This article analyzes the efficiency of Comunitat Valenciana (Spain) local governments and their main explanatory variables. The analysis is performed in two stages. Firstly, efficiency is measured via (nonparametric) activity analysis techniques. The measurement techniques also enable the...

In this paper we explore in depth the effect of process innovations on total factor productivity growth for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), taking into account the potential endogeneity problem that may be caused by self selection into these activities. First, we analyse whether the ex-ante...

This study analyzes the links between efficiency and the decentralization of competencies among Spanish local governments for years 1995 and 2000. The aim is pursued by considering a two-stage activity analysis model in which the performance of eachmunicipality is first evaluated against other...

Over the last few years, many studies have analyzed the productive efficiency of local governments in different countries. An accurate definition of their output bundles -i.e., the services and facilities they provide to their constituencies- is essential to this research. However, several...

Over the last few years, there has been a devolutionary tendency in many developed and developingcountries. In this article we propose a methodology to decompose whether the benefits in terms ofefficiency derived from transfers of powers from higher to municipal levels of government...

The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of human capital in the productivity gains of the countries of the OECD in the period 1965-90, breaking down the productivity gains into technicalchange and gains in efficiency. For this purpose we use both a stochastic frontier production function...

This paper analyzes the relationship between the dividend and debt policies, firm risk and the director’s ownership. Firstly, the results show that the payment of dividends reduces the risk and the leverage, and increases the ownership. Secondly, the firm risk presents a negative effect on the...

This paper analyzes the effect of the power of the chairman and CEO on firm risk. As proxies of power several variables have been employed: the fact that a person accumulates both the CEO and the Chairman titles, the fact of CEO or Chairman being founders, their tenure, their shareholding and...

This paper examines whether Working Capital Management (WCM) is sensitive to market imperfections such as asymmetric information, agency conflicts or financial distress. We find that firms have a target investment in working capital and that they take decisions in order to achieve this. In...

Several theoretical papers have addressed the question of why firms raise public equity. However, direct empirical evidence on the characteristics of firms going public is scarce and limited to non-Anglo-Saxon contexts. Our research combines the analysis of ex ante and ex post characteristics of...