Leopoldo Laborda Castillo

Influence of entrepreneur type, region and sector effects on business self-confidence: Empirical evidence from Argentine firms

In this current work we analyse the influence of factors potentially able to explain entrepreneurs’ self-confidence in their own business activity, in view of the repercussions that they may ultimately have on economic development. Specifically, we include a number of factors in the analysis presented here that can be considered traditional in the specialized literature, such as the regional and sectoral factors, along with an additional factor measuring the type of entrepreneur running the firm. This typology is defined on the basis of the entrepreneurs’ personal characteristics, and their way of managing the firms resources. The authors used a cross-section (during 2001–2002) of 1314 firms, grouped in four sectors of activity, spatially distributed over 14 Argentine provinces, and considering seven models of entrepreneurial behaviour in the analysis. Our results, controlled by size, at the business level, and for the socio-economic and demographic characteristics, at the regional level, have been tested to be able to capture the significant effect that the entrepreneur type, the sector of activity and the regional location of the firm have in strengthening the entrepreneurs’ perception of the improvement in the economic situation of their firms.

Innovative and Absorptive Capacity of International Knowledge: An Empirical Analysis of Productivity Sources in Latin American Countries

This paper examines two sources of global knowledge spillovers: foreign direct investments and trade. Empirical evidence demonstrates that foreign direct investment and trade can contribute to overall domestic productivity growth only when the technology gap between domestic and foreign firms is not too large and when a sufficient absorptive capacity is available in domestic firms. The paper proposes the terms research and development and labor quality to capture the innovative and absorptive capacity of the country. The spillover effects in productivity are analyzed using a stochastic frontier approach. This productivity (in terms of total factor productivity) is decomposed using a generalized Malmquist output oriented index, in order to evaluate the specific effect in technical change, technical efficiency change, and scale efficiency change. Using country-level data for 16 Latin American countries for 1996-2006, the empirical analysis shows positive productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment and trade only when the country has absorptive capacity in terms of research and development. Foreign direct investment and trade spillovers are found to be positive and significant for scale efficiency change and total productivity factor change.

Foreign Direct Investment and Productivity Spillovers: Firm-Level Evidence From Chilean Industrial Sector

ABSTRACT Using firm-level panel data, this article examines whether spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) make a contribution to productivity growth in Chilean manufacturing firms. The main contribution of this work is to apply a methodology to estimate, in a consistent manner, the productivity impact of investment climate variables, such as FDI. With this aim, the spillover effects from FDI are analyzed using a stochastic frontier approach (SFA). Productivity growth is decomposed using a generalized Malmquist output-oriented index. The results show positive productivity spillovers from FDI; higher competition is associated with larger spillovers; and firms with high R&D effort gain more spillover benefits compared to those with less R&D effort.

Second hand machinery and technical efficiency: An empirical analysis in the South African manufacturing industry

This paper investigates the relationship between second-hand machinery and equipment and technical efficiency in South Africa’s industrial firms. In general terms, one can state that the obtained results allow the conclusion of the fact that the use of machinery and second hand equipment in emergent economies is not only explained in terms of economic efficiency, as argued by Sen (1962), but also in terms of technical efficiency. In our opinion, the level of real wages plays a decisive role over technical efficiency, both when examined in an isolated manner, as when related to the depth of capital of companies, and with the stock of machinery and second hand equipment used.

The Effect of Poverty, Gender Exclusion, and Child Labor on Out-of-School Rates for Female Children

In this article, the authors analyze the effect of poverty, social exclusion, and child labor on out-of-school rates for female children. This empirical study is based on a dynamic panel model for a sample of 216 countries over the period 1970 to 2010. Results based on the generalized method of moments (GMM) of Arellano and Bond (1991) and the tests of causality and zero autocorrelation to the panel data show a negative and significant relation between contributing family workers (female) and number of primary school-age children out of school (female) in Europe and Central Asia region. However, the authors cannot find empirical evidence between primary school-age children out of school rates (female) and the variables used to analyze the effect of poverty and social exclusion (poverty headcount ratio at national poverty line and total vulnerable employment). Moreover, the article identifies effects of other variables like proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments. In addition, this article examines geographic regions separately, with the anticipation that differentials in livelihood strategies and opportunities could be reflected in female child schooling decisions.

Value chain and technical efficiency: an empirical analysis in the Eastern European industrial firms

This study examines technical efficiency and its determinants in companies from East Europe who recently joined the European Union (EU) using survey data at the sector level. In order to get acquainted with the conditioning factors of the obtained technical efficiency, we resort to the classic concept of value chain, as described by M.E. Porter (1985). We specify different models regarding the strategic behaviour of the industrial sector firms, with the purpose of learning the impact on the technical efficiency. A data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is applied to estimate technical efficiency level for individual sectors. One of the most important results that arise from our analysis is the existence of highly heterogeneous efficiency determinants among productive sectors. In this context, while policy priorities may differ across countries and sectors, the identified micro-policies represent practical approaches to common policy challenges in companies from EU member countries from East Europe.

Comparative analysis on the efficiency of the firm and theirs determinants of European transition economics

In this study we evaluate the efficiency of the firms with DEA technique and bootstrapping procedure in eleven transition economics among sixth industrial and service sectors in a cross-section 2005. At the second stage, we study the relationship between corrected efficiency scores and possible explanatory variables. On one hand, our result shows statistically significant differences in efficiency levels across countries and sectors. Likewise, significant levels of inefficiency are identified especially in service sectors (Hotels and Restaurants, Retail and Wholesale and Transport). On the others hand, the results of the analysis in second stage confirmed the existence of a significant relationship between the country that firms operate (country-effect) and firm′s age (learning by doing). The latter relationship between age and efficiency has different behaviors according to the sector concerned, in the form of U shape in the Hotels and Restaurants, inverted U shape in Metal and Machinery and Wood and Furniture and linear in the Retail and Wholesale sector. Contrary perhaps to expectations, the results also allow us to conclude that there is no important statistically significant relationship between the efficiency and variables related to the strategies implemented by firms and the control of the property.