish manufacturing for 1990–2000. Conditional on firm heterogeneity and serially correlated unobservable factors, we find that R&D history matters. This true state dependence allows inferring the existence of sunk R&D costs associated with performing R&D. Sunk R&D costs are found to be higher for large, high-tech firms.
Brand price differentials in retail distribution: product quality and service quality
2016
ABSTRACTA theoretical model is proposed to disentangle the contribution of brand quality and retailer service quality in explaining brand price differentials across retailers. Two testable hypotheses emerge: (i) for each brand type, price differences across retailers are independent of brand quality differentials and (ii) at a given retailer, price differences between different brand qualities are independent of service quality differentials. Our empirical analysis, for a sample of the U.K. grocery retailer prices, discloses that retailers that offer higher service quality sell same quality brands at higher prices. In particular, service quality premia amount to 6% for national brands and a…
The impact of the Great Recession on TFP convergence among EU countries
2017
ABSTRACTThis article provides evidence on the effect of the Great Recession on productivity convergence among European Union (EU) economies. We use firm data, aggregated at the country-year level, to analyse the evolution of beta-convergence on total factor productivity (TFP) for 2003–2014. We obtain a positive impact of the recession on TFP (unconditional and conditional) beta-convergence across EU economies. These results support the existence of a catching-up process within the EU during the recent financial crisis. Other macroeconomic and institutional characteristics are important in fostering TFP growth, namely R&D intensity and quality of governance.
Using Survival Models with Individual Data
2007
Since there exists in this literature a common interest to unravel the sources of both permanence in the self-employment status and firm survival, the present chapter is devoted to provide guidelines to applied researchers about which methods are suitable for any particular application related to self-employment and firm survival. Further, it should be noted that the econometric analysis of survival (duration) is a very wide field, and that the modest aim of the following sections in this chapter is to introduce the reader to such kind of econometric analysis.
Understanding the Dynamic Effect of Contracting Out on the Delivery of Local Public Services
2015
Máñez J., Pérez-López G., Prior D. and Zafra-Gómez J. L. Understanding the dynamic effect of contracting out on the delivery of local public services, Regional Studies. Contracting out is a mechanism through which the delivery of public services can be made more efficient. However, the process has yielded conflicting results. This paper presents a dynamic, mixed approach, incorporating an intertemporal frontier and a matching technique, to measure the short- and long-term effects of the implementation of contracting out on the efficiency of local public service delivery. The study demonstrates the existence of temporary inefficiency arising from the change in service management when contrac…
Foreign sourcing and exporting
2020
The aim in this paper is analysing the role of sourcing intermediate inputs internationally on export decisions, distinguishing whether intermediate are sourced from firms belonging to the same business group or from independent suppliers. To analyse firm’s export decision, we use a specification that also accounts for sunk costs and the accumulated experience in export markets (i.e., foreign markets learning). We consider that importing intermediates might have direct and indirect effects (operating through productivity) on the export participation decision. The direct effects on exporting are isolated once we control for productivity and the effects of belonging to an international group.…
Exports of Spanish manufacturing firms and financial constraints
2020
We investigate the role of financial constraints on firms’ exporting behavior, including firms’ export decision, export intensity, firms starting to export decision, and exports persistence. Our financial constraints variable is a synthetic variable that summarizes information on different dimensions such as total assets, profitability, liquidity, solvency, repaying ability, and (new in this type of analyses) the cost of external financing. Using data on Spanish manufacturing for the period 1992–2014, we find evidence supporting that financial health is relevant to explain small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) exporting decisions and starting to export decisions but not those of large …
Financial constraints and R&D and exporting strategies for Spanish manufacturing firms
2014
We investigate the role of internal and external financial constraints in the firms� joint decision to export and invest in R&D. We use objective measures at the firm level such as cash flow and financial costs. We further analyze both if firms� size and the onset of the current economic crisis have had an impact. We estimate our model with Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1990�2011, and obtain that both internal and external financial constraints are relevant.
