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- The sensitivity of SME’s investment and employment to the cost of debt financingPublication . Bonfim, Diana; Raposo, Clara; Custódio, CláudiaWe use variation in the access to a government credit certification program in Portugal to estimate the sensitivity of SMEs´ investment and employment to the cost of debt financing. Targeted firms have access to a credit certification and loan guarantees. We use a multidimensional regression discontinuity design to estimate real effects. Eligible firms increase borrowing and obtain bank loans at lower rates than non-eligible firms, allowing them to increase investment and employment during crises. Eligible firms also exhibit increased return on assets and default less. Industry-level analysis shows reduced heterogeneity in access to credit in more exposed industries
- Funding contract duration of microcredit loansPublication . Barroso, Maria Nazaré; Barros, Carlos Pestana; Borges, Maria RosaThis study analyses the funding contract duration of microcredit loans in Portugal from 1999 to 2008, using a data file from the Portuguese Microcredit Association that overseas all microcredit actions. A survival model is used to analyse which characteristics are associated with the duration of the contract, taking into account the uncontrolled heterogeneity of the data. Policy implications are derived for improving the understanding and management of the duration of microcredit funding contracts.
- Estudo de casos : um curso de acção na investigação em gestãoPublication . Nevado, Pedro PicalugaPartir à procura de explicações, mesmo que isso implique alguma intuição e teorização, é o que se pretende com a «metodologia dos casos» que iremos considerar. Tem sido fruto de discussão entre investigadores se são mais importante as técnicas, independentemente dos conceitos, ou se as explicações, independentemente das técnicas. Os defensores das técnicas, principalmente, na investigação empírica tradicional dedutiva, entendem que o fundamental está na causalidade e que esta só é encontrada em leis ou em regularidades que se detectem entre os acontecimentos. Para eles, sem regularidade têm-se análises inferiores, intuições ou teorizações sociais. Os outros, pelo contrário, preocupam-se menos com as técnicas tradicionais de causalidade e partem na busca de explicações, independentemente das regularidades. Este artigo percorre um dos caminhos relativos ao estudo de casos partindo da pesquisa qualitativa de dados e da sua complementariedade com a pesquisa de dados quantitativos para chegar à forma de”contar a estória” estudada.
- This movie theater smells different : the effect of ambient scent on moviegoer evaluations and behaviorsPublication . Veríssimo, José; Pereira, Rui Luis AlvesThis article discusses the effects of ambient scent on moviegoer evaluations and behaviors. We conducted a “natural experiment” wherein an ambient scent was introduced to movie theaters. After a preliminary study to select the scent for use in the experiment, 407 moviegoers completed a questionnaire at the end of movie screenings, 204 of whom were spectators subject to the aromatic stimulus. The introduction of scent produced significant differences in general evaluations of the theater, its environment, the sales of concession products, and moviegoers’ intention to return. These results are in line with those from existing literature, except for those on the impact of ambient scent on product evaluations. The study’s findings are of practical interest to retailers, since they provide suggestions on enhancing the quality of consumer experiences and on the differentiation of spaces.
- EU Finance Ministers, capital markets and fiscal outcomesPublication . Afonso, António; Guedes, Maria JoãoWe investigate the relevance of the characteristics of Ministers of Finance as an influence on the development of stock returns, sovereign yields and fiscal outcomes, which result from the implementation of their fiscal policies. For a panel of 27 EU countries, covering the period of 1980-2012, we find that academic background, tenure and gender, play a role in determining stock and bond market returns, as well as the general fiscal position of governments.
- Values beliefs and economic behaviors: a regional approachPublication . Graça, João Carlos; Lopes, João Carlos; Niza, CláudiaThe purpose of this paper is to identify relationships between value orientations, beliefs and economic behaviors of agents, on one side, and differences between levels of economic development, on the other. Empirical analysis is based on a sample of Portuguese municipalities and correspondent parishes, organized in groups set by an urban-versus-rural typology and according to levels of development as measured by GDP per capita. Different value orientations, beliefs and behaviors were identified. Four clusters were thereby considered, generically correspondent to “stabilization”, “economic nationalism”, “entrepreneurship” and “consumerism”. These clusters are related to the spatial dimensions considered.
- The relevance of commuting zones for regional spending efficiencyPublication . Afonso, António; Venâncio, AnaWe use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency scores to show that clustering municipalities into encompassing regional clusters improves spending efficiency of single stand-alone municipalities. We propose a new geographic aggregation based on municipalities-to-municipalities commuting flows, defined using hierarchical cluster analysis. Our example for Portugal shows that from an output oriented perspective, between 85 and 95 percent of municipalities would increase their efficiency scores, while from an input oriented perspective, between 81 and 97 percent of municipalities would also be better off in terms of efficiency. Our strategy and results are naturally quite relevant in a context of public spending control.
- Exports, productivity and innovation : evidence from Portugal using microdataPublication . Faustino, Horácio C.; Lima, Joana C.; Matos, Pedro VergaThis study examines the evolution of Portuguese exports to Spain and its determinants in the period 2004-2008, based on a sample of the 97 largest exporters to Spain. The econometric study, using panel data and a static and dynamic analysis, considers as theoretically relevant explanatory variables productivity, equity capital, remuneration and innovation measured by the expenditure on research and development (R&D). The static results of the estimated models confirm the positive influence of productivity and equity capital on the variation of exports, and the negative effect of the labour costs. The variable R&D is statistically significant, with a positive effect on Portuguese exports in the dynamic model. The dynamic estimations also suggest that the exports in the previous period have a positive effect on contemporaneous exports.
- Using transformational leadership to enhance the development of corporate strategy focused on a community’s common interestsPublication . Veríssimo, José Manuel; Lacerda, TeresaLittle systematic research has been conducted to advance understanding of how transformational leadership enhances the development of corporate strategy focused on a community’s common interests. Using data from 50 Portuguese firms, we examined the role played by transformational leadership and its four dimensions—namely, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration—as well as ethical integrity in firms’ strategic orientation to corporate social responsibility. The results indicated that transformational leadership is significantly positively related to a firm’s strategic orientation to corporate social responsibility. However, leaders’ ethical integrity was not significantly linked to the adoption of corporate social responsibility practices. These findings suggest that further research is needed in regard to leaders’ ethical integrity and firms’ social responsibility orientation. Practitioners may also benefit from these findings by using them to transform themselves into “truly transformational leaders” who incorporate corporate social responsibility as a core strategic value within their firms.
- Convexity adjustments for ATS modelsPublication . Gaspar, Raquel M.; Murgoci, AgathaPractitioners are used to value a broad class of exotic interest rate derivatives simply by adjusting for what is known as convexity adjustments (or convexity corrections). We start by exploiting the relations between various interest rate models and their connections to measure changes. As a result we classify convexity adjustments into forward adjustments and swaps adjustments. We, then, focus on affine term structure (ATS) models and, in this context, conjecture convexity adjustments should be related of affine functionals. In the case of forward ad¬justments, we show how to obtain exact formulas. Concretely for LIBOR in arrears (LIA) contracts, we derive the system of Riccatti ODE-s one needs to compute to obtain the exact adjustment. Based upon the ideas of Schrager and Pelsser (2006) we are also able to derive general swap adjustments useful, in particular, when dealing with constant maturity swaps (CMS). Our approach bypasses the need for Taylor approximations or unrealistic assumptions. They include exact convexity adjustments previously derived, such as the adjustments associated with Gaussian models, but are far more general as they provide solutions for the entire ATS class of models.