Calendrier du 04 novembre 2020
Paris Migration Seminar
Du 04/11/2020 de 17:30 à 18:30
MONRAS Joan(Barcelona School of Economics)
ALBERT CRISTOPH (CEMFI)
Immigration and Spatial Equilibrium: The Role of Expenditures in the Country of Origin
We show that immigrants in the US concentrate in expensive cities, the earnings gap between natives and immigrants is larger in these cities, and these patterns are stronger when prices in the country of origin are lower. To rationalize this empirical evidence, we propose a quantitative spatial equilibrium model in which immigrants spend a fraction of their income in their countries of origin. Our model serves two purposes. First, to develop a new instrument for immigrant shocks that we use to test the model’s predictions on native internal relocation responses. Second, to evaluate the consequences of immigration for aggregate productivity.
Texte intégral
Histoire des entreprises et de la finance
Du 04/11/2020 de 17:00 à 18:30
Via Zoom
PASTORE Thomas ()
The Belle-Epoque of Portfolios? How return, risk and diversification correlated with the wealth distribution in Paris in 1912
Development Economics Seminar
Du 04/11/2020 de 16:30 à 18:00
via Zoom
MACCHIAVELLO Rocco (LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS )
Language Barriers in MNCs and Knowledge Transfers
écrit avec with Louise Guillouët (Columbia University), Amit K. Khandelwal (Columbia GSB & NBER) and Matthieu Teachout (IGC)
A distinctive feature of foreign affiliates of MNCs is that they are led by foreign managers (FMs) who supervise domestic middle managers (DMs) who supervise domestic production workers (PWs). Language differences between FMs and DMs increase the cost of communication, might hamper knowledge transfers to DMs and thus limit the beneficial impact of FDI for the host country. We develop a model that clarifies under which circumstances a social planner should intervene to reduce the communication barrier between FMs and DMs. This occurs when: (i) DMs learn management from FMs; (ii) communication is costly to FMs and non-contractible; and, (iii) knowledge gained by DMs from FMs is valued by domestic firms. We experimentally test the validity of these assumptions in the context of MNCs operating in Myanmar, a context in which communication between FMs and DMs occurs in English and yet the typical DM possesses low English proficiency. The first experiment provides English training to a random sample of DMs working at MNCs. At endline, treated DMs have higher English proficiency, communicate more frequently with their FMs, are more involvement in firm management, and perform better in simulated management tasks. Treated DMs also report higher WTP for additional meetings with FMs which supports the assumption that communication within firms is non-contractable. The second experiment recruits human-resource managers at domestic firms and asks them to rate hypothetical job candidates who randomly differ in their characteristics. Employers particularly value candidates with both higher English proficiency and MNC experience, and this is driven, in part, by a premium for frequent interactions with FMs. Overall, the evidence suggests an under-investment in language relative to the social optimum.
Economic History Seminar
Du 04/11/2020 de 12:30 à 14:00
On Line
GREGG Amanda ( Middlebury College)
Financing Industrialization in Russia and Germany
écrit avec Caroline Fohlin from Emory University
A large literature debates what system best promotes the accumulation and allocation of capital, especially in countries that industrialized relatively late and where capital market imperfections may be especially severe. Russia and Germany serve as the classic cases to argue that developing economies may successfully employ unusual strategies to promote industrialization, for example an outsized role for banks or state intervention. Law and finance analysis, moreover, attributes financial system differences to variation in legal system design. Such assertions, however, have relied largely on anecdotal evidence, country-level aggregates, or small collections of firms. New research into Germany and Russia has reshaped thinking about these two cases individually, but we still lack rigorous comparative analysis. We therefore present new evidence directly comparing Russian and German corporate performance and financial strategies based on firm-level microdata from Russian and German sources around turn of the twentieth century and compare key stipulations of corporate law and their implementation. Contrary to the standard “economic backwardness” and “law and finance” literatures we argue that corporations in both countries used similar strategies to finance operations and expansion but that tight entry restrictions fundamentally distorted patterns of corporate governance and finance in Russia.