Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
1,604
result(s) for
"Alexandre, Fernando"
Sort by:
Is the basic life-cycle theory of consumption becoming more relevant? Evidence from Portugal
In this paper we report and discuss estimates of life-cycle consumption profiles obtained using microdata for Portuguese households. The estimated profiles are much flatter than the profiles usually reported in the literature for other countries, namely the Netherlands, the UK and the USA. In addition, we also report estimates of cohort and business cycle effects on consumption. The estimated cohort effects are consistent with the post-war progress in median standards of living. However, there is a deceleration in the trend of consumption growth for more recent cohorts. The business cycle estimates suggest that the recent debt crisis has had a strong negative impact on household consumption.
Journal Article
Investment grants and firms’ productivity: how effective is a grant booster shot?
This paper evaluates the impact of awarding a second investment grant to the same firm. We implement a Regression Discontinuity Design strategy using a rich firm-level administrative database, which allows us to link applications to grants and their scores to firms’ performance. Our results show that while a single grant has a positive impact on firms’ labour productivity, a second investment grant produces an even stronger effect. A more granular analysis suggests that only micro- and small-sized firms benefit from a single grant, whereas the overall effect of an investment grant booster shot is confirmed for the micro- and small-sized firms. No effects were found on total factor productivity for either the single or the second grant.
Journal Article
Investment grants and firms’ productivity: how effective is a grant booster shot?
This paper evaluates the impact of awarding a second investment grant to the same firm. We implement a Regression Discontinuity Design strategy using a rich firm-level administrative database, which allows us to link applications to grants and their scores to firms’ performance. Our results show that while a single grant has a positive impact on firms’ labour productivity, a second investment grant produces an even stronger effect. A more granular analysis suggests that only micro- and small-sized firms benefit from a single grant, whereas the overall effect of an investment grant booster shot is confirmed for the micro- and small-sized firms. No effects were found on total factor productivity for either the single or the second grant.
Plain English Summary
The Portuguese economy has lived through protracted productivity stagnation and economic divergence in the 21st century. Grants funded by the European Union have been an important policy tool to promote firm productivity and economic convergence. In our analysis, a notable pattern emerges: multiple grants, accounting for a significant share of total funds, tend to be concentrated in a small number of firms. This concentration raises concerns regarding both equity and efficiency. This study shows that allocating multiple grants to the same firm may be an effective strategy for enhancing firm performance. Our findings suggest that the benefits of a second grant are stronger than those of a single grant. However, no discernible effects are observed on total factor productivity. While micro and small firms seem to benefit significantly from a grant booster shot, the analysis for other firm sizes warrants further research.
Journal Article
Enhancing University–Industry collaboration: the role of intermediary organizations
We evaluate the role of intermediary organizations in fostering University–Industry (U–I) joint R&D by examining the characteristics of firms that interact with universities via these organizations vis-à-vis firms that interact directly with the university’s departments. We find that firms interacting via intermediary organizations are smaller, with less knowledge capabilities and geographically closer to the university, than counterparts. Thereby, our findings provide support to the view that intermediaries contribute to a broader diffusion of knowledge by enhancing U–I links with small firms. Cultural and organizational barriers are more significant among firms interacting directly with the university, whereas cognitive and cost barriers are more relevant among firms interacting via intermediaries. Geographic proximity has a preponderant role in U–I links highlighting the importance of mid-tier universities to regional growth in less technologically advanced regions.
Journal Article
Financial distress and the role of management in micro and small-sized firms
In this paper, we focus on the managerial characteristics of micro and small-sized firms. Using linked employer-employee data on the Portuguese economy for the 2010-2018 period, we estimate the impact of management teams’ human capital on the probability of firms becoming financially distressed and their subsequent recovery. Our estimates show that the relevance of management teams’ formal education on the probability of firms becoming financially distressed depends on firms’ size and the type of education. We show that management teams’ formal education and tenure reduce the probability of micro and small-sized firms becoming financially distressed and increases the probability of their subsequent recovery. The estimates also suggest that those impacts are stronger for micro and small-sized firms. Additionally, our results show that functional experience previously acquired in other firms, namely in foreign-owned and in exporting firms and in the area of finance, may reduce the probability of micro firms becoming financially distressed. On the other hand, previous functional experience in other firms seems to have a strong and highly significant impact on increasing the odds of recovery of financially distressed firms. We conclude that policies that induce an improvement in the managerial human capital of micro and small-sized firms have significant scope to improve their financial condition, enhancing the economy’s resilience against shocks.
