Domestic wage determination: Regional Spillovers and inward investment

This paper evaluates the extent of inter- industry, and inter-regional wage spillovers across the UK. A large literature exists suggesting that wages elsewhere affect wage determination and levels of satisfaction, but this paper extends the analysis to examine the effects of inward investment in the process. Thus far the specific effect of foreign wages on domestic wage determination has not been evaluated. Using industry and regional level panel data for the UK the paper reports evidence that such wage spillovers do occur, and that they are more widespread for skilled, than for unskilled workers and also lower in areas of high unemployment.Wage determination; regional spillovers; alternative wage

DO EXTERNAL FUNDS YIELD LOWER RETURNS ? RECENT EVIDENCE FROM EAST ASIAN ECONOMIES

Using a large firm level panel data set from four Asian countries, this paper compares the returns to various internal and external funds. A novel feature of our analysis is that we distinguish between financially constrained and unconstrained firms and determine selectivity-corrected estimates of rates of return to internal and external funds in markets characterised by information problems. Results derived from a unique random effects panel data model with selection and unobserved heterogeneity suggest evidence of significant misallocation, especially in external financing of investment. While these results contrast some of the existing results, they seem to complement the moral hazard arguments put forward by the macro literature on the recent Asian crisis.Efficiency, Misallocation of capital, Returns to internal and external funds, Debt and equity, Financial constraint, Random effects model with selection

Productivity and Labour Demand Effects of Inward and Outward FDI on UK Industry

We relate the technological and factor price determinants of inward and outward FDI to its potential productivity and labour market effects on both host and home economies. This allows us to distinguish clearly between technology sourcing and technology exploiting FDI, and to identify FDI which is linked to labour cost differentials. We then empirically examine the effects of different types of FDI into and out of the United Kingdom on domestic (i.e. UK) productivity and on the demand for skilled and unskilled labour at the industry level. Inward investment into the UK comes overwhelmingly from sectors and countries which have a technological advantage over the corresponding UK sector. Outward FDI shows a quite different pattern, dominated by investment into foreign sectors which have lower unit labour costs than the UK. We find that different types of FDI have markedly different productivity and labour demand effects, which may in part explain the lack of consensus in the empirical literature on the effects of FDI. Our results also highlight the difficulty for policy makers of simultaneously improving employment and domestic productivity through FDI

Dynamic Adjustment of Corporate Leverage: Is there a lesson to learn from the Recent Asian Crisis?

Much of the macro literature on the recent Asian crisis argues that a major cause was over borrowing and over investment encouraged by poor supervision and the resulting moral hazard problem. Surprisingly however there is little firm-level evidence to corroborate this. The present paper examines the extent to which firms in these countries had deviated from their optimal levels of leverage and also the determinants of their ability to adjust their capital structure. Results obtained using the Worldscope firm-level panel data for the four of the worst affected countries suggest that higher quality firms had lower optimal leverage while firms with excess capital stock had higher optimal leverage required to finance this capital expenditire. Further, there are signs of corporate inertia in the worst affected countries exhibiting very slow adjustment processes in their capital structure. This result holds even for those firms potentially better placed to control their levels of leverage. These results seem to strengthen the moral hazard argument of bad loans in poorly regulated and supervised East Asian economies.Moral hazard, Optimum leverage, Dynamic model, Speed of adjustment

Dynamic Adjustment of Corporate Leverage: Is there a lesson to learn from the Recent Asian Crisis?

