Productivity spreads, market power spreads and trade

Much of recent Trade theory focuses on heterogeneity of firms and the differential impacttrade policy might have on firms with different levels of productivity. A common problem isthat most firm level dataset do not contain information on output prices of firms which makesit difficult to distinguish between productivity differences and differences in market powerbetween firms. This paper develops a new econometric framework that allows estimatingboth firm specific productivity and market power in a semi-parametric way based on acontrol function approach. The framework is applied to Chilean firm level data from the early1980, shortly after the country underwent wide ranging trade reforms. The finding is that inall sectors of the economy market power declined and productivity increased. In sectors withhigher import penetration productivity particularly at the bottom end of the distributionincreased faster. At the same time market power declined particularly so at the top end of themarket power distribution. We also show, that ignoring the effect on market power leads toan underestimation of the positive effects of increased import penetration on productivity

Productivity Spreads, Market Power Spreads and Trade

Much of recent Trade theory focuses on heterogeneity of firms and the differential impact trade policy might have on firms with different levels of productivity. A common problem is that most firm level dataset do not contain information on output prices of firms which makes it difficult to distinguish between productivity differences and differences in market power between firms. This paper develops a new econometric framework that allows estimating both firm specific productivity and market power in a semi-parametric way based on a control function approach. The framework is applied to Chilean firm level data from the early 1980, shortly after the country underwent wide ranging trade reforms. The finding is that in all sectors of the economy market power declined and productivity increased. In sectors with higher import penetration productivity particularly at the bottom end of the distribution increased faster. At the same time market power declined particularly so at the top end of the market power distribution. We also show, that ignoring the effect on market power leads to an underestimation of the positive effects of increased import penetration on productivity.Trade policy, productivity measurement, imperfect competition, productivity dispersion, productivity spread

Partial ovoids and partial spreads in finite classical polar spaces

We survey the main results on ovoids and spreads, large maximal partial ovoids and large maximal partial spreads, and on small maximal partial ovoids and small maximal partial spreads in classical finite polar spaces. We also discuss the main results on the spectrum problem on maximal partial ovoids and maximal partial spreads in classical finite polar spaces

RAS Project Evaluative Report

Report findings from university study RAS (Retain, Achieve, Succeed), a staff research programme that examines issues around a 30% achievement gap between home black and home white students. Its focus has been on the curriculum and understanding matters of diversity and accessibility within institutional delivery at UAL

Identification of Driving Factors for Emerging Markets Sovereign Spreads

The objective of this paper is to identify the relationship between sovereign yield spreads and macroeconomic variables in emerging markets. We find that the correlation between spreads and GDP is negative. Real effective exchange rate depreciation enlarges spreads and increasing in risk aversion influences spreads. US treasury yields impact on spreads is changing over time. More recently lower US treasuries yields have driven spreads wider. Last commodity prices are associated with a reduction in emerging market debt spreads.Bond spread, Cointegration, Emerging market CDS, Sovereign bond

Constant rank-distance sets of hermitian matrices and partial spreads in hermitian polar spaces

In this paper we investigate partial spreads of $H(2n-1,q^2)$ through the related notion of partial spread sets of hermitian matrices, and the more general notion of constant rank-distance sets. We prove a tight upper bound on the maximum size of a linear constant rank-distance set of hermitian matrices over finite fields, and as a consequence prove the maximality of extensions of symplectic semifield spreads as partial spreads of $H(2n-1,q^2)$. We prove upper bounds for constant rank-distance sets for even rank, construct large examples of these, and construct maximal partial spreads of $H(3,q^2)$ for a range of sizes

The Greek financial crisis: growing imbalances and sovereign spreads

We discuss the origins of the Greek financial crisis as manifested in the growing fiscal and current-account deficits since euro-area entry in 2001. We then provide an investigation of spreads on Greek relative to German long-term government debt. Using monthly data over the period 2000 to 2010, we estimate a cointegrating relationship between spreads and their long-term fundamental determinants, and compare the spreads predicted by this estimated relationship with actual spreads. We find periods of both undershooting and overshooting of spreads compared to what is predicted by the economic fundamentals.Greek financial crisis; sovereign spreads

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LINKAGES BETWEEN EURO AND STERLING SWAP SPREADS

This paper examines the causal relationship between euro and sterling swap spreads during the period January, 1999 to March, 2003. The absence of any correlation between changes in the two swap spreads would indicate that credit risk factors are country-specific. But euro swap spreads showed some correlation with the interest rate differentials between the two markets. Both spreads follow a GARCH process but sterling swap spreads reacted more intensely to market movements and were more volatile than their euro counterparts. There was evidence of mild volatility transmission from the sterling swap spreads to the euro swap spreads but the causality was one sided.

Credit spreads: theory and evidence about the information content of stocks, bonds and cdss

This paper presents a procedure for computing homogeneous measures of credit risk from stocks, bonds and CDSs. The measures are based on bond spreads (BS), CDS spreads (CDS) and implied stock market credit spreads (ICS). We compute these measures for a sample of North American and European firms and find that in most cases, the stock market leads the credit risk discovery process with respect to bond and CDS markets