infonet-economy

Global Value Chains (GVCs) have become a central topic in trade and development policy but little is known about their actual impact on economic performance because data availability has been limited. Using a new unique set of Inter-Country Input-Output tables with extensive country coverage, I look at the relationship between GVC participation and domestic value added at the…

In the wake of the Alstom restructuring, the French government indicated that current merger control rules do not allow for the development of European champions and called for a change in the rules. This paper argues that such a move may be not be advisable but that enforcement of the current rules should be improved, in particular regarding the assessment of efficiencies and the…

The real unit labor cost is an important variable in today's debate over competitiveness and labor cost imbalances in the Eurozone. This paper documents the link existing between developments in the labor share and relative monetary policy stance across euro area members. First I present the theoretical foundations of such link using a standard New Keynesian framework, then I…

Die neue Veröffentlichung des CCRS gibt einen Überblick über bewährte und neuere Rendite- und Risikokennzahlen für Immobilien und beurteilt sie aus Nachhaltigkeitssicht. Herausgegeben wird sie gemeinsam mit RICS Switzerland und dem Verband der Immobilieninvestoren sowie Immobilien Basel-Stadt, Migros-Pensionskasse, Liegenschaftenverwaltung Stadt Zürich, SUVA, Swisscanto und Zürcher…

When allocating their aid budget, development agencies need to decide whether to give outright grants or use concessional loans that blend a grant and credit element. Theory suggests that the degree of concessionality should be negatively correlated with debt sustainability. Several donors use the World Bank/IMF Debt Sustainability Framework to guide their aid decisions. They give…

Agricultural innovation in low-income tropical countries ontributes to a more effective and sustainable use of natural resources and reduces hunger and poverty through economic development in rural areas. Yet, despite numerous recent public and private initiatives to develop capacities for agricultural innovation, such in itiatives are often not well aligned with national efforts…

We model merger control procedures as a process of sequential acquisition of information and compare US and EU procedures. In the US, the authorities do not have to justify their decision to require further information (issue a second request),whereas in the EU, the authorities face a different (enforceable) standard of proof in phase I relative to phase II. We found that in the…

This paper empirically examines the theoretically ambivalent relationship between socially responsible investing (SRI) and stock performance. It contributes to the existing literature by considering both the US and the entire European stock markets and by using consistent world-wide corporate sustainability performance data. Our portfolio analysis from 1998 to 2009 is based on the…