The impact of doing business regulations on investments in ICT

Using industry-level data from 14 OECD countries and doing business indicators of the World Bank, we analyze how country-level regulations of business activities affect investments in information and communication technologies (ICT). We find that investments in ICT decrease with the costs of starting and operating a business and registering property. Investments increase with the strength of legal rights. We also find that investments in software increase with the ability of shareholders to sue managers for misconduct, and investments in communication technologies decline with the extent of director liability for self-dealing

The impact of doing business regulations on investments in ICT [WP]

Using industry-level data from 14 OECD countries and doing business indicators of the World Bank, we analyze how country-level regulations of business activities affect investments in information and communication technologies (ICT). We find that investments in ICT decrease with the costs of starting and operating a business and registering property. Investments increase with the strength of legal rights. We also find that higher minimum capital requirement reduces investments in software and the extent of director liability reduces investments in communication technologies

Bribery environments and firm performance: Evidence from CEE countries

We examine the relation between bureaucratic corruption and firm performance in CEE countries. We show that divergent consequences of corruption found in previous studies can be explained by the specifics of the local bribery environment in which firms operate. A higher mean bribery is associated with lower firm performance, while higher dispersion of individual firm bribes appears to facilitate it. We also conduct a detailed analysis by firm sector and size, and countries' institutional environments

E-government can be good for business

Many developing countries face significant challenges associated with collecting taxes and tendering public contracts. High tax compliance costs due to cumbersome regulations and harassment by tax officials deter investment, encourage tax evasion, and undermine economic growth. The public procurement of goods and services is often rife with collusive practices and corruption, resulting in the misallocation or waste of resources and poor quality infrastructure. One possible solution is to adopt electronic government (e-government) systems that automate and simplify interactions between government and the private sector

Tele-communications 2.0: the age of the internet

Over the past few decades, the Internet has become the major tool for communication, greatly replacing the traditional telecommunication technologies. We use industry-level evidence from 21 European countries and the period 1997-2007 and identify the changing effects of traditional telecommunication technologies and the Internet on the functioning of markets. Specifically, we show that the effect of the traditional telecommunication technologies on competition in services and goods markets has dissipated and has become insignificant during this period. In contrast, the effect of the Internet has gained a significant momentum

Patterns of Cryptic Diversity and Phylogeography in Four Freshwater Copepod Crustaceans in European Lakes

Comparative phylogeography has become a powerful approach in exploring hidden or cryptic diversity within widespread species and understanding how historical and biogeographical factors shape the modern patterns of their distribution. Most comparative phylogeographic studies so far focus on terrestrial and vertebrate taxa, while aquatic invertebrates (and especially freshwater invertebrates) remain unstudied. In this article, we explore and compare the patterns of molecular diversity and phylogeographic structure of four widespread freshwater copepod crustaceans in European water bodies: the harpacticoids Attheyella crassa, Canthocamptus staphylinus and Nitokra hibernica, and the cyclopoid Eucyclops serrulatus, using sequence data from mtDNA COI and nuclear ITS/18S rRNA genes. The three taxa A. crassa, C. staphylinus and E. serrulatus each consist of deeply diverged clusters and are deemed to represent complexes of species with largely (but not completely) non-overlapping distributions, while in N. hibernica only little differentiation was found, which may however reflect the geographically more restricted sampling. However, the geographical patterns of subdivision differ. The divisions in A. crassa and E. serrulatus follow an east–west pattern in Northern Europe whereas that in C. staphylinus has more of a north–south pattern, with a distinct Fennoscandian clade. The deep mitochondrial splits among populations of A. crassa, C. staphylinus and E. serrulatus (model-corrected distances 26–36%) suggest that divergence of the lineages predate the Pleistocene glaciations. This study provides an insight into cryptic diversity and biogeographic distribution of freshwater copepods

Patterns of Cryptic Diversity and Phylogeography in Four Freshwater Copepod Crustaceans in European Lakes

Comparative phylogeography has become a powerful approach in exploring hidden or cryptic diversity within widespread species and understanding how historical and biogeographical factors shape the modern patterns of their distribution. Most comparative phylogeographic studies so far focus on terrestrial and vertebrate taxa, while aquatic invertebrates (and especially freshwater invertebrates) remain unstudied. In this article, we explore and compare the patterns of molecular diversity and phylogeographic structure of four widespread freshwater copepod crustaceans in European water bodies: the harpacticoids Attheyella crassa, Canthocamptus staphylinus and Nitokra hibernica, and the cyclopoid Eucyclops serrulatus, using sequence data from mtDNA COI and nuclear ITS/18S rRNA genes. The three taxa A. crassa, C. staphylinus and E. serrulatus each consist of deeply diverged clusters and are deemed to represent complexes of species with largely (but not completely) non-overlapping distributions, while in N. hibernica only little differentiation was found, which may however reflect the geographically more restricted sampling. However, the geographical patterns of subdivision differ. The divisions in A. crassa and E. serrulatus follow an east–west pattern in Northern Europe whereas that in C. staphylinus has more of a north–south pattern, with a distinct Fennoscandian clade. The deep mitochondrial splits among populations of A. crassa, C. staphylinus and E. serrulatus (model-corrected distances 26–36%) suggest that divergence of the lineages predate the Pleistocene glaciations. This study provides an insight into cryptic diversity and biogeographic distribution of freshwater copepods