ICT investment in Spanish SMEs of service and retail sectors. Is it determined by managers gender?

This study investigates the role of the entrepreneur’s gender on digitalization strategies undertaken by SMEs in the service and retail sectors. Specifically, we aim at testing how the gender of the entrepreneur may affect investment in software and equipment related to information and communication technologies (ICT). We use a sample of 1,041 Spanish businesses and estimate a bivariate probit model for these two decisions, controlling for other entrepreneurial and business characteristics. Results indicate a higher probability of male entrepreneurs to invest in software and ICT equipment, as compared to women. Furthermore, we find that entrepreneurial risk-taking and business’ innovation capabilities are important drivers for engaging in these two digitalisation strategies, regardless of the gender of the entrepreneur, and that entrepreneurial proactiveness is especially important for women entrepreneurs, since the positive impact of entrepreneurial proactiveness on the probability to engage in digitalisation strategies is stronger in women-led businesses.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

CEO gender and SMEs innovativeness: evidence for Spanish businesses

This paper analyses the role of gender of the chief executive officer (CEO) on the propensity to introduce innovations using a sample of 1405 Spanish small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We examine whether there are significant differences between female- and male-led businesses in terms of their propensity to innovate, and whether these differences may be explained by factors related to the attributes of the CEO concerning risk tolerance, self-confidence, education level and cooperative behaviour. In particular, this study tests if the linkages between these managerial attributes and the propensity to innovate are influenced by the gender of the CEO. Using a multivariate probit model (triprobit), we further investigate the role of gender on the CEO decision to simultaneously introduce product, process and organisational innovations. Our main results indicate that there are not significant differences in the propensity to introduce innovations between male- and female-run businesses when considering innovation at an aggregated level, that is, innovating in any of the three types of innovations considered. However, we obtain a higher propensity of male CEOs to introduce process innovations, as compared to their female counterparts. No significant differences by gender are found for product and organisational innovations. Additionally, results of the multivariate probit model indicate that the three innovation decisions are interdependent and should be jointly analysed. This study contributes to the scant literature regarding gender impact on firm’s innovativeness with novel empirical evidence for SMEs

Demanda y escalas de equivalencia: evidencia para España

El objetivo de este trabajo es plantear teoricamente el estudio de los efectos que los hijos imponen sobre las decisiones de demanda del hogar (los costes de los hijos, por ejemplo), tanto desde el punto de vista dinamico como estatico, utilizando el concepto de separabilidad demografica. Ademas, establecer la relacion entre ambos conceptos teoricos nos permitira investigar el grado de imprecision o el sesgo que se produce cuando se utiliza una medida estatica frente a una medida intertemporal. El ejercicio empirico se lleva a cabo utilizando un panel de datos extraido de la Encuesta Continua de Presupuestos Familiares, que cubre el periodo 1985-1995. Se estima un sistema de demanda Marshalliana para diversos bienes de adultos (y se contrasta la hipotesis de separabilidad demografica), asi como un sistema de demanda Frischsiana. Con los resultados de la estimacion se simula el coste relativo y absoluto de los hijos. Los resultados indican la importancia de la consideracion de los efectos dinamicos de los hijos en el calculo de escalas de equivalencia. Finalmente, se comparan las escalas de equivalencia estimadas con las implicitas en el Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas [email protected]

Strategic behaviour in Schelling dynamics: Theory and experimental evidence

In this paper we experimentally test Schelling's (1971) segregation model and confirm the striking result of segregation. In addition, we extend Schelling's model theoretically by adding strategic behavior and moving costs. We obtain a unique subgame perfect equilibrium in which rational agents facing moving costs may find it optimal not to move (anticipating other participants' movements). This equilibrium is far from full segregation. We run experiments for this extended Schelling model, and find that the percentage of strategic players dramatically increases with the cost of moving and that the degree of segregation depends on the distribution of strategic subjects

Human capital and the intertemporal substitution for leisure: empirical evidence for Spain

In this paper we provide the first estimate of the intertemporal substitution for leisure in Spain, accounting for the impact of human capital accumulation. This would allow uncovering whether the intertemporal labour supply of Spanish workers is affected by human capital. Our empirical strategy consists of estimating the equation for the intertemporal substitution of leisure with and without accounting for human capital, what allows to detect hypothetical estimation biases associated to omitting the impact of human capital. To that end, we build a pseudo-panel data set combining the Spanish Family Expenditure Survey and the Labour Survey over the period 1987–1997. While the model that ignores human capital accumulation provides an estimate of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution for leisure about 0.25, comparable to previously available estimates for Spain and other economies, the model with human capital provides an estimate about 0.5, what confirms the existence of a bias in the former estimates. Finally, this bias is larger for the younger cohorts than for the older ones

The role of extensive and intensive margins in explaining corporate R&D growth: Evidence from Spain