Paper
Execution of Compound Multi-Kernel OpenCL Computations in Multi-CPU/Multi-GPU Environments
Current computational systems are heterogeneous by nature, featuring a combination of CPUs and GPUs. As the latter are becoming an established platform for high-performance computing, the focus is shifting towards the seamless programming of these hybrid systems as a whole. The distinct nature of the architectural and execution models in place raises several challenges, as the best hardware configuration is behaviour and workload dependent. In this paper, we address the execution of compound, multi-kernel, OpenCL computations in multi-CPU/multi-GPU environments. We address how these computations may be efficiently scheduled onto the target hardware, and how the system may adapt itself to changes in the workload to process and to fluctuations in the CPU's load. An experimental evaluation attests the performance gains obtained by the conjoined use of the CPU and GPU devices, when compared to GPU-only executions, and also by the use of data-locality optimizations in CPU environments.
Paper
Perceptions of the Bologna process: what do students' choices reveal?
A major element in the creation of the European area of higher education is the adoption of a common structure of degrees, implying in several countries the reduction of the duration of the first degree to 3 years, which is a controversial change. Cardoso et al. (CESifo Econ Stud 54(2): 229-247, 2008) have analyzed student confidence in the curricula change, quantifying its impact on students' first choices of academic programs. This paper goes two steps further. First, it concentrates on a variable that better translates total demand for an academic program, namely the total number of students who place the program among their six revealed preferences, instead of just the first option; and, second, an econometric model that better fits the data is estimated. Results confirm a positive impact of the Bologna process on the demand for programs, which varies with program size and across fields of study. Our results complement those in Cardoso et al. (2008), as they uncover that being a program leader, i.e. the only institution in the country that restructured a given program, was associated with higher demand by prospective students, which nevertheless stemmed from their \"second best\" options and not from their first choices. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).
Journal Article
Representações Sociais das/Os Enfermeiras/Os Sobre Orientação Sexual e Identidade de Género
Neste estudo procurou-se averiguar as atitudes, conhecimento, formação e competência das/os enfermeiras/os face à diversidade sexual e de género. Este tema é relevante na medida em que se trata de um grupo profissional que, no âmbito do desenvolvimento da sua atividade, se cruza com pessoas lésbicas, gays, bissexuais e trans (LGBT). Para tal, aplicou-se um inquérito por questionário a um conjunto de enfermeiras/os (N = 899) sobre as suas atitudes, conhecimentos, formação e competências face a pessoas LGBT e foi, complementarmente, realizada uma análise de conteúdo aos planos curriculares dos cursos de enfermagem em Portugal. Os resultados revelam atitudes mais negativas destas/es profissionais de saúde face a pessoas trans e bissexuais do que a pessoas lésbicas e gays. As/os enfermeiras/os que tiveram mais contacto, a nível pessoal e profissional, com pessoas LGBT, mais jovens, menos conservadoras/es a nível político e menos religiosas/os apresentaram atitudes mais favoráveis e reportaram maior competência na prestação de cuidados a estas pessoas. Os resultados mostram ainda que a maior parte dos inquiridos considera não ter tido formação adequada sobre as temáticas da orientação sexual e identidade de género, o que é corroborado pela sua ausência nos programas curriculares de enfermagem. Dos resultados do estudo retira-se a necessidade de garantir uma prestação de cuidados informada, com competências específicas para a diversidade sexual e de género, para o que muito contribuiria a abordagem desta temática no âmbito dos curricula das licenciaturas de enfermagem.
Dissertation