Alberto A. Gaggero

Regulation and Risk: A Cross‐Country Survey of Regulated Companies

This paper tests empirically whether regulation characterized by high incentives implies more risk to firms than regulation characterized by low incentives. Using a worldwide panel of 170 regulated companies operating in electricity, gas, water, telecommunication and transportation sectors during the period 1995–2004, I find that different regulatory regimes do not result in different levels of risk to their regulated firms. This result could be driven by a higher level of development of financial markets combined with a sophisticated diversifying behaviour of regulated firms.

Air Accessibility and Export Capability of the Italian Manufacturing Industry

This paper provides empirical evidence on the role played by air services as improvementin export capability of the Italian manufacturers in Europe. We find that the existence of adirect connection improves the exports of Italian firms, especially when flights are operated by traditional carriers. From the baseline econometric model, it emerges that the export elasticity to direct flights is about 4 per cent. The impact of air accessibility on exports is more pronounced on firms located in Southern Central Italy than on firms located in the Northern part of Italy.