We analyse the growth of corporate R&D in the Spanish manufacturing sector through its decomposition into the extensive and intensive margins. These margins are decomposed into three distinct components: starting new R&D activities; R&D activities that survive or persist; and deepening existing R&D efforts. The data used is a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms drawn from the Encuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales, for the period 1990-2006. We show that despite having experienced a substantial increase in R&D, the relative importance of each component differs for small and largefirms. We find that small firms would have had a significant higher R&D growth should they be able to improve their performance with respect to the survival component of the intensive margin. For large firms, deepening appears to be the most important component explaining R&D in the long run. Este trabajo estudia el crecimiento del gasto privado en I+D de las empresas manufactureras españolas a través de su descomposición en dos componentes: el margen extensivo y el margen intensivo. Estos márgenes se descomponen en 3 sub-componentes: iniciarse en la realización de nuevas actividades de I+D; supervivencia o persistencia en la realización de actividades de I+D; e, intensificación de las actividades de I+D ya existentes. Los datos que utilizamos en este trabajo han sido extraídos de laEncuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales, para el periodo 1990-2006. Nuestros resultados indican que a pesar de que las empresas manufactureras españolas han experimentado un importante aumento en el gasto en I+D, la importancia relativa de cada componente es distinta para las empresas pequeñas respecto de las empresas grandes. Así, las empresas pequeñas hubieran experimentado un mayor aumento en el crecimiento del gasto en I+D si hubieran sido capaces de mejorar el componente depersistencia en la realización de actividades de I+D, dentro del margen intensivo. Para las empresas grandes, la intensificación en la realización de actividades de I+D constituye el principal componente a la hora de explicar la evolución de largo plazo del gasto en I+D.I+D; Margen extensivo; Margen intensivo. R&D; Extensive margins; Intensive margin.

Joint estimation of intertemporal labor and consumption decisions: evidence from Spanish households headed by working men

The aim of this paper is testing the three first-order conditions of an intertemporal optimization model for a representative individual who chooses simultaneously for her level of consumption and leisure, assuming a separable utility function. We estimate these conditions jointly in a system of equations, using a Spanish pseudo-panel data set built by combining the Family Expenditure Survey and the Labor Survey over the period 1987–1997. Our results are in line with previous empirical evidence as regards the elasticity of intertemporal substitution for consumption, as our estimate for this elasticity is between 0.4 and 0.5. Further, we also obtain the first estimate for Spain of the intertemporal elasticity of leisure. This value is above 0.3, and is comparable to other estimates found for other economies

Does persistence in using R&D tax credits help to achieve product innovations?

Despite the generosity of its tax system, Spain is far from EU countries in terms of R&D spending and innovation outcomes. A policy instrument commonly used to foster firms’ R&D investment are tax incentives. The use of this instrument is not generalized in firms spending on R&D, and only a fraction of firms are regular claimants. This paper investigates whether persistence in using tax credits is positively related to product innovations, beyond R&D investments. We consider that firms investing in qualified R&D and using tax credits regularly are likely to be firms aiming at innovating. By contrast, occasional tax credit users may be firms investing in R&D for different reasons, such as exploiting a business opportunity, or reducing their corporate tax burden, so that they may not prioritize innovating. Using a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms spanning 2001–2014, we first estimate persistence using a duration model accounting for firm observed and unobserved heterogeneity. Our results are consistent with negative duration dependence, indicating that the probability of ceasing in claiming tax credits decreases with the passage of time. Second, we estimate a count-data model and find that the number of product innovations positively depends on tax credit persistence only for SMEs

Firms’ distance to the European productivity frontier

In this article we explore the factors contributing to reduce the distance of laggard frms to the European frontier, focusing on institutional factors. To characterize Total Factor Productivity frontier frms within industries for the European Union we use frm level data from AMADEUS for the period 2003–2014. Our fndings provide evidence on the importance of governance quality and easiness in getting credit in explaining the distance of laggard frms to the European productivity frontier. We also fnd that other factors at the country level -tertiary education, R&D stock, and trade openness- and at the frm level -size, age, and capital-intensity- infuence the distance of laggards to the frontier. In addition, we examine the role of the Great Recession in moderating the contribution of all these factors to reduce firms’ distance to the European productivity frontier

Are importing and exporting complements or substitutes in an emerging economy? The case of Colombia

The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of two trading strategies (exporting and importing) on total factor productivity (TFP) and the potential complementarity/substitutability effects of these strategies. In order to assess these effects, robust estimates of TFP are obtained using a general method of moments approach that explicitly determines the ability of a firm's trading experience to affect productivity. Data from the Annual Manufacturing Survey spanning from 2007 to 2016 is used for Colombian manufacturing firms. Our estimation results suggest that, regardless of the technological intensity of the industry in which the firm operates, active trading strategies (exporting only, importing only, both importing and exporting) pay positive rewards in terms of productivity. Nevertheless, whilst positive (complementary) synergies are found between exporting and importing for firms in med/high-tech sectors, for firms operating in low-tech and med/low-tech sectors, importing and exporting appear to be substitutes