While the aggregate macroeconomic analysis of the recent Asian Crisis highlights the moral hazard problem of bad loans in poorly supervised and regulated East Asian economies, there is very little firm-level analysis to characterize it. The present paper attempts to fill in this gap of the literature and focuses on the process of dynamic adjustment of the actual leverage towards the optimum. Our results based on the Worldscope firm-level panel data indicate a close correspondence between excess leverage and excess capital stock and also reveal signs of corporate inertia. This inertia has been evident not only among firms with excess capital stock, but also among those with larger share of short-term debt in the worst affected countries, especially during the pre-crisis and crisis periods; the adjustment process was however speeded up in the post-crisis period. One possible way out of this problem of bad loans would be to develop the equity market and induce the firms to rely more on equity finance.Moral hazard, Over-lending and over-investment, Speed of adjustment, Inertia, Generalised Methods of Moments

Bridging the gap? Corruption, knowledge and foreign ownership

We argue that in addition to host corruption per se, as accounted for by the existing literature, an explanation of inter-country variation in FDI needs to account for the distance between the host and home corruption, which we call relative corruption. We use a large matched home-host firm-level panel data-set for 1998-2006 from CEE transition countries. Year-specific selectivity corrected estimates suggest that, ceteris paribus, higher relative ‘grand’ corruption lowers foreign ownership as the returns to investment tends to be lower in more corrupt environment. However, after controlling for the selectivity bias, knowledge-intensive parent firms are found to hold controlling ownership, as the difficulty of successful joint venture looms large in more corrupt environment. Results are robust to alternative specifications.Financial support from the ESRC under RES-062-23-0986 is acknowledge

Wage Inequality, Linkages and FDI

This paper extends the existing literature on FDI and wage inequality. We do this in two ways. Firstly, we incorporate more precise measures of inward investment into the model, by allowing for differences in the effects between horizontal and vertical FDI. Secondly, after establishing the effects that inward investment has on wage inequality, we then analyse the reasons for this in terms of the wages paid to skilled and unskilled workers, and the effect that inward investment has on this. We illustrate the important differences that horizontal and vertical FDI have on both wages and wage inequality, and the importance of allowing for regional differences in the results. FDI nationally tends to increase wage inequality, while the local, effects are opposite. FDI into assisted areas tends to increase wage inequality nationally, when the MNEs purchase inputs in the local region.wage inequality, FDI spillovers, backwards and forwards linkages

Excess Leverage and Productivity Growth in Emerging Economies: Is There A Threshold Effect?

The paper examines the relationship between leverage and growth in a group of emerging central and eastern European countries, who are at different levels of financial market development. We hypothesize a non-linear relationship in that moderate leverage could boost growth while very high leverage could lower it by increasing the likelihood of financial distress and bankruptcy. Estimates of a Threshold model confirm the non-linear relationship in our sample, after controlling for various firm, industry and financial market characteristics. We also endogenously determine a threshold level of leverage beyond which further increases in leverage could lower TFP growth.excess leverage, bank efficiency, market capitalization, TFP growth, Threshold model, non-linear relationship, transition experience

Optimal Leverage and Firm Performance: An Endogenous Threshold Analysis

The paper aims to bridge the gap between the literature on optimal capital structure and the literature on finance-output-growth nexus. On the basis of the trade-off theory of capital structure, we posit a non-linear relationship between leverage and productivity growth at the firm level. We test this hypothesis using both standard and IV threshold regression models, which in contrast to conventional estimates, allows us to endogenously determine optimal leverage despite firms’ temporary deviations from the optimum. Estimates for a sample of Central and Eastern European countries confirm a non-linear hump-shaped relationship between leverage and productivity growth, thus endogenously identifying an optimal leverage ratio. We show how our paper relates to and contributes to the literature on optimal capital structure and finance-output-growth literature.

Evolution of Capital Strcture in East Asia: Corporate Inertia or Endeavours?

The present paper examines the capital structure adjustment dynamics of listed non-financial corporations in seven East Asian countries during 1994-2002. Compared to firms in the least affected countries, average leverages were much higher among firms in the worst affected countries while the average speeds of adjustment were lower. This general ranking is robust to various alternative specifications and sample selections. We argue that this pattern is closely linked to weaknesses in regulatory environment and lack of access to alternative sources of finance in the worst affected countries.