Oliviero A. Carboni and Claudio Detotto
The purpose of this paper is to employ provincial data to study the relationship between several crime typologies, namely murder, robbery, extortion and fraud and economic output…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to employ provincial data to study the relationship between several crime typologies, namely murder, robbery, extortion and fraud and economic output in Italy.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose a spatial econometric approach where the spatial proximity is defined by a measure of physical distance between locations, in order to take into account possible spill-over effects.
Findings
The results of the spatial estimation suggest that criminal activities, namely murder and robbery, exhibit a negative impact on Italian gross domestic product while fraud and total crime do not affect economic output and that there are beneficial spill-overs from neighbouring provinces.
Originality/value
The study empirically shows that only violent crimes have a crowding-out effect on economic output.
Details
Keywords
Manex Bule Yonis, Tassew Woldehanna and Wolday Amha
The effectiveness of any government interventions to support small firms is always a concern in achieving improvements in enterprise performances. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
The effectiveness of any government interventions to support small firms is always a concern in achieving improvements in enterprise performances. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate thoroughly the impact of micro and small enterprises’ (MSEs’) support programs on core intermediate and final outcomes of interest.
Design/methodology/approach
The impact evaluation employs a non-parametric matching procedure for parametric outcome analysis using the propensity score matching (PSM) method. Aiming at a doubly robust evaluation process, the study applies parametric analyses than non-parametric permutation-based tests to investigate the causal effects of the public intervention.
Findings
The study reveals that the public intervention encouraged MSEs to develop innovative business practices and improve their human capital development process. Moreover, the intervention had a positive effect in expanding employment opportunities in urban areas. Contrariwise, the study shows that support beneficiaries are not at an advantage in investment intensity. The lower level of investment intensity on fixed capital resulted inefficiency among the recipients. Moreover, the intervention did not have an effect on changing the net-asset over time for the recipients.
Practical implications
This study implies that the support programs need to be dynamic and also targets on creating innovative high-growth MSEs.
Originality/value
This paper is fairly original and provides policy makers and MSE promoters/facilitators evidence-based information on the effectiveness of the support services, with looking at firm-level analysis.
Details
Keywords
Peng Xiaobao and Jian Wu
This study aims to comprehensively investigate the relationship between government subsidies and innovation performance in Chinese enterprises listed on the SSE STAR Market.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to comprehensively investigate the relationship between government subsidies and innovation performance in Chinese enterprises listed on the SSE STAR Market.
Design/methodology/approach
An unbalanced sample, covering 285 observations in 215 enterprises listed on the SSE STAR Market from 2019 to 2020, was used to explore the relationships between government subsidies, R&D investment, CEO shareholding and innovation performance. Counterfactual analysis is added for robustness testing.
Findings
Empirical evidence confirms that government subsidies have an inverted U-shaped relationship with R&D investment and innovation performance. Meanwhile, R&D investment is a mediating variable between government subsidies and innovation performance. Moreover, CEO shareholding plays a moderating role between government subsidies and R&D investment. The higher the CEO ownership, the steeper the inverted U-shaped relationship.
Practical implications
The government should introduce a dynamic mechanism to reasonably control subsidy amounts and strengthen the supervision of subsidy use. Enterprise managers should be aware of how incentives affect the firm’s innovation and implement a coordinated development of government subsidy policies and internal enterprise governance.
Originality/value
This study adds new empirical evidence for the relationship between government subsidies and enterprise innovation performance. The risk incentive provided by stock options is an important micro mechanism to compensate for the lack of government subsidies. The study identifies ways to promote firm innovation based on the synergistic effect of internal and external mechanisms.