Explore the vast range of titles available.

We exploit changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a program to support jobs through investment subsidies. European rules determine whether an area is eligible for subsidies, and we construct instrumental variables for area eligibility based on parameters of these rule changes. Areas eligible for higher subsidies significantly increased jobs and reduced unemployment. A 10-percentage point increase in the maximum investment subsidy stimulates a 10 percent increase in manufacturing employment. This effect exists solely for small firms: large companies accept subsidies without increasing activity. There are positive effects on investment and employment for incumbent firms but not Total Factor Productivity.

We consider firms in the context of their business ecosystems and explore how differences in the ways in which firms are organized with respect to complementary activities affect their decision to invest in new technologies. We argue that, in addition to creating differences in incentives and bureaucratic costs, firm-complementor organizational form plays an important role in the firm's ability to coordinate accompanying changes in complementary activities so as to shape the benefits from investing early in the new technology. We test our predictions in the U.S. healthcare industry from 1995—2006. The study makes a strong case for viewing firms' competitive strategies in the context of their business ecosystems and for the existence of an important link between firms' coordination choices and their strategic investments.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been proposed as a key technology to help cut down the massive greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Unfortunately, because of the limited capacity of batteries, typical EVs can only travel for about 100 miles on a single charge and require hours to be recharged. The industry has proposed a novel solution centered around the use of \"swapping stations,\" at which depleted batteries can be exchanged for recharged ones in the middle of long trips. The possible success of this solution hinges on the ability of the charging service provider to deploy a cost-effective infrastructure network, given only limited information regarding adoption rates. We develop robust optimization models that aid the planning process for deploying battery-swapping infrastructure. Using these models, we study the potential impacts of battery standardization and technology advancements on the optimal infrastructure deployment strategy. This paper was accepted by Dimitris Bertsimas, optimization.

This article is aimed at considering the issues of forming an investment policy of an enterprise as a guarantee of ensuring its economic security of transport in the short and long term. The article determines the relationship and interdependence of economic security of transport and investment in the process of creating a material basis for the progressive development of the enterprise, the results of which, in turn, maintain a stable level of economic security of the enterprise.

Prior literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) spillovers has mainly focused on how the presence of FDI affects the productivity of domestic firms. In this study, we advance the literature by examining the effect of the diversity of FDI country origins on the productivity of domestic firms. We propose that the diversity of FDI country origins can facilitate FDI spillovers by increasing the variety of technologies and management practices brought by foreign firms, to which domestic firms are exposed and that they can potentially utilize. Further, the extent to which domestic firms can utilize these technologies and practices depends upon their absorptive capacity. Using panel data on Chinese manufacturing firms during the period 1998-2003, our results support these propositions. We find that the diversity of FDI country origins in an industry has a positive relationship with the productivity of domestic firms in the industry. This positive relationship is stronger when domestic firms are larger, and when the technology gap between FDI and the domestic firms is intermediate.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an important policy agenda undertaken by the Chinese government. We explore how the BRI – as well as an associated policy, the creation of Chinese overseas special economic zones – influences Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI). We find that host-country institutional fragility positively influences Chinese FDI volumes, and that the impact of institutional fragility on Chinese inward FDI to the host is amplified in the presence of the BRI. Specifically, BRI policy facilitates FDI to countries with weaker rule of law and less government accountability. We argue that, while the BRI may actively facilitate economic growth (i.e., via infrastructure development), and in turn aspects of human development, particularly in less-developed economies, its likely impacts on political rights may not be so promising.

Do investments in customer satisfaction lead to excess returns? If so, are these returns associated with higher stock market risk? The empirical evidence presented in this article suggests that the answer to the first question is yes, but equally remarkable, the answer to the second question is no, suggesting that satisfied customers are economic assets with high returns/low risk. Although these results demonstrate stock market imperfections with respect to the time it takes for share prices to adjust, they are consistent with previous studies in marketing in that a firm's satisfied customers are likely to improve both the level and the stability of net cash flows. The implication, implausible as it may seem in other contexts, is high return/low risk. Specifically, the authors find that customer satisfaction, as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), is significantly related to market value of equity. Yet news about ACSI results does not move share prices. This apparent inconsistency is the catalyst for examining whether excess stock returns might be generated as a result. The authors present two stock portfolios: The first is a paper portfolio that is back tested, and the second is an actual case. At low systematic risk, both outperform the market by considerable margins. In other words, it is possible to beat the market consistently by investing in firms that do well on the ACSI.

In the present situation of difficult enterprise-financing, the equity pledge of corporate controlling shareholders is a effective channel for enterprises to relieve financing constraints. Whether an enterprise can formulate a reasonable investment policy to obtain investment income effectively and achieve financial goals, determines whether an enterprise can develop in the long-tern future. The target of this paper is to approach how the investment efficiency of an enterprise will change with the increase in the portion of controlling shareholder equity pledge (CSEQ), and how the internal control system of the enterprise regulates the contact between controlling shareholder equity pledge and investment efficiency. The article found that the controlling shareholder's equity pledge (CSEQ) affects the enterprise's inefficient investment behavior, and the controlling shareholder's equity pledge ratio has a positive interrelationship with the inefficient investment. According to the previous studies, this paper carries out further research, innovatively introduces the internal control quality index, discusses the influence of internal control quality on equity pledge and investment efficiency sensitivity. The result show that the higher internal control quality can restrain the excessive investment behavior of enterprises

This study attempts to fill the literature gap regarding sustainable entrepreneurship viewed through geographical clustering lenses by examining how institutional factors such as local entrepreneurship and innovation climates, knowledge networks, policies, resource availability, and awareness affect entrepreneurial firm formation in the USA. Drawing from various theoretical views within the interdisciplinary literature on the topic, we develop cross-cluster hypotheses regarding firm formation and geographic clustering of clean-technology companies. We test them using a negative binomial random effects model in a panel sample of US clean-technology startup firms and find general support.

This article is based on the presidential address delivered at the EEA Annual Congress 2016. It discusses China’s institutional and economic transformation through the lens of the model of growth and convergence developed in Acemoglu, Aghion, and Zilibotti (JEEA 2006), which emphasizes the dichotomy between investment- and innovation-led growth. The economic reforms introduced in the 1980s and 1990s have enabled the Chinese economy to grow at historically unprecedented rates through fostering investment, reallocation, and technology adoption from abroad. The Chinese stimulus package introduced in 2008 appears to have prolonged the longevity of China’s investment driven growth beyond its optimal point. Over the last decade, China has activated the engine of innovation-led growth. The article discusses the virtues and limits of such ongoing transition, based on research in progress using firm-level data on R&D and productivity growth. Finally, it provides an appraisal of the institutional and policy reforms that are necessary for China to continue on its path of rapid convergence.