Browsing Department of Economics (ECON) by Title
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Nielsen, Steen (Frederiksberg, 2000)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This dissertation adresses various issues regarding the functioning of financial markets. It consists of introduction and five independent chapters of which the first four are empirical and the last one is theoretical. The introduction provides a brief background on some of the data used in subsequent chapters and a discussion of the main results of the dissertation URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7935 Files in this item: 1
Steen_Nielsen.pdf (17.09Mb) -
Evidence from Danish Micro DataSchultz, Esben Anton (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis consists of four empirical essays within the broad field of modern labor economics. All four essays are self-contained and can be read independently of the others. Chapter 1 investigates the distinct effects on information technology and communication technology on firm’s skill demand. Chapter 2 studies whether the observed wage gab between majors in human arts and other fields are caused by their education per se or by selection. Chapter 3 examines taxable income responses to variation in marginal tax rates. Chapter 4 analyzes the effect of income taxation on the international migration of top earners. Each chapter provides an independent and separate analytical contribution to their specific field. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8442 Files in this item: 1
Esben_Anton_Schultz.pdf (4.890Mb) -
Amore, Mario Daniele (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The effect of corporate governance and managers on the value of companies has received great attention in the recent public debate. In the academic research, this increased attention has been associated with an effort to develop finer conceptual frameworks and analytical techniques to assess how governance and financial characteristics influence corporate policies and profitability. While theoretical models represent a successful approach under specific hypotheses, the econometric analysis of corporate governance and managerial characteristics has proven to be extremely challenging. Because governance and managerial characteristics are equilibrium outcomes largely determined by the firm itself, it is methodologically difficult to separate out their determinants from their consequences to infer causal effects. Since its infancy the empirical corporate governance and corporate finance research has faced this problem, which is often responsible for mixed empirical results. In my dissertation, I adopt a common methodological framework developed in the “program evaluation” literature to shed new light on the effects of governance and managerial characteristics on a variety of corporate policies and, ultimately, firm performance. In particular, I estimate a class of difference-in-differences models deriving the empirical identifications from policy changes that generate “quasi-natural experiments”. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8451 Files in this item: 1
Mario_Daniele_Amore.pdf (1.242Mb) -
Zhou, Haoyong (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The dissertation examines corporate performance and capital structure of family firms, contributing to the limited empirical research on family firms. Family firms are prevalent in national economies all over the world. It is the prevalence that makes family firms receive increasing attentions from academia. The dissertation consists of an introduction and three chapters. Each chapter is an independent paper. The first chapter is a joint work with Professor Morten Bennedsen and Dr. Markus Ampenberger. The version of in the dissertation will be published as Chapter 6 in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurial Finance by Oxford University Press. The second paper and third paper are single-authored papers. In the first chapter, we discuss the capital structure of family firms, with a focus on the debtequity mix. Two parts comprise the chapter. In the first part, we provide a literature review on existing theoretical and empirical research in the capital structure of family firms. The literature review shows that the most important theories to explain capital structure in family firms seem to be risk aversion, agency theory, and control considerations. We argue that risk aversion and control considerations have opposing impacts on the optimal choice of debt leverage of family firms. On one hand, controlling families of family firms are typically non-diversified investors with most of their wealth and human capital tied to the company and consequently family firms use less debt. On the other hand, controlling families want to maintain the control over their companies. This control consideration restricts the willingness to raise new equity outside the family and therefore often lead to a stronger dependence on banks and other debt instruments. The literature review also shows that evidence on capital structure choices of family firms is inconclusive. Large-scale evidence on private family firms is almost missing. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8607 Files in this item: 1
Haoyong_Zhou.pdf (2.035Mb) -
