Location internationalization and performance of Firms in Italy: a Multilevel Approach

Version of record first published: 20 Apr 2012Competition is increasingly global. However, location still matters: often firms cluster in the same geographic areas in order to exploit locational externalities and improve their competitiveness. This article analyses how Italian firms' performance, proxied by their propensity to export, depends both on geographical and institutional context and on individual characteristics. Using a multilevel approach, we estimate and distinguish the effect of individual (firm level) and context (province level) variables on the performance of internationalized Italian firms. We show that both firms and province heterogeneity shape the results

A MEM-based Analysis of Volatility Spillovers in East Asian Financial Markets

Transmission mechanisms in financial markets reflect the degree of integration of capital markets, as well as the relative importance of real economies. Market volatility has components which may behave differently across quiet and turbulent periods, but appear to behave in similar ways from market to market. In this paper we suggest a Multiplicative Error Model (MEM) approach to study volatility spillovers among a set of markets, using as a proxy, the market daily range. We model the dynamics of the expected volatility of one market including interactions with the past daily ranges of other markets, building a fully interdependent model. We analyze eight East Asian markets in the period 1995-2006, devoting particular attention to the treatment of the 1997-1998 turbulence period. We find no evidence of independent markets while several interdependence relationships can be stressed. Hong Kong turns out to be the most important market while Taiwan seems to have suffered quite limited effects from the crisis. Impulse response functions and multiperiod forecast profiles are developed and suggest a build-up in the spillover effects.Multiplicative Error Model, volatility spillovers, impulse response functions, East Asian Markets

Replication data for: Volatility Spillovers in East Asian Financial Markets: A MEM-Based Approach

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Molecular mapping and detoxification of the lipid A binding site by synthetic peptides

: Endotoxin [lipopolysaccharide (LPS)], the major antigen of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, consists of a variable-size carbohydrate chain that is covalently linked to N,O-acylated beta-1,6-D-glucosamine disaccharide 1,4'-bisphosphate (lipid A). The toxic activity of LPS resides in the lipid A structure. The structural features of synthetic peptides that bind to lipid A with high affinity, detoxify LPS in vitro, and prevent LPS-induced cytokine release and lethality in vivo were defined. The binding thermodynamics were comparable to that of an antigen-antibody reaction. Such synthetic peptides may provide a strategy for prophylaxis and treatment of LPS-mediated diseases