Working papers - academic research on economy aimed at enhancing the knowledge about economic processes, problems and trends through development of new theories and concepts. The results of these studies are published in leading international journals, as for example SAGE Knowledge, Journal of Economic Development, Research Policy (Science Direct), Baltic Journal of Economics, Eastern Economic Journal and etc.
Kirill Shakhnov| 13.10.2015
Belarusian Business Cycle in Cross-country Comparison: Industry and Aggregate Data
The paper documents stylized facts about Belarusian business cycle based on aggregate and industry data and puts it into an international content. First, the aggregate fluctuations in Belarus are mostly driven by the wedge, which resembles a time-varying investment tax. Second, the fluctuation in relative prices of an industry is typically more important than volume fluctuation. Furthermore, the impact of price fluctuations is partially o@ffset by volume fluctuation. Third, the aggregate cycle is smoother than the industry-specific one. In particular, agriculture, construction and finance experience a very sharp drop in a recession.
| 11.10.2015
Gender and Innovativeness of the Enterprise: the Case of Transition Countries
Little knowledge exists on difference in innovation behavior of men and women leading the SMEs in transition countries. This paper estimates whether there is a gender gap in SMEs innovation actions. Results show that propensity to innovate is higher among female owners and this finding preserves for 5 measures of innovativeness. Thus, female involvement in business might be beneficial for the innovative sustainable development of economy. Estimation of the gap in performance of implemented innovations did not reveal any strong prevailing gender in terms of efficiency.
Ilona Babenko|Yuri Tserlukevich|Pengcheng Wan| 30.09.2015
Is Market Timing Good for Shareholders?
We challenge the view that equity market timing always benefits shareholders. By distinguishing the effect of a firm's equity decisions from the effect of mispricing itself, we show that market timing can decrease shareholder value. Additionally, the timing of equity sales has a more negative effect on existing shareholders than the timing of share repurchases. Our theory can be used to infer firms' maximization objectives from their observed market timing strategies. We argue that the popularity of stock buybacks and the low frequency of seasoned equity offerings are consistent with managers maximizing current shareholder value.
| 07.08.2015
Recent Developments in Consumer Credit and Default Literature
This survey discusses recent contributions to the quantitative literature on unsecured consumer debt and default, and some ongoing challenges for the literature.
| 11.07.2015
Determining the Common External Tariff in a Customs Union: Evidence from the Eurasian Customs Union
How do member states determine the Common External Tariff@ (CET) in a Customs Union? While a large theoretical literature studies the incentives faced by governments when negotiating the CET, empirical evidence is so far scant. This paper studies a large panel data set of tariff data from the Eurasian Customs Union and demonstrates the importance of mutual protectionism: member states bargain to expand to their partners the protection of goods that were protected nationally.
Accounting for Labor Productivity Puzzle
In the recent decades aggregate labor productivity in the U.S. became countercyclical (labor productivity puzzle). At the same time the U.S. experienced dramatic changes in the structure of households due to increased female labor force participation.