The Impact of FDI, Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions and Greenfield Investments on Economic Growth

This paper investigates whether aggregate foreign direct investment (FDI), cross border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and greenfield investments affects economic growth based on a panel data of 53 countries over the period 1996-2006. Both causality tests and single growth equations are applied to examine this relationship. The evidence suggests that there is bidirectional causality between FDI, M&A and growth. We can also conclude that economic growth Granger causes greenfields, but the reverse is not true. The estimation of the growth equation leads us to conclude that FDI through greenfield investments exerts a positive impact on economic growth in both developed and developing countries. Oppositely, M&A has a negative effect on the economic growth of developing countries, but insignificant on developed countries.Foreign Direct Investment, Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions, Greenfield Investments, Economic Growth

Classifiers in Paresi-Haliti (Arawak)

ABSTRACT: This work presents the nominal classification system of Paresi. Paresi is an Arawak language, spoken in Mato Grosso (Brazil). The data comes from field work in the Formoso and Rio Verde communities. In Paresi, similar to other Arawak languages, nouns can be inalienable or alienable. Inalienable nouns are bound nouns that can only occur with the possessor prefixes or the non-possessed suffix. There are two types of inalienable nouns: simple inalienable nouns and inalienable nouns with a classifying function. These nouns have their meaning metaphorically extended in order to categorize a nominal referent. Furthermore, they can be part of a compound, be incorporated into a verb, and occur also with numerals and demonstratives. These bound nouns have functions similar to classifiers as described in the main literature on the types of nominal classification systems: Dixon (1986); Payne (1987); Derbyshire e Payne (1990); Grinevald (2000); Aikhenvald (2000); and Grinevald e Seifart (2004).KEY WORDS: Noun classification. Classifiers. Multiple classifiers

European Union security actorness : the comprehensive approach hampered by policy differentiation

A Actorness Securitária da União Europeia: A Abordagem Holística Comprometida pela Diferenciação Política O artigo tem por objetivo analisar as implicações da policy differentiation para a comprehensive approach (CA) da União Europeia no domínio da segurança. O ambiente do pós-Guerra Fria (oportunidade) favoreceu a explicitação da actorness de segurança da UE. Após os ataques terroristas de 11 de Setembro de 2001, a União adotou uma abordagem ambiciosa demonstrativa de quatro dinâmicas interconectadas: expansão da agenda de segurança; externalização da cooperação no domínio da segurança interna; internalização da Política Comum de Segurança e Defesa; transpilarização. Tal representou um avanço em benefício da afirmação da UE como ator de segurança holístico e multifuncional, dotado de autonomia, capacidade e presença. Desde então, a narrativa e as práticas europeias generalizam-se a diversos problemas de segurança tais como crises e conflitos, crime organizado, pirataria, cibersegurança, Estados Falhados, tráfico de seres humanos, radicalização, ameaças híbridas. Esta abordagem associada a uma ambição de actorness global impõem exigências únicas à UE. Um dos principais desafios decorre da policy differentiation na área da segurança. Com a entrada em vigor das alterações introduzidas pelo Tratado de Lisboa, a UE passou a estar dotada de personalidade jurídica, o que lhe permite celebrar tratados internacionais e ter representação externa. Tal significa que, pela primeira vez na história da construção europeia, a cooperação no domínio da segurança (interna e externa) desenvolve-se no âmbito de uma Organização Internacional. O Tratado de Lisboa também superou a estrutura em pilares, introduziu alterações com vista a reforçar a coerência da atuação externa do ator europeu e comprovou o dinamismo cooperativo no âmbito das políticas dos antigos segundo e terceiros pilares. No entanto, os ajustamentos consagrados pelo Tratado Reformador evidenciam uma ambiguidade construtiva patente nas disposições que favorecem uma ação holística, por um lado, e na pilarização encoberta, por outro, agravada pela ausência de uma preocupação explícita com a coerência entre as dimensões interna e externa da segurança (the missing link). Anainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Airport’s Profit Sharing: Effects on Investment Incentives, Competition and Social Welfare

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of airport’s profit sharing on the incentives to invest, market competition and social welfare. The analysis is developed under two frameworks, one with a single airport and one with two competing airports, and both with airline competition. We conclude that airport’s profit sharing may display the highest incentive to invest when compared to alternative vertical relations. Also, we found that airport’s profit sharing excludes the independent airline, as long as the profit airport participation is not below 60%. Moreover, airport’s profit sharing does not allow the elimination of double marginalization and thus the effects on social welfare are ambiguous

Regulatory design under asymmetric information about demand

In this paper we compare the costs of two regulatory policies about the entry of new firms. We consider an incumbent firm that has more information about the market demand than the regulator. Then, the incumbent firm can use this advantage to persuade the regulator to make entry more difficult. With the first regulatory policy the regulator uses the incumbent price pre-regulation to get information about the demand. With the second regulatory policy the regulator design a mechanism to motivate the incumbent firm to price truthfully. We conclude that, for enough high values of the probability of low demand, the welfare is higher with the second (more active) regulatory policy.asymmetric information, entry regulation, signalling, adverse selection

