The Effect of Chief Executive Officer and Board Prior Corporate Social Responsibility Experiences on Their Focal Firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Effect of Chief Executive Officer Overconfidence

This research aims to examine how the prior experiences of the chief executive officer (CEO) and board influence the focal firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. Further, the present study examines how CEO overconfidence influences the diffusion of CSR activities. The authors theorize that overconfident CEOs are influenced more by the corporate strategies they experienced on other boards and less by the corporate strategies experienced by other directors. Through longitudinal analyses of the CSR profiles a sample of S&P 500 companies for the period 2006-2013, the study shows that CEO and board prior CSR experience are positively related to the firm’s current CSR activities. The authors find a significant positive moderating effect of CEO overconfidence on the relationship between CEO prior CSR and the focal firm’s CSR. The theory and results highlight how CEO and board prior CSR exposure may influence the focal firm’s stances toward CSR and that CEO overconfidence may have differential effects on these relationships

The Impact of EPA Regulations on the U.S. Manufacturing Industry

This research reassesses the impact of environmental regulations on economic performances in the U.S. manufacturing sector from 1973 to 2005. This paper uses information on NAICS-based 440 manufacturing industries from the NBER Manufacturing Productivity database and EPA’s PACE survey. Performing several econometric techniques and focusing on output and productivity, negative impacts of EPA regulations on both of them have been noticed. However, regulations cannot be blamed alone for output and productivity slow down. Dirty industries could avoid some output and productivity losses by spending more on pollution abatement. Evidence proves the presence of a “measurement effect” and a “real effect.

Characterising India’s Exports to the U.S.: The Post Liberalisation Dynamics

India has experienced significant export growth over the past two decades and presently stands as the 10th biggest trading partner of the U.S. Using the U.S. trade data compiled by Robert Feenstra, the U.S. CPI data, and the NBER Manufacturing Productivity database, this empirical paper attempts to understand the anatomy of India’s exports to the U.S. between 1991 and 2006. In particular, we analyse how the allocation of industries in the export sector, skill intensity of products, product diversification, and contributions of new products have changed as India’s exports to the U.S. have grown. Our findings suggest that India has moved from traditional agricultural and raw material products toward exports of sophisticated manufaturing products that require greater skill to produce. Furthermore, our study finds that India has diversified in the range of products it is exporting to the U.S., with new products gaining an increased share in India’s export basket