Do local financial and legal systems affect SMEs capital structure?

This note investigates the role of institutional differences at the local level as determinants of firms' capital structure. Specifically, its aim is to empirically assess whether and to what extent SMEs' financial decisions are affected by local financial development – evaluating this influence both ceteris paribus, and by allowing it to be conditional on different levels of legal enforcement inefficiency. Controlling for debt inertia, firms' heterogeneity and endogeneity problems, we find that local financial development may be an important determinant of SMEs' capital structure, and that firms appear to have better access to financial debt in areas characterized by a higher quality of the legal system. Thus, despite the international process of capital markets integration, local financial institutions do not seem to become irrelevant for SMEs, which are in need of well developed institutions at local level to gain easier access to external financial resources.firms' capital structure; bank debt; local financial development; local enforcement system, SMEs.

Global value chains and energy-related sustainable practices. Evidence from Enterprise Survey data

Participation in global value chains (GVCs) can affect the deployment of clean energy technologies and influence firm-level energy management. However, the sign of this influence is debated, especially for less developed economies, since GVCs can favor the absorption of more advanced technologies and the adoption of greener energy practices, but on the other hand they can help export polluting productions from countries with strict environmental regulations to weakly regulated developing countries. Drawing on Enterprise Surveys conducted in 2018–2020 on a large cross-section of firms operating in different industries and countries, and applying regression analyses and propensity score matching, this is the first firm-level study aiming to shed light on the relationship between firm participation in GVCs and the adoption of energy-related sustainable practices. In addition, the analysis allows for a heterogeneous impact of GVCs, conditional on firms’ characteristics and external conditions, such as institutional quality. Overall, we find that participation in GVCs is positively asso- ciated with firm propensity to adopt green energy practices. For smaller and younger firms, operating in poorer institutional contexts, and/or less endowed in terms of human capital or financial resources, being engaged in GVCs has milder effects on the adoption of greener practices. By contrast, manufacturing companies located in high-income countries are those showing the strongest impact of GVCs on energy management

Total factor productivity heterogeneity: channelling the impact of institutions

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the determinants of differentials in firms’ productivity. We test the hypothesis that macro factors, especially the quality of local institutions, play a role in explaining firm productivity in Italy. To this end, following Fӓre et al. (1994), we decompose the Malmquist index of total factor productivity (TFP) change for approximately 7,500 manufacturing small and medium-sized firms, and we proxy province-level institutional quality using the IQI index (Nifo and Vecchione, 2014). The results of our stimations suggest that better local institutions might help firms better combine inputs, approach the optimal size, and ultimately be more productive

Total factor productivity heterogeneity: channelling the impact of institutions

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the determinants of differentials in firms’ productivity. We test the hypothesis that macro factors, especially the quality of local institutions, play a role in explaining firm productivity in Italy. To this end, following Fӓre et al. (1994), we decompose the Malmquist index of total factor productivity (TFP) change for approximately 7,500 manufacturing small and medium-sized firms, and we proxy province-level institutional quality using the IQI index (Nifo and Vecchione, 2014). The results of our stimations suggest that better local institutions might help firms better combine inputs, approach the optimal size, and ultimately be more productive

The Productivity of Italian Industrial Suppliers (1998-2006). Does Participation in Global Value Chains Matter?

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Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (d̂ t) and chromomagnetic (μ̂ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ¯ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ¯ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048−0.087+0.095(stat)−0.029+0.020(syst),μ̂t=−0.024−0.009+0.013(stat)−0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | d̂ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Measurement of t(t)over-bar normalised multi-differential cross sections in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV, and simultaneous determination of the strong coupling strength, top quark pole mass, and parton distribution functions

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An embedding technique to determine ττ backgrounds in proton-proton collision data

An embedding technique is presented to estimate standard model tau tau backgrounds from data with minimal simulation input. In the data, the muons are removed from reconstructed mu mu events and replaced with simulated tau leptons with the same kinematic properties. In this way, a set of hybrid events is obtained that does not rely on simulation except for the decay of the tau leptons. The challenges in describing the underlying event or the production of associated jets in the simulation are avoided. The technique described in this paper was developed for CMS. Its validation and the inherent uncertainties are also discussed. The demonstration of the performance of the technique is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions collected by CMS in 2017 at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.5 fb(-1).Peer reviewe