Vinten, Frederik Christian (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: We study the impact of stock market valuations on delistings from European stock exchanges 1996-2004. Previous research has found that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) occur more often when market valuations are high. This is paradoxical since it implies that companies are more likely to engage in M&A when it is most expensive. In accordance with prior research we find that delistings by mergers and acquisitions are more likely when industry market-to-book values (q) are high. In contrast, we find no effect of industry q on going private transactions. The data also suggest that M&A are more likely to take place in bull years while going private transactions are relatively more likely in bear years. Our study is the first comprehensive study of delistings in Europe and the first study to demonstrate that going private transactions appear to be driven by different causal mechanisms than M&A. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7682 Files in this item: 1
frederik_vinten.pdf (1.449Mb) -
Andersen, Steffen; Fountain, John; Harrison, Glenn W.; Rutström, E. Elisabet (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: It is intuitive that decision-makers might have attitudes towards uncertainty just as they might have attitudes towards risk. However, it is only recently that this intuitive notion has been formalized and axiomatically characterized. We estimate the extent of uncertainty aversion in a manner that is parsimonious and consistent with theory. We demonstrate that one can jointly estimate attitudes towards uncertainty, attitudes towards risk, and subjective probabilities in a rigorous manner. Our structural econometric model constructively demonstrates the theoretical claims that it is possible to define uncertainty aversion in an empirically tractable manner. Our results show that attitudes towards risk and uncertainty can be different, qualitatively and quantitatively, and that allowing for these differences can have significant effects on inferences about subjective probabilities. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7803 Files in this item: 1
wp2009-7.pdf (467.5Kb) -
Andersen, Steffen; Fountain, John; Harrison, Glenn W.; Rutström, E. Elisabet (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Subjective probabilities play a role in many economic decisions. There is a large theoretical literature on the elicitation of subjective probabilities, and an equally large empirical literature. However, there is a gulf between the two. The theoretical literature proposes a range of procedures that can be used to recover subjective probabilities, but stresses the need to make strong auxiliary assumptions or “calibrating adjustments” to elicited reports in order to recover the latent probability. With some notable exceptions, the empirical literature seems intent on either making those strong assumptions or ignoring the need for calibration. We illustrate how one can jointly estimate risk attitudes and subjective probabilities using structural maximum likelihood methods. This allows the observer to make inferences about the latent subjective probability, calibrating for virtually any well-specified model of choice under uncertainty. We demonstrate our procedures with experiments in which we elicit subjective probabilities. We calibrate the estimates of subjective beliefs assuming that choices are made consistently with expected utility theory or rank-dependent utility theory. Inferred subjective probabilities are significantly different when calibrated according to either theory. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7801 Files in this item: 1
wp2009-5.pdf (435.4Kb) -
Ionascu, Delia; Kristjánsdóttir, Helga; Davies, Ronald B. (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper applies the panel fixed effects with vector decomposition estimator to three FDI datasets to estimate the impact of time-invariant variables on FDI while including fixed effects. We find that the omission of fixed effects significantly biases several of these variables, especially those proxying for trade costs and culture. After including fixed effects, we find that many time-invariant variables indicate the importance of vertical FDI. We also find that by eliminating these biases, the differences across datasets largely disappear. Thus, controversies in the literature that are driven by differences in data sets may be resolved by using this estimation technique. JEL Classification: F14, F23 Key Words: Foreign Direct Investment, Trade Costs, Culture URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7610 Files in this item: 1
wp2-2007.pdf (355.7Kb) -
Junge, Martin; Severgnini, Battista; Sørensen, Anders (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper investigates the importance of the educational mix of employees at the firm level for the probability of firms being involved in innovation activities. We distinguish between four types of innovation: product, process, organisational, and marketing innovation. Moreover, we consider three different types of education for employees with at least 16 years of schooling: technical sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Furthermore, we examine the influence of these different innovation activities on firm productivity. Using a rotating panel data sample of Danish firms, we find that different types of innovations are related to distinct educational types. Moreover, we find that firms that adopt product and marketing innovation are more productive than firms that adopt product innovation but not marketing innovation and firms that adopt marketing innovation but not product innovation. In addition, firms that adopt organisational and process innovation demonstrate greated productivity levels than forms that adopt organisational innovation but not process innovation that again demonstrate greater productivity than firms that do not adopt process innovation but not organisational innovation. Finally, we establish that product and marketing innovation as well as organisational and process innovation are complementary inputs using formal tests for supermodularity. Complementarity can be rejected for all other pairs of innovation types. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8498 Files in this item: 1
