Domestic Multinationals and Foreign-Owned Firms in Italy: Evidence from Quantile Regression

This paper investigates the performance differences across and within foreign-owned firms and domestic multinationals in Italy. Used for the empirical analysis are non-parametric tests based on the concept of first order stochastic dominance and quantile regression technique. The firm-level analysis distinguishes between foreign-owned firms of different nationalities and domestic MNEs according to the location of their FDI, and it focuses not only on productivity but also on differences in average wages, capital intensity, and financial and non-financial indicators, namely ROS, ROI and debt leverage. Overall, the results provide evidence of remarkable heterogeneity across and within multinationals. In particular, it seems not possible to identify a clear foreign advantage at least in terms of productivity, because foreign-owned firms do not outperform domestic multinationals. Interesting results are obtained when focusing on ROS and ROI, where the profitability gaps change as one moves from the bottom to the top of the conditional distribution. Domestic multinationals investing only in developed countries present higher ROS and ROI compared with the subgroups of foreign-owned firms, but only at the lower quantiles, while at the upper quantiles the advantage seems to favour foreign firms. Finally, in regard to domestic multinationals, there is strong evidence that those active only in less developed countries persistently exhibit the worst performances.Multinationals, Performance indicators, Heterogeneity, Quantile Regression

The Missing Shock: The Macroeconomic Impact of British Privatisation

The privatisation policy pursued in the UK by Mrs Thatcher's government (1979-1990) and subsequently by Mr Major's government (1990-1997) was the largest experiment in public divestitures among capitalist economies. It had a deep impact on economic policy-making world wide, and was vastly imitated, in Western Europe, in the former planned economies, in a number of less developed countries. In this paper we test the impact of privatisation on macroeconomic performance in the United Kingdom using quarterly data from 1979 to 1999. In the econometric model, we use privatisation proceeds as an explanatory variable and we control for several other variables. Testing for cointegration the results show that there is a long run equilibrium relationship between GDP growth and the variables used in the model. However, in our empirical analysis we find a weak evidence that privatisation generated an aggregate shock on output in the UK. This result is consistent with empirical literature on microeconomic evidence that shows that in the UK ownership change per se had little impact on long term productivity trends.Corporate governance, Privatization, Transition, Ownership structure

The Atlas and the Film

In this article I refer to my fieldwork in Boston's North End to explore the implications of using film and media annotating software as two complementary conceptual tools and representational strategies. I elaborate on Warburg's notion of the "atlas" as an analytic device. I propose the Atlas on the one hand and Montage on the other as two complementary formal principles that allow us to take full advantage of the dialectic nature of the sources we encounter in visual ethnography, as well as of our own capacity for visual engagement: on the one hand a potentially infinite analytics, on the other our own storytelling engagement through film-making.En este artículo me refiero a mi trabajo de camo en el North End de Boston para explorar las implicaciones que conlleva el uso de software de anotación de cine y de media en tanto que herramientas conceptuales y estrategias representacionales complementarias. Elaboro mi reflexión a partir de la noción de “atlas“ de Warburg, que tomo como dispositivo analítico. Propongo el Atlas y el Montaje como dos principios formales complementarios que nos permiten sacar pleno provecho de la naturaleza dialéctica de las fuentes que encontramos durante la etnografía visual, así como de nuestra propia capacidad para interaccionar visualmente (visual engagement): por un lado, un análisis potencialmente infinito, y por el otro lado nustro propio compromiso narrativo a través de la práctica cinematográfica.Dans cet article, je fais référence à mon travail de terrain, réalisé à Boston, afin d’explorer les implications inhérentes à l’utilisation de deux outils conceptuels complémentaires le film et les logiciels d’annotations qui ensemble favorisent les stratégies de représentation. Je développe la notion d’Atlas proposée par Warburg comme un outils d’analyse. D’un côté, je propose l’Atlas et de l’autre le montage comme deux principes formels qui nous permettent de saisir pleinement la nature dialectique des sources que nous rencontrons en ethnographie visuelle ainsi que dans le cadre de nos propres compétences visuelles: d’un côté une analyse au potentiel illimité et de l’autre nos propres capacités à raconter des histoires à travers la réalisation filmique

