Marcos Sanso-Navarro

The Effects on American Foreign Direct Investment in the United Kingdom from Not Adopting the Euro

The decision of the United Kingdom not to adopt the common European currency can be understood as a policy intervention in a single country within the European Union. The aim of this article is to analyse the consequences of this decision on the foreign direct investment received by this country. This is done by the application of a synthetic control method designed for policy evaluation. As a result, evidence of a significant cost in terms of inward foreign direct investment from the United States is obtained.

THE WAGE GAP BETWEEN COOPERATIVE AND CAPITALIST FIRMS: EVIDENCE FROM SPAIN

This paper analyses the differences between the wages received by workers in cooperative and capitalist firms in Spain using a sample constructed from administrative data. This paper shows that size and the sign of the wage gap depend on economic sector, type of cooperative and the wage distribution. This approach let us explain some contradictory results obtained in previous literature. Additionally, the wage gap decomposition used let us identify the causes for this gap.

The impact of the American Civil War on city growth

This paper analyses the persistence of the shock caused by the American Civil War on the relative city size distribution of the USA. Two features make the study of this conflict interesting. First, it took place at an earlier stage of the industrialisation and urbanisation processes than those previously analysed in the related literature. Second, the battles were fought in the open field, not in urban areas. In line with previous results for the Second World War in Japanese and German cities, our findings suggest that the effects of the shock were transitory. Furthermore, some evidence regarding the possible presence of a ‘safe harbour effect’ is reported.

The Long-Run Relationship Between R&D and Regional Knowledge: The Case of France, Germany, Italy and Spain

This paper incorporates time-dependence into a regional knowledge production function framework. Within this setup, the long-run dynamic behaviour of R&D and knowledge has been analysed in four European countries - France, Germany, Italy and Spain - using unit root tests and cointegration techniques. We find that the regional stock of knowledge is cointegrated with R&D employment and external knowledge. Nonetheless, knowledge spillovers play a more important role in the generation and accumulation of new ideas. This suggests that innovation policies should aim at enhancing regional absorptive capacity through improvements in education and training.

The demographic impact of terrorism: evidence from municipalities in the Basque Country and Navarre

ABSTRACT This paper studies the persistence of the effects of terrorist attacks on the urban structure at the regional level. With this aim, a dynamic differences-in-differences approach is applied to all the municipalities of the Basque Country and Navarre autonomous communities in Spain during the period 1986–2014. The results show that terrorism had a negative and transitory effect on population growth. We also find that incidents with deaths implied more adverse shocks. Terrorist attacks had more significant effects in bigger municipalities and in the provinces with a stronger ideological polarization. Finally, we provide evidence of demographic spatial effects derived from violence.

Do Regularization Programs for Illegal Immigrants Have a Magnet Effect? Evidence from Spain

This paper attempts to determine whether regularization programs of illegal immigrants have a magnet effect. Using a comparative case study approach, we analyze the most recent amnesty implemented in Spain. More specifically, we apply a synthetic control method that is suitable for the evaluation of policies at the country level. Our results suggest that the increasing trend followed by the foreign population in the period analyzed is not a consequence of the amnesty under scrutiny. Rather, it corresponds to the path for a counterfactual country with similar socioeconomic characteristics.

REGIONAL GROWTH, INNOVATION, AND LATENT NONLINEAR EFFECTS: GROWTH, INNOVATION, AND NONLINEAR EFFECTS

This paper studies the link between knowledge, innovation, and growth in European regions using nonparametric methods. Our findings suggest that knowledge inputs and the share of innovative firms have a heterogeneous and nonlinear relationship with growth. This evidence has been exploited to examine the consequences of alternative policies using a counterfactual estimation setup, the results of which imply that increasing the formal knowledge base may be optimal in most regions. Less knowledge and innovation intensive regions will also benefit from a higher innovation potential and from a trustworthy and entrepreneurial economic environment.

Regional Growth, Innovation, And Latent Nonlinear Effects

This paper deals with the relationship between knowledge, innovation and regional growth. The study is carried out through the application of nonparametric estimation methods to European data at NUTS2 level. We provide evidence that the share of innovative firms plays a more relevant role in explaining regional growth than R&D expenditures. Further, inward FDI turns out to be a robust growth determinant. Our results also suggest that the effects induced by these variables are of a heterogeneous nature. As a byproduct of the analysis, we show that the estimation results from a local-linear kernel regression can be used for the identification of spatial patterns. In this respect, we find a cluster of innovation-driven labour productivity growth in Germany.This paper studies the link between knowledge, innovation, and growth in European regions using nonparametric methods. Our findings suggest that knowledge inputs and the share of innovative firms have a heterogeneous and nonlinear relationship with growth. This evidence has been exploited to examine the consequences of alternative policies using a counterfactual estimation setup, the results of which imply that increasing the formal knowledge base may be optimal in most regions. Less knowledge and innovation intensive regions will also benefit from a higher innovation potential and from a trustworthy and entrepreneurial economic environment.

The Causal Relationship between Debt and Growth: Evidence from OECD Countries

This paper analyzes the possible causal relationship between debt and growth in 16 OECD countries from 1980 to 2009. This is done considering not only government debt but also non- financial corporate and household debt. The panel bootstrap Granger causality test applied allows us to control for both the presence of cross-country heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. Our results barely provide evidence against the null hypothesis according to which government debt does not cause real GDP per capita growth. More interestingly, we find evidence against the absence of causality from non- financial private debt - especially that of households - to growth. Finally, government debt is found to be negatively influenced by growth.

Unconventional Monetary Policies and the Credit Market

We propose a theoretical model based on the bank lending channel to assess the ability of lending facilities and swap programs to affect the credit interest rate. The model predicts the success of both unconventional monetary measures in reducing the credit interest rate under very general conditions. The comparison between measures reveals the outperformance of lending facilities over swap programs if i) the risk premium on the interbank money market is sizeable and the yield on government bonds is low, ii) the share of bank lending obtained from the central bank is below some specific threshold, iii) the interest rate offered by the central bank on excess reserves is high, and iv) the default rate on loans is high. The quantitative assessment of the model with real data confirms the appropriate response of the Federal Reserve in recent crisis episodes but sheds some doubts on the European Central Bank intervention.