Explaining Russian manufacturing exports: Firm characteristics and external conditions

This paper examines the exporting behaviour of Russian manufacturers by considering the effects of firm characteristics and external conditions. Two measures of export behaviour are considered: the decision to export and the share of exports to developed markets. I find that specific exporting experience is the main determinant of both export status and destination. Contrary to studies for other countries, firm features, with the exception of firm size, are irrelevant for export status, while labour productivity is important in determining the intensity of exports to developed markets. There is also evidence that spillover effects from agglomeration have an effect on exporting. At the same time, a lower degree of regulatory capture and a less corrupt judiciary matter for orientation towards more developed markets, while regional resource dependence does not hinder manufacturing exporting.export decision ; export destination ; institutions ; regulatory capture ; spillovers ; agglomeration ; Dutch disease ; Russia

The growth of business groups by habitual entrepreneurs: the role of entrepreneurial teams

Previous research demonstrates that entrepreneurial processes underpin the growth of business groups. A business group is a set of companies controlled by the same entrepreneur. Case studies of portfolio entrepreneurs suggest that one of the main reasons for business group formation is the need to create an entrepreneurial team, which is achieved by giving minority shares in the new ventures to others, mainly former employees. This enhances the portfolio entrepreneur’s ability to grow and diversify the businesses under their control. The paper identifies and discusses the different types of entrepreneurial teams developed by portfolio entrepreneurs, and their dynamics.Business groups, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial teams

Assessment of the NEK5000 code for Direct Numerical Simulations

The present work is included in the frame of the fundamental studies performed worldwide aiming at improving the prediction tools for investigating turbulence phenomena, in order to provide the basis for the assessment of codes and models suitable for the detailed analysis of complex fluid systems, like nuclear reactors. A critical aspect of the nuclear reactor safety is the fluid-structure interaction, and in particular, the combined effect of a turbulent flow with a thermal mixing, which may lead to local Thermal Fatigue phenomena into the structures due to Thermal Striping. The main goal of the present work is to assess the DNS capabilities of the spectral elements code NEK5000 for the fundamental turbulent flows and their thermal interaction with solid structures. This work is divided into two parts.In the first part, DNS computations are carried out in order to evaluate the performances of the code in predicting the turbulent flow behaviour for simplistic channel flow configurations. Whereas, in the second part, the DNS analyses are further extended for a conjugate heat transfer case, i.e. a planer channel flow along with heated walls. Three different temperature fields are considered. A wide range of numerical parameters are tested and their influence is studied in order to obtain high quality turbulence statistics both for the velocity and the thermal fields. The obtained results are compared against other well-known DNS databases available in literature. The comparison suggests that NEK5000 exhibits excellent capabilities to perform high quality DNS computations

Corruption and productivity : firm-level evidence from the BEEPS survey

Using enterprise data for the economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, this study examines the effects of corruption on productivity. Corruption is narrowly defined as the occurrence of informal payments to government officials to ease the day-to-day operation of firms. The effects of this"bribe tax"on productivity are compared to the consequences of red tape, which may be understood as imposing a"time tax"on firms. When testing effects in the full sample, only the bribe tax appears to have a negative impact on firm-level productivity, while the effect of the time tax is insignificant. At the same time, unlike similar studies using country-level data, firm level analysis allows a direct test of the"efficient grease"hypothesis by investigating whether corruption may increase productivity by helping reduce the time tax on firms. Results provide no evidence of a trade-off between the time and the bribe taxes, implying that bribing does not emerge as a second-best option to achieve higher productivity by helping circumvent cumbersome bureaucratic requirements. When controlling for EU membership the effects of the bribe tax are more harmful in non-EU countries. This suggests that the surrounding environment influences the way in which firm behaviour affects firm performance. In particular, in countries where corruption is more prevalent and the legal framework is weaker, bribery is more harmful for firm-level productivity.Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Political Economy,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets

Product Market Regulation in Romania: A Comparison with OECD Countries

Less restrictive product market policies are crucial in promoting convergence to higher levels of GDP per capita. This paper benchmarks product market policies in Romania to those of the OECD countries by estimating OECD indicators of Product Market Regulation (PMR). The PMR indicators allow a comprehensive mapping of policies affecting competition in product markets. Comparison with OECD countries reveals that Romania’s product market policies are less restrictive of competition than most direct comparators from the region and not far from the OECD average. Nonetheless, this achievement should be interpreted in light of the fact that PMR approach measures officially adopted policies. It does not capture implementation and enforcement, the area where future reform efforts should be directed if less restrictive policies are to have an effective impact on long-term growth prospects. Part I : a comparative analysis of Romania’s PRM and Inward-oriented Policies.regulation, product markets, administrative reforms, inward looking policies, outward looking policies

