Are there oil currencies? The real exchange rate of oil exporting countries

This paper investigates whether the real oil price has an impact on the real exchange rates of three main oil-exporting countries: Norway, Russia and Saudi Arabia. We create our measure of the real effective exchange rates for Norway and Saudi Arabia (1980-2006) and for Russia (1995-2006), testing if real oil prices and productivity differentials against 15 OECD countries influence exchange rates. In the case of Russia it is possible to establish a positive long-run relationship between the real oil price and the real exchange rate. However, we find virtually no impact of the real oil price on the real exchange rates of Norway and Saudi Arabia. The diverse exchange rate regimes cannot help in explaining the different empirical results on the impact of oil prices across countries, which instead may be due to other policy responses, namely the accumulation of net foreign assets and their sterilisation, and specific institutional characteristics. JEL Classification: F31, C22oil exporting countries, Oil Price, purchasing power parity, real exchange rate, terms of trade

Environmental Policy Flexibility, Search and Innovation

It has long been argued that the implementation of flexible policy instruments, such as environmentally-related taxes and tradable permits, is likely to lead to greater technological innovation than more prescriptive forms of regulation such as technology-based standards. One of the principle reasons for such an assertion is that they give firms stronger incentives to search for the optimal technological means to meet a given environmental objective. While the theoretical case for the use of flexible policy instruments is well-developed, empirical evidence remains limited. Drawing upon a database of “environmental” patent applications from a cross-section of 73 countries over the period 2001–2003, evidence is provided for the positive effect of “flexibility” of environmental policy regime on innovation. This impact is additional to, and distinct from, the effect of policy stringency.environmental policy, innovation, flexibility

Nation brands and foreign direct investment

We study the explanatory role of fundamentals versus the effects of nation brands for the size of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. Using the EUROSTAT data on FDI flows we find that the Anholt Nation Brands Index has a significant and strong impact on FDI flows in a multi-variate analysis that is based on the knowledge-capital (KC) model of FDI. Our results suggest that the nation brands index accounts for important aspects of FDI decisions that are not captured in fundamental data which explain FDI in the standard foreign trade approach to FDI. -- Dieser Artikel untersucht empirisch, ob immaterielle Faktoren wie Länderstereotypen oder Verbrauchereinstellungen über Produkte aus bestimmten Ländern eine Auswirkung auf deren ausländische Direktinvestitionen haben. Die immateriellen Faktoren eines Landes werden mit seinem Landesimage (Nation Brand) operationalisiert. Das Konzept zum Nation Brand(-ing) eines Landes steht im direkten Zusammenhang mit der Bedeutung und dem Verständnis zur spezifischen Originalität und somit auch zur Qualität des Landes und seiner Produkte. Die Marke des Herstellungslandes dient zugleich als Aushängeschild für dieses Land und hat oft maßgeblichen Einfluss auf Entscheidungen für oder gegen den Konsum von Produkten aus diesem Land. Es liegt daher nahe, sich für einen Standort zu entscheiden, den der Verbraucher mit positiven Attributen bezüglich Herstellung und Qualität in Verbindung bringt. Diese Einsichten führen zum folgenden Hauptergebnis der Analyse: Der Umfang von ausländischen Investitionen im Gastland steigt um 27 Prozent, sobald sein Image bzw. seine immaterielle Faktoren sich um einen Punkt verbessern. Die empirische Analyse nutzt das Knowledge-Capital-Modell und umfasst 30 Investorenländer und 34 Gastländer über den Zeitraum 2005-2006.Country stereotypes,foreign direct investment,knowledge-capital model,nation brands,governance

Cool, ideenreich und sexy: wie das Image eines Landes Investitionsentscheidungen beeinflusst

"Wohin ausländische Direktinvestitionen gehen, lässt sich nicht nur mit herkömmlichen ökonomischen Faktoren erklären, sondern auch mit immateriellen Faktoren wie einem guten Image eines Landes. Dieses wird im Nation Brands Index abgebildet. Regierungen können also durchaus etwas für die Attraktivität ihres Landes als Investitionsstandort tun, indem sie versuchen, dessen Image zu verbessern." [Autorenreferat]"A country’s image as captured by the Nation Brands Index accounts for important aspects of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) decisions. These decisions cannot solely be explained by fundamental factors used in the standard international trade approach to FDI. This means that governments can make investing in their economy more attractive by enhancing the country’s image." [author's abstract

