The Determinants of Inward Foreign Direct Investment in Business Services Across European Regions
Davide Castellani
Finanza e Statistica 104/2012,
2012
Abstract
The paper accounts for the determinants of inward foreign direct investment in business services across the EU-27 regions. Together with the traditional variables considered in the literature (market size, market quality, agglomeration economies, labour cost, technology, human capital), we focus on the role of forward linkages with manufacturing sectors and other service sectors as
attractors of business services FDI at the regional level. This hypothesis is based on the evidence that the growth of business services is mostly due to increasing intermediate demand by other services industries and by manufacturing industries and on the importance of geographical proximity for forward linkages in services.
To our knowledge, there are no studies investigating the role of forward linkages for the location of FDI. This paper aims therefore to fill this gap and add to the FDI literature by providing a picture of the specificities of the determinants of FDI in business services at the regional level. The empirical analysis draws upon the database fDi Markets, from which we selected projects having as a destination NUTS 2 European regions in the sectors of Business services over the period 2003-2008. Data on FDI have been matched with data drawn from the Eurostat Regio
database. Forward linkages have been constructed using the OECD Input/Output database. By estimating a negative binomial model, we find that regions specialised in those (manufacturing) sectors that are high potential users of business services attract more FDI than other regions. This confirms the role of forward linkages for the localisation of business service FDI, particularly in the case of manufacturing.
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Vierteljährliche Konjunkturberichterstattung für das Land Sachsen-Anhalt – Die gesamtwirtschaftliche Lage im 2. Quartal 2012 –
Brigitte Loose, Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Franziska Exß
Einzelveröffentlichungen,
No. 2,
2012
Abstract
Das Bruttoinlandsprodukt in Sachsen-Anhalt hat im ersten und zweiten Quartal dieses Jahres deutlich nachgegeben. Erhebliche Rückgänge im Verlauf haben die Industrie und auch das Baugewerbe hinnehmen müssen, während die Verluste im Dienstleistungsbereich eher gering gewesen sein dürften. Sachsen-Anhalt bleibt damit im ersten Halbjahr 2012 deutlich hinter der Entwicklung in Deutschland zurück. Ein wesentlicher Teil der Eintrübung beruht auf der Ausrichtung der Produktion in Sachsen-Anhalt auf Standardprodukte und auf Regionen in Westeuropa sowie dem demographischen Faktor. So profitiert Sachsen-Anhalt aufgrund seiner Produktstruktur nur wenig von den Wachstumstreibern Deutschlands, die zuletzt vor allem aus dem Ausland und hier besonders von Ländern außerhalb Westeuropas sowie von der gestiegenen Nachfrage der privaten Haushalte nach höherwertigen Konsumgütern kamen.
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Stale Information, Shocks, and Volatility
Reint E. Gropp, A. Kadareja
Journal of Money, Credit and Banking,
No. 6,
2012
Abstract
We propose a new approach to measuring the effect of unobservable private information on volatility. Using intraday data, we estimate the effect of a well-identified shock on the volatility of stock returns of European banks as a function of the quality of public information available about the banks. We hypothesize that as publicly available information becomes stale, volatility effects and its persistence increase, as private information of investors becomes more important. We find strong support for this idea in the data. We further show that stock volatility is higher just before important announcements if information is stale.
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07.08.2012 • 28/2012
IWH-Industrieumfrage im Juli 2012: Konsumgüterhersteller trotzen der konjunkturellen Eintrübung
Die Stimmung in der ostdeutschen Industrie hat sich stark eingetrübt. Das zeigen die Ergebnisse der IWH-Industrieumfrage vom Juli unter rund 300 Unternehmen. Die aktuelle Geschäftslage wird sechs Saldenpunkte schlechter eingeschätzt als im Mai. Der Saldo der Geschäftsaussichten ist zum zweiten Mal in Folge gefallen. Seit der Vorperiode ist er um 14 Punkte abgestürzt. Knapp ein Viertel der befragten Unternehmen bewertet die Aussichten für die nächsten sechs Monate nunmehr als „eher schlecht“ oder „schlecht“. Im Mai betrug dieser Anteil 16%.
