Relationship Lending within a Bank-Based System: Evidence from European Small Business Data
Hans Degryse, Patrick Van Cayseele
Journal of Financial Intermediation,
No. 1,
2000
Abstract
We investigate relationship lending using detailed contract information from nearly 18,000 bank loans to small Belgian firms operating within the continental European bank-based system. Specifically, we investigate the impact of different measures of relationship strength on price and nonprice terms of the loan contract. We test for the possibility of rent shifting by banks. The evidence shows two opposing effects. On the one hand, the loan rate increases with the duration of a bank–firm relationship. On the other hand, the scope of a relationship, defined as the purchase of other information-sensitive products from a bank, decreases the loan's interest rate substantially. Relationship duration and scope thus have opposite effects on loan rates, with the latter being more important. We also find that the collateral requirement is decreasing in the duration of the relationship and increasing in its scope.
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The empirical importance of the real business cycle theory: A comparison of alternative estimation methods
Christian Schumacher
Forschungsreihe,
No. 6,
1999
Abstract
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Labor Market Analysis and Public Policy: The Case of Morocco
Guillermo Hakim, Julia Lane, Javier Miranda
World Bank Economic Review,
No. 3,
1999
Abstract
This article uses detailed industry and household data to understand why Morocco's labor market performed poorly in 1985–95. The data indicate that marked structural changes and weak demand in the product market were responsible. This article makes two contributions to the literature. The first is specific: it underscores that the demand for labor is a derived demand and that the performance of the product market is an important determinant of the performance of the labor market. The second is more general: it demonstrates that this kind of microeconomic analysis, using data sets that are often available in developing countries, can inform policy design.
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Revenue Implications of Trade Liberalization
L. Ebrill, Reint E. Gropp, J. Stotsky
IMF Occasional Papers, No. 180,
No. 180,
1999
Abstract
In recent decades many countries have dismantled trade barriers and opened their economies to international competition. Trade liberalization is seen to promote economic efficiency, international competitiveness, and an expansion of trade, perhaps especially in imperfectly competitive markets. Yet despite this progress in trade liberalization, as evidenced by the conclusion of the Uruguay Round in 1994 and the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, trade barriers are still widespread. Some economies and some sectors (e.g., agriculture in many industrial countries) remain relatively insulated from the global economy by a variety of nontariff and tariff barriers, even as import substitution continues to lose ground as a strategy for economic development.
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The Importance of Standardization from a Competition Perspective
Ulrich Blum, G. Eickhoff, I. Junginger
Innovationsmanagement,
1999
Abstract
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Import substitution on the East German building materials market
Nikolaus Wolf
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 88,
1999
Abstract
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Import percentage of private consumption in Germany in the 1990s
Ruth Grunert
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
1999
Abstract
Mit Hilfe der Input-Output-Rechnung wird der Importgehalt des privaten Konsums für Deutschland ermittelt. Neben den Direktimporten von Konsumgütern wird ein beachtlicher Teil an importierten Vorleistung für den privaten Konsum benötigt. Letztlich fließt rund ein Viertel der Nachfrage der privaten Haushalte in Waren und Dienstleistungen, deren Produktionsstätten nicht in Deutschland liegen.
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Innovative Milieux: Advanced Posts of Interpenetration between the Economic System and the Science System
Peter Franz
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 71,
1998
Abstract
A growing number of governments, political parties, and enterprises set the theme „innovation“ on their agenda and join in the global race to more competitive national economies. In this race the concept of the „innovative milieu“ serves as an important point of orientation and as a political target that, on the first glance, seems to be transferable in concrete political measures. A basic feature of innovative milieux is the quick and easy transfer of knowledge to products in demand. This speed-up in the diffusion of knowledge is not only interesting with respect to the economic advantages but also with respect to science. It is the basic thesis of this paper that innovative milieux represent special cases where the economic system and the science system interpenetrate in an extreme way. Empirical findings show that the actors of innovative milieux have a strong cultural proximity to basic attitudes and behavior within the science system. This relates to the institutionalization of trial and error, the reinforcement of exploratory behavior, the flow of information, and to a special mixture of cooperation and competition. An essential feature of innovative milieux derives from the network relations of its actors. These relations have to be balanced a) to the need to create trust and reduce uncertainty, and b) to the need to stay permeable enough for linkages with new actors from outside. With regard to time innovative milieux have to be conceived from an evolutionary perspective. This involves several steps: Development of prerequisites, consolidation, attraction of labor and enterprises from other regions. From the evolutionary perspective, too, possible factors of preventing or accelerating the „entropic death“ (Camagni 1991) of innovative milieux can be discussed. The exceptional character of innovative milieux has consequences for innovation-oriented political strategies. The self-enforcing dynamics of innovative milieux create a tendency to more economic inequality between regions (core-periphery differences). This is contradictory to political strategies in which innovation-oriented policy is applied to reach an offset between prospering and impoverished regions. In many cases a strategy starting from the assumption of an enduring non-innovative milieu seems to be more realistic and more promising. Further on, the new more direct links between enterprises and research institutes question the current shape of technology transfer institutions. Finally the potential effects of the new trend to encourage the entrepreneurship of research staff on the science system are discussed.
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Trade deficits in Poland and Estonia: Capital imports versus import penetration and the sustainability of current account deficits
Johannes Stephan
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 82,
1998
Abstract
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Concealed unemployment in West- and East Germany: The importance of hidden manpower reserves
Lioba Trabert
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 1,
1997
Abstract
In Ost- und Westdeutschland kann noch immer nicht von einem einheitlichen Arbeitsmarkt gesprochen werden. Ein Vergleich der beiden Teilarbeitsmärkte allein auf Basis der Arbeitslosenquote gibt daher nur ein unvollständiges Bild wieder. Neben der offenen gibt es einen quantitativ bedeutsamen Umfang verdeckter Arbeitslosigkeit in Form arbeitsmarktpolitischer Maßnahmen sowie der Stillen Reserve. Die Stille Reserve umfaßt alle Personen, die eine Beschäftigung suchen, aber in der amtlichen Arbeitsmarktstatistik nicht registriert sind. Während in Ostdeutschland der Aufbau einer Stillen Reserve bisher kaum stattgefunden hat, arbeitsmarktpolitische Programme hingegen eine vorherrschende Position einnehmen, ist es in Westdeutschland eher umgekehrt. Hier erreicht die Stille Reserve – je nach Abgrenzung –ein Volumen von rund 600.000 bis 2,2 Millionen Personen. Auch wenn die Stille Reserve ihrem Ausmaß nach und hinsichtlich der Wiederbeschäftigungschancen nicht die gleiche Bedeutung wie die offene Arbeitslosigkeit erlangt, stellt sie – wie auch der Umfang arbeitsmarktpolitischer Maßnahmen – ein wichtiges Element zur Quantifizierung des Arbeitsmarktungleichgewichts dar. Allzuoft wird in wirtschafts- und beschäftigungspolitischen Fragestellungen vernachlässigt, daß die verdeckte Arbeitslosigkeit ein zusätzliches Arbeitsangebotspotential darstellt und deswegen ein Zuwachs an Beschäftigung nicht zwangsläufig mit der Reduzierung der offenen Arbeitslosigkeit verbunden ist.
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