Junge_Severgnini_Sørensen.pdf (517.4Kb) -
Danø, Bo (Frederiksberg, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Afhandlingen består af en introduktion og fire selvstændige kapitler. kapitlerne omhandler dels forskellige aspekter af valutakurseksponering og dels prisfastsættelse af valutakursrisiko, og alle de empiriske data er gennemført på danske data. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7926 Files in this item: 1
Bo_Danø.pdf (10.38Mb) -
Subcontracting agreements in Eastern Europe's car component industryMøllgaard, Peter; Lorentzen, Jochen (København, 2002)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: We study the rationale for the use of exclusivity to protect transfer of technology in subcontracting agreements. The legal possibility arises through the EU Notice on Subcontracting. Empirically, the link between exclusive agreements and technology transfer among firms in the automotive supply industry in EU candidate countries is surprisingly weak, although with exclusive-supply or exclusive-buying clauses in subcontracting agreements upstream transfer of technology is more likely. Exclusive agreements are often reciprocal, and are typically passed on. Downstream firms are more likely to face and use vertical restraints. Technology trickles upstream: Multinational final assemblers transfer more technology than lower-tier suppliers. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7527 Files in this item: 1
wpec102002.pdf (299.7Kb) -
Blomgren-Hansen, Niels (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
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Evidence from CEO TransitionsBennedsen, Morten; Nielsen, Kasper (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Economists have long acknowledged that the structure of the family (number of offspring, marital status, etc.) plays a crucial role in important economic decisions (e.g., labor supply, demand patterns, portfolio choice, educational attainment). In this paper we investigate the link between family structure and corporate decisions of family firms. Even though there is considerable anecdotal evidence on this link, there is no systematic study. This paper fills this gap. To this end, we assembled a unique dataset with accounting information from 1995 to 2002 of the universe of privately held firms in Denmark. Our dataset includes the family trees of the owners as well as personal information about all family members. This information allows us to identify family firms among privately held firms. We find that, using a 50% definition of control, 89% of privately held firms are family firms. We focus on the decision whether to choose a family member or an outsider as the next CEO. We show that the larger the pool of potential heirs, the higher the probability of family transition. Also we document that this probability is significantly lower when all offspring are female. Finally, family conflicts (proxied by divorce or multiple marriages) reduce the probability of family transition. In a robustness check we show that there is a causal effect from family structure to corporate decisions. We do this by instrumentimg the number of children with sibling sex composition and by restricting the sample to one in which founders had their last child years before founding the firm. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7631 Files in this item: 1
wpec032004.pdf (354.0Kb) -
Olai Hansen, Bodil; Keiding, Hans (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: We consider a simple model of international trade under uncertainty, where production takes time and is subject to uncertainty. The riskiness of production depends on the choices of the producers, not observable to the general public, and these choices are influenced by the availability and cost of credit. If investment is financed by a bond market, then a situation may arise where otherwise identical countries end up with different levels of interest and different choices of technique, which again implies differences in achieved level of welfare. Under suitable conditions on the parameters of the model, the market may not be able to supply credits to one of the countries. The introduction of financial intermediaries with the ability to control the debtors may change this situation in a direction which is welfare improving (in a suitable sense) by increasing expected output in the country with high interest rates, while opening up for new problems of asymmetric information with respect to the monitoring activity of the banks. Keywords: Capital outflow, financial intermediaries, moral hazard JEL classification: F36, D92, E44 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7498 Files in this item: 1
wpec072004.pdf (112.4Kb) -