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Bank Bailouts and Moral Hazard: Evidence from Germany
Lammertjan Dam, Michael Koetter
Review of Financial Studies,
No. 8,
2012
Abstract
We use a structural econometric model to provide empirical evidence that safety nets in the banking industry lead to additional risk taking. To identify the moral hazard effect of bailout expectations on bank risk, we exploit the fact that regional political factors explain bank bailouts but not bank risk. The sample includes all observed capital preservation measures and distressed exits in the German banking industry during 1995–2006. A change of bailout expectations by two standard deviations increases the probability of official distress from 6.6% to 9.4%, which is economically significant.
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Technological Intensity of Government Demand and Innovation
Viktor Slavtchev, Simon Wiederhold
Abstract
Governments purchase everything from airplanes to zucchini. This paper investigates whether the technological intensity of government demand affects corporate R&D activities. In a quality-ladder model of endogenous growth, we show that an increase in the share of government purchases in high-tech industries increases the rewards for innovation, and stimulates private-sector R&D at the aggregate level. We test this prediction using administrative data on federal procurement performed in US states. Both panel fixed effects and instrumental variable estimations provide results in line with the model. Our findings bring public procurement within the realm of the innovation policy debate.
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Determinants of Evolutionary Change Processes in Innovation Networks – Empirical Evidence from the German Laser Industry
Muhamed Kudic, Andreas Pyka, Jutta Günther
Abstract
We seek to understand the relationship between network change determinants, network change processes at the micro level and structural consequences at the overall network level. Our conceptual framework considers three groups of determinants – organizational, relational and contextual. Selected factors within these groups are assumed to cause network change processes at the micro level – tie formations and tie terminations – and to shape the structural network configuration at the overall network level. We apply a unique longitudinal event history dataset based on the full population of 233 German laser source manufacturers and 570 publicly-funded cooperation projects to answer the following research question: What kind of exogenous or endogenous determinants affect a firm’s propensity and timing to cooperate and enter the network? Estimation results from a non-parametric event history model indicate that young micro firms enter the network later than small-sized and large firms. An in-depth analysis of the size effects for medium-sized firms provides some unexpected yet quite interesting findings. The choice of cooperation type makes no significant difference for the firms’ timing to enter the network. Finally, the analysis of contextual determinants shows that cluster membership can, but do not necessarily, affect a firm’s timing to cooperate.
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IWH-Bauumfrage im Juni 2012: Leichte konjunkturelle Eintrübung am Bau
Brigitte Loose
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 7,
2012
Abstract
Nach der neuesten Umfrage des IWH verlief die Baukonjunktur in Ostdeutschland im Juni in etwas ruhigeren Bahnen. Die Geschäftslage der 300 befragten Bauunternehmen verbesserte sich im Verlauf des Frühsommers – anders als in den beiden zurückliegenden Jahren – nur geringfügig. Nach den erheblichen Aufholarbeiten im April als Folge des Kälteeinbruchs im Februar war eine weniger stürmische Entwicklung auch zu erwarten gewesen.
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What Drives Banking Sector Fragility in the Eurozone? Evidence from Stock Market Data
Stefan Eichler, Karol Sobanski
Journal of Common Market Studies,
No. 4,
2012
Abstract
This article explores the determinants of banking sector fragility in the eurozone. For this purpose, a stock-market-based banking sector fragility indicator is calculated for eight member countries from 1999 to 2009 using the Merton model (1974). Using a panel framework, it is found that the macroeconomic environment, the structure of the banking sector and the intensity of banking regulation all have an effect on banking sector fragility in the eurozone.
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Do Government Owned Banks Trade Market Power for Slack?
Andreas Hackethal, Michael Koetter, Oliver Vins
Applied Economics,
No. 33,
2012
Abstract
The ‘Quiet Life Hypothesis (QLH)’ posits that banks with market power have less incentives to maximize revenues and minimize cost. Especially government owned banks with a public mandate precluding profit maximization might succumb to a quiet life. We use a unified approach that simultaneously measures market power and efficiency to test the quiet life hypothesis of German savings banks. We find that average local market power declined between 1996 and 2006. Cost and profit efficiency remained constant. Nonparametric correlations are consistent with a quiet life regarding cost efficiency but not regarding profit efficiency. The quiet life on the cost side is negatively correlated with bank size, quality of loan portfolio and local per capita income. The last result indicates that the quiet cost life is therefore potentially due to benevolent excess consumption of local input factors by public savings banks.
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