Nation brands and foreign direct investment

"Dieser Artikel untersucht empirisch, ob immaterielle Faktoren wie Länderstereotypen oder Verbrauchereinstellungen über Produkte aus bestimmten Ländern eine Auswirkung auf deren ausländische Direktinvestitionen haben. Die immateriellen Faktoren eines Landes werden mit seinem Landesimage ('Nation Brand') operationalisiert. Das Konzept zum Nation Brand(-ing) eines Landes steht im direkten Zusammenhang mit der Bedeutung und dem Verständnis zur spezifischen Originalität und somit auch zur Qualität des Landes und seiner Produkte. Die Marke des Herstellungslandes dient zugleich als Aushängeschild für dieses Land und hat oft maßgeblichen Einfluss auf Entscheidungen für oder gegen den Konsum von Produkten aus diesem Land. Es liegt daher nahe, sich für einen Standort zu entscheiden, den der Verbraucher mit positiven Attributen bezüglich Herstellung und Qualität in Verbindung bringt. Diese Einsichten führen zum folgenden Hauptergebnis der Analyse: Der Umfang von ausländischen Investitionen im Gastland steigt um 27 Prozent, sobald sein Image bzw. seine immaterielle Faktoren sich um einen Punkt verbessern. Die empirische Analyse nutzt das 'Knowledge-Capital'-Modell und umfasst 30 Investorenländer und 34 Gastländer über den Zeitraum 2005-2006." (Autorenreferat)"We study the explanatory role of fundamentals versus the effects of nation brands for the size of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. Using the EUROSTAT data on FDI flows we find that the Anholt Nation Brands Index has a significant and strong impact on FDI flows in a multi-variate analysis that is based on the knowledge-capital (KC) model of FDI. Our results suggest that the nation brands index accounts for important aspects of FDI decisions that are not captured in fundamental data which explain FDI in the standard foreign trade approach to FDI." (author's abstract

Analysing future change in the EU's energy innovation system

We develop a novel approach for quantitatively analysing future storylines of change by combining econometric analysis and Monte Carlo simulation for four different storylines of change in the EU's energy innovation system. We explore impacts on three key innovation outcomes: patenting (innovation), co-invention (collaboration), and technology cost reduction (diffusion). We find that diverse mixes of policy instruments stimulate collaborative innovation activity. We find that both RD&D expenditure and trade imports support knowledge generation and exchange, and that these relationships are largely robust to future uncertainty. Conversely, we find that policy durability and stability are only weakly linked to innovation outcomes, suggesting that adaptive policy responding to rapidly changing innovation environments should play an important part of the EU's energy future

Financing renewable energy: Who is financing what and why it matters

Successful financing of innovation in renewable energy (RE) requires a better understanding of the relationship between different types of finance and their willingness to invest in RE. We study the ‘direction’ of innovation that financial actors create. Focusing on the deployment phase of innovation, we use Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) data to construct a global dataset of RE asset finance flows from 2004 to 2014. We analyze the asset portfolios of different RE technologies financed by different financial actors according to their size, skew and level of risk. We use entropy-based indices to measure skew, and construct a heuristic index of risk that varies with the technology, time, and country of investment to measure risk. We start by comparing the behavior of private and public types of finance and then disaggregate further along 11 different financial actors (e.g. private banks, public banks, and utilities) and 11 types of RE technologies that are invested in (e.g. different kinds of power generation from solar radiation, wind or biomass). Financial actors vary considerably in the composition of their investment portfolio, creating directions towards particular technologies. Public financial actors invest in portfolios with higher risk technologies, also creating a direction; they also increased their share in total investment dramatically over time. We use these preliminary results to formulate new research questions about how finance affects the directionality of innovation, and the implications for RE policies

Essays in International Trade and Public Economics

The essays of this book are contributions to the empirical Literature in International Trade and Public Economics. They deal with the relationship between the structure and quality of the public sector and the process of economic integration. Two of the essays add to the empirical determinants of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) and to the numerous applications of the theory of government decentralization. Decentralization tends to discourage inward FDI and domestic trade and to increase imports and exports. A third essay focuses on the effect of governments’ intangible assets – such as consumer perceptions about countries and products from these countries – on FDI. A country’s nation brand is shown to have a significant and large positive effect on investment flows

Essays in International Trade and Public Economics

The essays of this book are contributions to the empirical Literature in International Trade and Public Economics. They deal with the relationship between the structure and quality of the public sector and the process of economic integration. Two of the essays add to the empirical determinants of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) and to the numerous applications of the theory of government decentralization. Decentralization tends to discourage inward FDI and domestic trade and to increase imports and exports. A third essay focuses on the effect of governments’ intangible assets – such as consumer perceptions about countries and products from these countries – on FDI. A country’s nation brand is shown to have a significant and large positive effect on investment flows