Product market regulation in Romania : a comparison with OECD countries

Less restrictive product market policies are crucial in promoting convergence to higher levels of GDP per capita. This paper benchmarks product market policies in Romania to those of OECD countries by estimating OECD indicators of Product Market Regulation (PMR). The PMR indicators allow a comprehensive mapping of policies affecting competition in product markets. Comparison with OECD countries reveals that Romania's product market policies are less restrictive of competition than most direct comparators from the region and not far from the OECD average. Nonetheless, this achievement should be interpreted in light of the fact that PMR approach measures officially adopted policies. It does not capture implementation and enforcement, the area where future reform efforts should be directed if less restrictive policies are to have an effective impact on long-term growth prospects.Public Sector Regulation,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,E-Business,Emerging Markets,Markets and Market Access

Product Market Regulation in Romania: A Comparison with OECD Countries - Part II

Less restrictive product market policies are crucial in promoting convergence to higher levels of GDP per capita. This paper benchmarks product market policies in Romania to those of OECD countries by estimating OECD indicators of Product Market Regulation (PMR). The PMR indicators allow a comprehensive mapping of policies affecting competition in product markets. Comparison with OECD countries reveals that Romania’s product market policies are less restrictive of competition than most direct comparators from the region and not far from the OECD average. Nonetheless, this achievement should be interpreted in light of the fact that PMR approach measures officially adopted policies. It does not capture implementation and enforcement, the area where future reform efforts should be directed if less restrictive policies are to have an effective impact on long-term growth prospects. Part II: Outward-oriented Policies with some suggestions for the next steps.regulation, product markets, administrative reforms, inward looking policies, outward looking policies

Product market regulation in Bulgaria : a comparison with OECD Countries

Less restrictive product market policies are crucial in promoting convergence to higher levels of GDP per capita. This paper benchmarks product market policies in Bulgaria to those of OECD countries by estimating OECD indicators of Product Market Regulation (PMR). The PMR indicators allow a comprehensive mapping of policies affecting competition in product markets. Comparison with OECD countries reveals that Bulgaria has made substantial progress towards less restrictive product market policies but also emphasizes a number of areas where further reform is needed. These include adoption of a regulatory process based on incentive-based rather than command-and-control approach, reduction of state interference in the decision of state-owned enterprises, further streamlining of business licensing procedures, and improvement in the communication of rules and procedures to affected parties.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Public Sector Regulation,E-Business,Emerging Markets,Markets and Market Access

Vocabulary acquisition through reading: strategies to facilitate brazilian fifth grade efl student's vocabulary learning /

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão.O presente estudo buscou investigar o efeito facilitador de duas estratégias de aquisição de vocabulário: "Verbal Imagery Mnemonics" e "Guessing from Context" na retenção de vocabulário em inglês como língua estrangeira, bem como na compreensão da leitura de alunos brasileiros frequentando a quinta série do primeiro grau. Os alunos investigados eram iniciantes no estudo de inglês, matriculados em três diferentes quintas séries do Centro Educacional Vidal Ramos Jr., uma escola pública estadual, em Lages, Santa Catarina. O método adotado neste estudo consistiu de: (1) uma entrevista escrita com os sujeitos e seus respectivos professores de inglês, objetivando a seleção de sujeitos que estivessem estudando esta língua pela primeira vez e (2) cinco testes escritos, um aplicado imediatamente após a leitura do texto para verificar a compreensão do mesmo, e outros quatro, aplicados uma semana após a leitura do texto, visando checar a habilidade destes alunos em reconhecer e traduzir as palavras chaves do texto, tanto em lista quanto em sentenças, e reter informação a respeito do texto lido. Os resultados deste estudos tendem a confirmar a visão de pesquisadores que defendem a existência de uma relação íntima entre conhecimento vocabular e compreensão de textos e a importância do conhecimento vocabular e (2) indicam um certo equilíbrio entre a utilidade de ambas as estratégias (Verbal Imagery Mnemonics e Guessing from Context) no que tange ao efeito facilitador destas mesmas estratégias na retenção de palavras desconhecidas em inglês e na compreensão de texto destes alunos de quinta série