Next Generation Access Networks: The Effects of Vertical Spillovers on Access and Innovation

The model that we develop here considers that an upstream firm sells a vital input to downstream firms. There are vertical spillovers and two different regulatory policies of the input price: cost oriented regulation and no-regulation. We also admit two alternative market structures: vertical integration and vertical separation. With this setting we study the effects of the spillovers on foreclosure and on the investment of the upstream firm with and without access price regulation in the two market structures. We conclude that in this setting foreclosure is not a necessary outcome and that the investment of the upstream firm depends on the values of the spillovers of each firm. The increase of the investment with regulation is more likely with vertical separation but it can also happen with vertical integration although this is not a typical result.access price regulation, vertical integration

No-reference quality assessment of H.264/AVC encoded video

WOS:000283952100005 (Nº de Acesso Web of Science)“Prémio Científico ISCTE-IUL 2011”This paper proposes a no-reference quality assessment metric for digital video subject to H.264/advanced video coding encoding. The proposed metric comprises two main steps: coding error estimation and perceptual weighting of this error. Error estimates are computed in the transform domain, assuming that discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients are corrupted by quantization noise. The DCT coefficient distributions are modeled using Cauchy or Laplace probability density functions, whose parameterization is performed using the quantized coefficient data and quantization steps. Parameter estimation is based on a maximum-likelihood estimation method combined with linear prediction. The linear prediction scheme takes advantage of the correlation between parameter values at neighbor DCT spatial frequencies. As for the perceptual weighting module, it is based on a spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity function applied to the DCT domain that compensates image plane movement by considering the movements of the human eye, namely smooth pursuit, natural drift, and saccadic movements. The video related inputs for the perceptual model are the motion vectors and the frame rate, which are also extracted from the encoded video. Subjective video quality assessment tests have been carried out in order to validate the results of the metric. A set of 11 video sequences, spanning a wide range of content, have been encoded at different bitrates and the outcome was subject to quality evaluation. Results show that the quality scores computed by the proposed algorithm are well correlated with the mean opinion scores associated to the subjective assessment

How R&D and tax incentives influence economic growth: Econometric study for the period between 1995 and 2008 of EU-15

Setting targets to increase the levels of R&D, a component that is present in the political and economic agendas of the European Member States with the promotion of active tax policies, suggests that it is possible for R&D to cause an impact on economic growth. This research work aims at understanding the influence of the evolution of R&D expenditures, as well as the influence of tax incentives on economic growth. For that, a panel data of 15 European countries, during the period between 1995 and 2008, was used. The econometric study confirms the foreseen importance, both in this study and in the literature, of the countries’ R&D efforts and their impact on economic growth. The positive effect of tax incentives on economic growth, combined with R&D levels, is highlighted and demonstrated, thus confirming a strategic orientation towards tax policies followed by the national institutions.R&D, tax incentives, economic growth, econometric analysis in panel data

Practices and trends of telework in the Portuguese industry: the results of surveys in the textile, metal and software sectors

The aim of the TeleRisk Project on labour relations and professional risks within the context of teleworking in Portugal – supported by IDICT – Institute for Development and Inspection of Working Conditions (Ministry of Labour), is to study the practices and forms of teleworking in the manufacturing sectors in Portugal. The project chose also the software industry as a reference sector, even though it does not intend to exclude from the study any other sector of activity or the so-called “hybrid” forms of work. However, the latter must have some of the characteristics of telework. The project thus takes into account the so-called “traditional” sectors of activity, namely textile and machinery and metal engineering (machinery and equipment), not usually associated to this type of work. However, telework could include, in the so-called “traditional” sectors, other variations that are not found in technologically based sectors. One of the evaluation methods for the dynamics associated to telework consisted in carrying out surveys by means of questionnaires, aimed at employers in the sectors analysed. This paper presents some of the results of those surveys. It is important to mention that, being a preliminary analysis, it means that it does not pretend to have exhausted all the issues in the survey, but has meant that it shows the bigger tendencies, in terms of teleworking practices, of the Portuguese industry

The level of CEO compensation for the short and long-term - a view on high tech firms

AbstractThis study examines the relationship between corporate performance and the Chief Executive Officer compensation in high- technology firms in the S&P 1500. The total CEO compensation and short and long-term compensations were tested regarding corporate performance. A panel data SUR model is estimated and describes the total compensation and cash compensation as a proportion of total pay for the period between 2000 and 2010 in high-technologies firms. The findings indicate that there is a strong and positive relation between CEO compensation and firm performance. This econometric study provides a better understanding on the relationship between CEO compensation and performance in high-technologies firms