The impact of global forces on the individual: empirical evidence from the German clothing industry

Starting from theoretical perspectives on globalisation, the following article analyses how current working conditions are affected by globalisation processes. For this purpose, recent developments in the German clothing sector are traced back to the power of economic globalisation processes. Characterising the German clothing sector as pioneer in economic globalisation, we use empirical findings to illustrate how current processes of globalisation influence the work place: At organisational level, corporate strategies aim at rationalisation, standardisation and flexibilisation of work in order to response to the economic pressure of global markets. At individual level these strategies, in turn, speed up working processes and intensify working processes for the employees. Although these developments form strong trends, we conclude that the local embeddedness of companies is still of high importance with regard to organisational and individual consequences of globalisation.

Energy efficiency in energy policy: Empirical evidence of direct rebound effect in Portuguese households' demand for electricity

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Corruption and Education: Empirical evidence from cross-country micro-data

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Empirical evidence on the difference between the effective and the statutory tax rates for listed groups in Germany

The difference between the statutory and effective tax rate for listed groups is a complex variable influenced by a variety of factors. This paper aims to analyze whether this difference exists for listed groups in the German market and tests which factors have an impact on it. Thus the sample consists of 130 corporations listed in the three major German stock indices. The findings suggest that the companies that pay less than the statutory rate clearly outweigh the ones that pay more, and that the income earned from associated companies has a significant impact on this difference.

Energy efficiency in energy policy: Empirical evidence of direct rebound effect in Portuguese household's demand for electricity

This project the direct rebound effect for the electricity demand in Portugal. While we find evidence of such an effect, the estimations also reflect the institutional arrangement that has characterized the electricity market in the country. Also, issues related to energy efficiency promotion are addressed in general putting into context the case study developed.

Are annual budgets being abandoned by companies operating in Portugal?: Evidence from the 500 “Maiores e Melhores”

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Life (dis)satisfaction and the decision to migrate: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

This paper provides empirical evidence of the impact of life satisfaction on the individual intention to migrate. The impacts of individual characteristics and of country macroeconomic variables on the intention to migrate are analyzed jointly. Differently from other studies, we allow for life satisfaction to serve as a mediator between macroeconomic variables and the intention to migrate. Using the Eurobarometer Survey for 27 Central Eastern European (CEE) and Western European (non-CEE) countries, we find that people have a higher intention to migrate when dissatisfied with life. The socio-economic variables and macroeconomic conditions have an effect on the intention to migrate indirectly through life satisfaction. The impact of life satisfaction on the intention to migrate for middle-aged individuals with past experience of migration, low level of education, and with a low or average income from urban areas is higher in CEE countries than in non-CEE countries.

Making sense of the experimental evidence on endogenous timing in duopoly markets

The prediction of asymmetric equilibria with Stackelberg outcomes is clearly the most frequent result in the endogenous timing literature. Several experiments have tried to validate this prediction empirically, but failed to find support for it. By contrast, the experiments find that simultaneous-move outcomes are modal and that behavior in endogenous timing games is quite heterogeneous. This paper generalizes Saloner’s (1987) and Hamilton and Slutsky’s (1990) endogenous timing games by assuming that players are averse to inequality in payoffs. We explore the theoretical implications of inequity aversion and compare them to the empirical evidence. We find that this explanation is able to organize most of the experimental evidence on endogenous timing games. However, inequity aversion is not able to explain delay in Hamilton and Slutsky’s endogenous timing games.

The effects of cultural heritage on residential property values: Evidence from Lisbon, Portugal

This paper examines the impact of historic amenities on residential housing prices in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. Our study is directed towards identifying the spatial variation of amenity values for churches, palaces, lithic (stone) architecture and other historic amenities via the housing market, making use of both global and local spatial hedonic models. Our empirical evidence reveals that different types of historic and landmark amenities provide different housing premiums. While having a local non-landmark church within 100 meters increases housing prices by approximately 4.2%, higher concentrations of non-landmark churches within 1000 meters yield negative effects in the order of 0.1% of prices with landmark churches having a greater negative impact around 3.4%. In contrast, higher concentration of both landmark and non-landmark lithic structures positively influence housing prices in the order of 2.9% and 0.7% respectively. Global estimates indicate a negative effect of protected zones, however this significance is lost when accounting for heterogeneity within these areas. We see that the designation of historic zones may counteract negative effects on property values of nearby neglected buildings in historic neighborhoods by setting additional regulations ensuring that dilapidated buildings do not damage the city’s beauty or erode its historic heritage. Further, our results from a geographically weighted regression specification indicate the presence of spatial non-stationarity in the effects of different historic amenities across the city of Lisbon with variation between historic and more modern areas.

The relationship between the education level of successor's and the firm performance in German publicly listed family firms- an empirical analysis

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how far the education level of the second or third generation of publicly traded German family firms affects the post-succession firm performance. By conducting a correlational and regression design, the aim is to examine how several variables influence the performance of family firms. Performance measures, for example ROA and Tobin’s q and variables, like Education level and succession periods, examine analytically that a positive succession trend will occur. However, with the used model, only a less rigid model shows empirical evidence.

Effect of fungal colonization on mechanical performance of cork

The industrialization of traditional processes relies on the scientific ability to understand the empirical evidence associated with traditional knowledge. Cork manufacturing includes one operation known as stabilization, where humid cork slabs are extensively colonized by fungi. The implications of fungal growth on the chemical quality of cork through the analysis of putative fungal metabolites have already been investigated. However, the effect of fungal growth on the mechanical properties of cork remains unexplored. This study investigated the effect of cork colonization on the integrity of the cork cell walls and their mechanical performance. Fungal colonization of cork by Chrysonilia sitophila, Mucor plumbeus Penicillium glabrum, P. olsonii, and Trichoderma longibrachiatum was investigated by microscopy. Growth occurred primarily on the surface of the cork pieces, but mycelium extended deeper into the cork layers, mostly via lenticular channels and by hyphal penetration of the cork cell wall. In this first report on cork decay in which specific correlation between fungal colonization and mechanical proprieties of the cork has been investigated, all colonizing fungi except C. sitophila, reduced cork strength, markedly altering its viscoelastic behaviour and reducing its Young’s modulus.

Treasury bond returns and U.S. political cycles

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Quantitative easing

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Determinants of venture capital and private equity investments in renewable energy: A cross-country study

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Financial crisis spillovers to the corporate sector: Bank-dependent borrowers versus bond market paticipants

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics