Conferences are an important element in the work of researchers, requiring substantial investments in fees, travel expenses and the time spent by the participants. The aim of this paper is to identify the preferences of participants with respect to conference characteristics. Based on a sample...

The production and diffusion of knowledge have increasingly been seen as potential causes of the observed international differences in total factor productivity and, in turn, as possible sources of economic growth. This paper presents the results of a causality study between business visits and...

We propose "Entertainment and Travel Costs" (ETC) expenditures as a measure of corruption in Chinese firms. These expenses are publicly reported in firms' accounting books, and on average they amount to about 3% of firms' total value added. We find that ETC is a mix that includes "grease money"...