Can firm age account for productivity differences?

The productivity of enterprises is an important indicator, for individual enterprises as well as for policy makers. For individual firms, their productivity is a main determinant of their performance, while the aggregate productivity is one of the main determinants of economic growth. In this study we examine the relationship between the age of firms and the level and growth rate of productivity, focusing on firms of at least 10 years of age. For these firms, we will examine the following two research questions: How does the distribution of firm productivity (as characterised by mean and standard deviation) change over age cohorts? To which extent are differences in productivity between individual firms related to firm age?

On the relationship between firm age and productivity growth

For young firms, a clear relationship exists between firm age and productivity. Various studies have shown that the productivity level of new firms is below the average level, while the productivity growth rate of (surviving) young firms is above average. During the first few years, the average level of productivity tends to increase while the average growth rate tends to decrease. For elder, established firms, the relationship between age and productivity becomes less clear. Established firms show on average a positive growth rate, but whether this growth rate is related to the specific age of these firms is not well established. In this study we examine the relationship between the age of firms and their productivity growth, for establishes firms, where establishes firms are defined as firms of at least 10 years of age. Our research question is: to which extent are differences in productivity growth rates between individual firms related to firm age?

Актуальні Проблеми Кримінально-Правової Політики Сучасної України

The existing state of criminal law protection (the amount of criminalization) carried out by the norms of the Criminal Code of Ukraine clearly indicates its non­compliance with the specified criteria, that is, it is inappropriate. The legislator criminalises acts, without taking into account the criteria of expediency, seeking to capture the maximum range of types of behavior with prohibitions and criminal responsibility. The above data on the changes made to the Criminal Code during the years of its existence evidently confirms it. Attempts to justify criminalization with the expediency of strengthening protection, strengthening responsibility (without taking into account its objective criteria) may lead to the formation of a police regime, and not to the development of democracy. To date, Ukraine has weakly analyzed the special issues of criminal law policy - its level differentiation, in certain areas of its implementation, in subjects, participants, etc. Practically it is not developed its special part. Establishing the presence of factors that determine the need for the implementation of changes in the criminal law, objectively leads the initiator of such changes to the need to implement a modeling of the criminal law.Наявний стан кримінально-правового забезпечення охорони (обсяг кри- міналізації), який здійснюється нормами КК України, наочно свідчить про її невідповідність визначеним критеріям, тобто він є недоцільним. Законодавець здійснює криміналізацію діянь, без врахування критеріїв доцільності, прагнучі охопити заборонами і кримінальною відповідальністю максимальне коло видів поведінки. Зазначені вище дані про здійснені зміни до КК за роки його існуван­ня, наочно це підтверджують. Спроби виправдання криміналізації доцільністю посилення охорони, посилення відповідальності (без врахування її об'єктивних критеріїв), можуть призвести до становлення поліцейського режиму, а не до роз­витку демократії. На сьогодні в Україні слабо проаналізовані спеціальні питання кримінально правової політики - її рівнева диференціація, по окремих напрямах її здійснення, по суб'єктах, учасниках та т. ін. Практично не розроблена її Особлива частина. Встановлення наявності факторів, що визначають потребу у здійсненні змін кримінального закону, об'єктивно приводить ініціатора таких змін до необхід­ності здійснення моделювання кримінального закону

До Поняття Нотаріальної Діяльності

This paper deals with the content of notarial activities in the context of legal practice in general. It is analyzed their types and characteristics.В статті розглядаються питання змісту нотаріальної діяльності в контексті юридичної діяльності у цілому. Аналізуються її типи, ознаки та види

Creative industries

Creative industries are nowadays central in many policies to stimulate the economic development of cities, regions and advanced capitalist economies in general. This paper contributes to the� creative industries literature in two respects. First, we empirically explore if high shares of creative industries in regions go together with one particular aspect of regional economic development, namely firm entry rates. Drawing on Dutch trade register data over a six-year period, it is concluded that at the level of municipalities there is indeed a connection between the share of creative industries and firm entry, even after controlling for the sizes of municipalities, and no matter if creative industries are defined broadly or narrowly. Second, the paper analyses if firms in creative industries are heterogeneous in terms of business processes and their contribution to regional firm entry. Drawing on previous work four creative domains are identified: arts, media and entertainment, creative business services and, at the periphery, knowledge intensive business services. After analysing survey data of 4,746 Dutch SMEs, we find that firms across these domains are distinct in their use of the surveyed business practices: innovation, strategy and marketing, and human resources practices. Especially knowledge intensive services firms are deviant. For the connection with firm entry rates, it appears that high shares of firms in the arts and knowledge intensive business services are significantly connected with regional firm entry rates, while media and entertainment and creative business services remain insignificant. Implications for practitioners and future research are discussed. �

Experimental verification of democratic particle motions by direct imaging of glassy colloidal systems

We analyze data from confocal microscopy experiments of a colloidal suspension to validate predictions of rapid sporadic events responsible for structural relaxation in a glassy sample. The trajectories of several thousand colloidal particles are analyzed, confirming the existence of rapid sporadic events responsible for the structural relaxation of significant regions of the sample, and complementing prior observations of dynamical heterogeneity. The emergence of relatively compact clusters of mobility allows the dynamics to transition between the large periods of local confinement within its potential energy surface, in good agreement with the picture envisioned long ago by Adam and Gibbs and Goldstein.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Lagenidium callinectes INFECTION ON ROTIFERS Brachionus sp.

Milkfish, Chanos chanos and humpback grouper, Cromileptes altivelis hatcheries have developed at Gondol, Bali since 1995 and until now still rely on rotifers, the main natural food, supply. Recent problem on mass culture of rotifer, Brachionus sp. is harvest failure caused by fungus infection. Under light microscope, infected eggs and bodies of the rotifers was filled with numerous aseptate hyphae. Two isolates of fungi were isolated from rotifer eggs and carcass on June 21st, 2004 and on June 25th, 2004 obtained from milkfish and humpback grouper hatcheries at Gondol. Based on its morphological characteristics, the pathogenic fungus was identified as Lagenidium callinectes which grows optimally at 25°C and survives in 1.0%, 2.5%, and 5.0% NaCl as well as in 1.0% and 2.5% KCl. Both of the present isolates utilize only 8 out of 26 carbohydrates and derivatives tested as carbon, nutrition and energy sources. This finding is the first report on rotifer, Brachionus sp. infected with L. callinectes causing up to 100% mortality

The decidability of the equivalence problem for DOL-systems

The language and sequence equivalence problem for DOL-systems is shown to be decidable. In an algebraic formulation the sequence equivalence problem for DOL-systems can be stated as follows: Given homomorphisms h1 and h2 on a free monoid Σ* and a word σ from Σ*, is h1n(σ) = h2n(σ) for all n ⩾ 0