Wage Bargaining Centralization And Macroeconomic Performance: An Experimental Approach
2001
This paper experimentally analyzes the effect of wage bargaining centralization (WBC) on macroeconomic performance. Our theoretical benchmark comes from that developed by Cukierman and Lippi (1999) to investigate the joint effects of monetary policy and labor market institutions on unemployment and inflation. We focus on the implications of two well known effects related to the degree of WBC: the competitive effect and the strategic effect. To do so we established a simple wage setting mechanism based on the existence of assorted levels of WBC measured by the number of unions in the labor market. In the three control treatments, unions' welfare and monetary rewards depend only on unemployme…
Firms’ distance to the European productivity frontier
2022
AbstractIn this article we explore the factors contributing to reduce the distance of laggard firms to the European frontier, focusing on institutional factors. To characterize Total Factor Productivity frontier firms within industries for the European Union we use firm level data from AMADEUS for the period 2003–2014. Our findings provide evidence on the importance of governance quality and easiness in getting credit in explaining the distance of laggard firms to the European productivity frontier. We also find that other factors at the country level -tertiary education, R&D stock, and trade openness- and at the firm level -size, age, and capital-intensity- influence the distance of la…
Experimental duopolies under price guarantees
2011
In a symmetric differentiated experimental duopoly we test the ability of Price Guarantees (PGs) to raise prices above the competitive levels. Different types of PGs ("aggressive" and "soft" price-beating and price-matching) are implemented either as an exogenously imposed market rule or as a business strategy. Our results show that PGs may lead close to the collusive outcome, depending on whether the interaction between duopolists is repeated and provided that the guarantee is not of the "aggressive" price-beating type.
Are importing and exporting complements or substitutes in an emerging economy? The case of Colombia
2021
The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of two trading strategies (exporting and importing) on total factor productivity (TFP) and the potential complementarity/substitutability effects of these strategies. In order to assess these effects, robust estimates of TFP are obtained using a general method of moments approach that explicitly determines the ability of a firm's trading experience to affect productivity. Data from the Annual Manufacturing Survey spanning from 2007 to 2016 is used for Colombian manufacturing firms. Our estimation results suggest that, regardless of the technological intensity of the industry in which the firm operates, active trading strategies (exporting o…
Export intensity and the productivity gains of exporting
2013
This article analyses whether the productivity gains associated with Learning-by-Exporting (LBE) (controlling for self-selection) depend on the intensity of the firm's exporting activity. The results from a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms indicate that the yearly average gains in productivity are larger for those firms that increase their export-to-sales ratio.
Persistence in exporting: Cumulative and punctuated learning effects
2019
Abstract We develop a model of export persistence which is based around different patterns of learning by exporting. Cumulative previous exporting can help lengthen subsequent exporting spells, but this can be compromised by the punctuated learning arising from a pattern of sporadic exporting. Firms with episodic exporting exhibit different learning patterns from continuous exporters, and are less likely to develop the deep routine-based learning that comes from constant exposure to managing export markets. Using data from Spanish manufacturers over a 22 year period we find support for a model of differences in export persistence arising from cumulative and punctuated learning by exporting.
Product and process innovation and total factor productivity: Evidence for manufacturing in four Latin American countries
2017
The literature on firm productivity recognizes the important role played by firm innovation activities on firm productivity in developed countries. However, the literature for developing and emerging economies is scarce and far from conclusive. The aim of this paper is to study the innovation–productivity link (distinguishing between process and product innovations) for manufacturing at the firm level for four Latin American countries (two classified as upper-middle income countries by the World Bank—Argentina and Mexico—and two as lower-middle income—Colombia and Peru). We aim testing whether the level of development is a mediating factor in the innovation–productivity link. The data used …
The Dynamic Linkages Among Exports, R&D and Productivity
2014
This paper estimates a dynamic model of a firm's decision to export and invest in RD in the second step, we estimate a bivariate dynamic model of the firm's decision to invest in R&D and export, in which we analyse the linkages among investing in R&D, exporting and productivity. Using a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1990–2009, we find that both export and R&D positively affect future productivity, which will drive more firms to self-select in those activities.