Cross-country Evidence on the Allocation of COVID-19 Government Subsidies and Consequences for Productivity
Tommaso Bighelli, Tibor Lalinsky, Juuso Vanhala
Journal of the Japanese and International Economies,
June
2023
Abstract
We study the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and related policy support on productivity. We employ an extensive micro-distributed exercise to access otherwise unavailable individual data on firm performance and government subsidies. Our cross-country evidence for five EU countries shows that the pandemic led to a significant short-term decline in aggregate productivity and the direct support to firms had only a limited positive effect on productivity developments. A thorough comparative analysis of the distribution of employment and overall direct subsidies, considering separately also relative firm-level size of support and the probability of being supported, reveals ambiguous cross-country results related to the firm-level productivity and points to the decisive role of other firm characteristics.
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Evolvement of China-related Topics in Academic Accounting Research: Machine Learning Evidence
June Cao, Zhanzhong Gu, Iftekhar Hasan
China Accounting and Finance Review,
No. 4,
2020
Abstract
This study employs an unsupervised machine learning approach to explore the evolution of accounting research. We are particularly interested in exploring why international researchers and audiences are interested in China-related issues; what kinds of research topics related to China are mainly investigated in globally recognised journals; and what patterns and emerging topics can be explored by comprehensively analysing a big sample. Using a training sample of 23,220 articles from 46 accounting journals over the period 1980 to 2018, we first identify the optimal number of accounting research topics; the dynamic patterns of these accounting research topics are explored on the basis of 46 accounting journals to show changes in the focus of accounting research. Further, we collect articles related to Chinese accounting research from 18 accounting journals, eight finance journals, and eight management journals over the period 1980 to 2018. We objectively identify China-related accounting research topics and map them to the stages of China’s economic development. We attempt to identify the China-related issues global researchers are interested in and whether accounting research reflects the economic context. We use HistCite TM to generate a citation map along a timeline to illustrate the connections between topics. The citation clusters demonstrate “tribalism” phenomena in accounting research. The topics related to Chinese accounting research conducted by international accounting researchers reveal that accounting changes mirror economic reforms. Our findings indicate that accounting research is embedded in the economic context.
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Managerial Ability and Value Relevance of Earnings
Bill Francis, Iftekhar Hasan, Ibrahim Siraj, Qiang Wu
China Accounting and Finance Review,
No. 4,
2019
Abstract
We examine how management ability affects the extent to which capital markets rely on earnings to value equity. Using a measure of ability that captures a management team’s capacity for generating revenues with a given level of resources compared to other industry peers, we find a strong positive association between managerial ability and the value relevance of earnings. Additional tests show that our results are robust to controlling for earnings attributes and investment efficiency. We use propensity score matching and the 2SLS instrumental variable approach to deal with the issue of endogeneity. For further identification, we examine CEO turnover and find that newly hired CEOs with better managerial abilities than the replaced CEOs increase the value relevance of earnings. We identify weak corporate governance and product market power as the two important channels through which superior management practices play an important role in the corporate decision-making process that positively influence the value relevance of earnings. Overall, our findings suggest that better managers make accounting information significantly more relevant in the market valuation of equity.
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Integrated Assessment of Epidemic and Economic Dynamics
Oliver Holtemöller
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 4,
2020
Abstract
In this paper, a simple integrated model for the joint assessment of epidemic and economic dynamics is developed. The model can be used to discuss mitigation policies like shutdown and testing. Since epidemics cause output losses due to a reduced labor force, temporarily reducing economic activity in order to prevent future losses can be welfare enhancing. Mitigation policies help to keep the number of people requiring intensive medical care below the capacity of the health system. The optimal policy is a mixture of temporary partial shutdown and intensive testing and isolation of infectious persons for an extended period of time.
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The East-West-German Productivity Gap: Lessons from Firm-level Data?
Steffen Müller
Wirtschaftsdienst,
Konferenzband "30 Jahre Deutsche Einheit", März
2021
Abstract
Laut Volkswirtschaftlicher Gesamtrechnung erreicht die ostdeutsche Wirtschaft auch 30 Jahre nach dem Fall des Eisernen Vorhangs nur 80 % der westdeutschen Arbeitsproduktivität. Dieser Unterschied in der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Arbeitsproduktivität geht Hand in Hand mit vielen der wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Probleme, denen Ostdeutschland heute gegenübersteht. Um die Ursachen des aggregierten Produktivitätsgefälles zu verstehen, wird die neuere Literatur zum Ost-West-Gefälle diskutiert, die granulare Daten auf Firmen- und Produktebene verwendet. Die Evidenz zeigt die Relevanz von Produktivitätsunterschieden auf Firmenebene für die aggregierte Lücke deutlich und stellt gängige Hypothesen infrage, die aus aggregierten Daten abgeleitet werden.
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Strukturwandel zulassen
Steffen Müller
IFO Schnelldienst,
No. 3,
2023
Abstract
Nach den beschlossenen Ausstiegen Deutschlands aus der Kernenergie und der Kohleverstromung galten Gaskraftwerke als Brücke hin zu einer CO2-neutralen Volkswirtschaft. Billiges Pipelinegas aus Russland half der energieintensiven Industrie in Deutschland aber auch, bei den Energiekosten die preisliche Wettbewerbsfähigkeit mit internationalen Wettbewerbern nicht komplett zu verlieren. So waren in den Jahren vor dem russischen Überfall auf die Ukraine die Gaspreise für industrielle Abnehmer in Deutschland auf dem Niveau, das die amerikanische oder asiatische Konkurrenz zahlen musste. Die dramatischen Preisanstiege für Erdgas (aber auch für Kraftwerkskohle und Strom) nach Kriegsbeginn und dem Gaslieferstopp durch Russland waren ein Schock für die deutsche Industrie.
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On the International Dissemination of Technology News Shocks
João Carlos Claudio, Gregor von Schweinitz
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 25,
2020
Abstract
This paper investigates the propagation of technology news shocks within and across industrialised economies. We construct quarterly utilisation-adjusted total factor productivity (TFP) for thirteen OECD countries. Based on country-specific structural vector autoregressions (VARs), we document that (i) the identified technology news shocks induce a quite homogeneous response pattern of key macroeconomic variables in each country; and (ii) the identified technology news shock processes display a significant degree of correlation across several countries. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that the US are only one of many different sources of technological innovations diffusing across advanced economies. Technology news propagate through the endogenous reaction of monetary policy and via trade-related variables. That is, our results imply that financial markets and trade are key channels for the dissemination of technology.
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Trade Shocks, Credit Reallocation and the Role of Specialisation: Evidence from Syndicated Lending
Isabella Müller
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 15,
2020
Abstract
This paper provides evidence that banks cut lending to US borrowers as a consequence of a trade shock. This adverse reaction is stronger for banks with higher ex-ante lending to US industries hit by the trade shock. Importantly, I document large heterogeneity in banks‘ reaction depending on their sectoral specialisation. Banks shield industries in which they are specialised in and at the same time reduce the availability of credit to industries they are not specialised in. The latter is driven by low-capital banks and lending to firms that are themselves hit by the trade shock. Banks‘ adjustments have adverse real effects.
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