The Role of Competition and of the Initial Firm Efficiency. Evidence from the Czech Republicla Cour, Lisbeth; Ionascu, Delia (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: It has been argued that the effect of competition on a company’s incentive to innovate and to reduce managerial slack depends on the initial level of efficiency. For example, while firms close to the technology frontier invest more in innovation if competition increases, backward firms reduce innovation. On a panel data of Czech companies, for the years 1993-2005, we empirically assess the impact of increased competition on firm productivity and the importance of the initial firm efficiency level. We depart from the empirical literature on emerging markets by taking into account both domestic and foreign competition. In line with the theory, our results show that there is an inverted U-relationship between domestic competition and firm productivity. Our results also confirm that trade liberalization has a positive impact on productivity. However, the effect is less significant if domestic competition is not taken into account. In addition, we find that both domestic and foreign competition have an effect on productivity in companies close to the technology frontier but not in backward companies. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7653 Files in this item: 1
wp9-2007.pdf (2.398Mb) -
Do We Observe “Creative Destruction” in China?Deng, Poul; Jefferson, Gary (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: We adopt the framework of Schumpeterian creative destruction formalized by Aghion et al. (2009) to analyze the impact of foreign entry on the productivity growth of domestic firms. In the face of foreign entry, domestic firms exhibit heterogeneous patterns of growth depending on their technological distance from foreign firms. Domestic firms with smaller technological distance from their foreign counterparts tend to experience faster productivity growth, while firms with larger technological distance tend to lag further behind. We test this hypothesis using a unique firm-level data of Chinese manufacturing. Our empirical results confirm that foreign entry indeed generates strong heterogeneous growth patterns among domestic firms. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8594 Files in this item: 1
Deng_Jefferson.pdf (203.9Kb) -
Nielsen, Søren Bo; Raimondos-Møller, Pascalis; Schjelderup, Guttorm (København, 2000)[More information][Less information]
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Nielsen, Søren Bo; Raimondos-Møller, Pascalis; Schjelderup, Guttorm (Munich, 2001)[More information][Less information]
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Lund, Lars (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The paper defines a base model of the airborne passenger traffic to and in Greenland showing the number of passengers on every non-stop connection. The type of airplane is defined for each route, and that determines the flying time. The number of connections and capacity utilization are fixed with due regard to the timetable of Air Greenland and the density of traffic on each route. Assumptions as to the cost per hour as a function of the duration of the flight are made for each aircraft. Applying this to different investment scenarios for airports and landing strips an index for the costs of supply of air traffic is found. Using this index the supplier’s cost savings in the scenarios are found as a percentage of the relevant sale. A number of reports from recent years have information about the necessary investments in the scenarios, and matching these with the changes in costs permits the calculation of present values for the different projects. Apart from direct savings there are derived benefits in some of the scenarios the most prominent being the possibility to abandon Kangerlussuaq. The calculations include these indirect effects. Two scenarios have high present values: the use of Keflavik as hub, and the construction of a new airport with a 3000 meter runway south of Nuuk: two rather different scenarios, the first dominated by current savings, and the second dependent on a large fixed investment. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7526 Files in this item: 1
wp1-2005.pdf (978.5Kb) -
Evidence from a Matrilineal and a Patriarchal SocietyAndersen, Steffen; Ertac, Seda; Gneezy, Uri; List, John A.; Maximiano, Sandra (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Economists and other social scientists typically rely on gender differences in the family-career balance, discrimination, and ability to explain gender gaps in wages and in the prospect for advancement. A new explanation that has recently surfaced in the economics literature is that men are more competitively inclined than women, and having a successful career requires competitiveness. A natural question revolves around the underlying determinants of these documented competitive differences: are women simply born less competitive, or do they become so through the process of socialization? To shed light on this issue, we compare the competitiveness of children in matrilineal and patriarchal societies to show that the difference starts around puberty. Moreover, most of the changes during this period of life are within the patriarchal society, in which boys become more competitive with age while girls become less competitive. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8389 Files in this item: 1
Steffen_Andersen_2010.pdf (203.8Kb)