Skilled Vision

Global Challenges (FSW

Ecologies of Belonging and the Mugshot Aesthetics

Based on an ethnographic approach as well as on cultural critique of relevant digital projects, this article confronts visual ‘ecologies of belonging’. Building on my ‘skilled visions’ approach, I propose a critical study of everyday visual apprenticeship of social and cultural stereotypes about looking. The main finding is that the act of looking and categorizing self and others should be understood as a form of relational and situated learning, rather than as a problem of (facial) recognition. The self-assertion with which we orient ourselves in a social environment on an everyday basis is telling of the enchanted quality of ‘making-believe’, as our own skilled vision makes us believe that it is indeed possible to sort and chart sociocultural groups on the basis of phenotypic classifications. However, the evidence of such ‘mugshot aesthetics’ is at best ambivalent. The mugshot view reduces our social abilities of reading complex and cultural cues to standard mechanisms, and ‘makes us believe’ that a perspicuous view of human types is achievable and indeed operationalizable in technologies of vision. The article proposes a more complex attitude to this issue based both on ethnographic interaction – including fieldwork, in-depth interviews and visual analysis.Fondé sur une approche ethnographique ainsi que sur des réflexions critiques émises dans le cadre de projets numériques pertinents, cet article confronte les différentes modalités visuelles de "l'écologie de l'appartenance". A partir de mes recherches sur " les compétences visuelles", je propose une étude critique de l'apprentissage visuel des stéréotypes sociaux et culturels propres au "regarder". Le principal résultat est que l'acte de regarder et de catégoriser soit soi même soit les autres devrait être compris comme une forme d'apprentissage contextualisé et relationnel plutôt que comme un problème de reconnaissance (faciale). L'affirmation de soi, avec laquelle nous nous orientons dans un environnement social dans la vie quotidienne, nous révèle les qualités d'enchantement du "faire croire" comme nos propres compétences visuelles nous font croire que nous pouvons trier et ranger les groupes socio-culturels sur la base d'une classification phénotypique. Cependant, l'évidence de ces "clichés esthétiques" est plutôt ambivalent. Ces clichés réduisent nos propres compétences, à lire des indices visuels complexes, à des mécanismes normatifs et nous font croire qu'un vision claire des types humains est possible et de fait opérationnelle au sein des technologies propres à la vision. Cet article propose un positionnement plus complexe face à ces questions fondées tant sur des interactions ethnographiques lors du terrain et des interviews approfondis que sur des analyses visuelles.Basado en un enfoque etnográfico, así como en la crítica cultural de proyectos digitales relevantes, este artículo confronta diferentes "ecologías visuales de pertenencia". Sobre la base de mi enfoque sobre las "visiones competentes", propongo un estudio crítico del aprendizaje visual cotidiano de los estereotipos sociales y culturales sobre la mirada. El principal argumento es que el hecho de verse y categorizarse a sí mismo y a los demás debe entenderse como una forma de aprendizaje relacional y situado, en lugar de un problema de reconocimiento (facial). La auto-convicción con la que nos orientamos en el entorno social todos los días da prueba de la calidad encantada de "hacer creer", ya que nuestra visión competente nos hace creer que, de hecho, es posible clasificar y ubicar grupos socioculturales sobre la base de clasificaciones fenotípicas. Sin embargo, la evidencia de tal "estética de la fotografía policial" es, en el mejor de los casos, ambivalente. La vista instantánea reduce nuestras habilidades sociales de lectura de señales complejas y culturales en patrones estandarizados, y "nos hace creer" que una visión clara de los tipos humanos es factible y, de hecho, operativa dentro de las tecnologías de la visión. El artículo propone una actitud más compleja sobre este tema basada tanto en la interacción etnográfica, incluyendo el trabajo de campo, como en las entrevistas en profundidad y en el análisis visual

Learning to see

Global Challenges (FSW

Markets to support sustainable food production: potentials and challenges of alternative provisioning

Global Challenges (FSW

Re-tooling craft

Global Challenges (FSW

Quotas have led to more women on corporate boards in Europe

But the effect on firm performance has been mixed across the different countries, write Simona Comi, Mara Grasseni, Federica Origo and Laura Pagan

From branding to solidarity: The COVID-19 impact on marketing Strachítunt cheese from Val Taleggio, Italy

Branding, labelling and certification are the principal instruments for marketing heritage cheese in the Italian Alps. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has put considerable strain on these tools. In Val Taleggio, where the Protected Designation of Origin cheese Strachítunt is made, the cooperative of producers suffered a breakdown in access to markets during the lockdown of March–May 2020. Their strategy was to appeal directly to consumers, connecting digitally with solidarity economy networks such as Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups). Building on long-term ethnography, the article shows how this appeal brought to the surface a shared discourse and understanding of proximity and solidarity, which is not usually employed in the language of certification and labelling