In the last two decades Merger & Acquisition (M&A) activities worldwide rose to an unprecedented level mainly due to two factors - globalization and technological progress. M&A transactions, whatever is their motivation, generate potential knowledge flows between bidder and target firms that...

We describe the competitive environment of microcredit markets globally and we study the effects of competition on loan rates of microfinance institutions (MFIs). We use a new database from rating agencies, covering 379 for-profit and nonprofit MFIs in 67 countries over 2002-2008. First, we find...

This article develops a dynamic optimising macro model of a open economy specialised in tourism based on natural resources. Environmental externalities are explicitly introduced in the production function. Global dynamic analysis shows that, under some conditions on the parameters, if the...

In this study, we develop an evolutionary game model to analyse how human relations evolve in a context characterised by declining face-to-face interactions and growing online social participation. Our results suggest that online networks may constitute a coping response allowing individuals to...

We analyze the debt origination process in which a lender offers prospective borrowers a microcredit product alongside a traditional bank loan, and the impact anti-usury mandates can cause within this credit market. This is a paper about the prospects of financial liberalization following a more...

What factors drive the length of a kidnapping experience? A theoretical model is developed to conduct comparative statics. A unique data set covering all kidnappings for ransom in Sardinia between 1960 and 2010 is analyzed. Factors related to the ability to pay and cost of abduction matter. The...

We analyze the effect of a bankruptcy law according to which some of the borrower’s assets are exempt from liquidation in the event of default in the context of a competitive credit market characterized either by moral hazard (MH) or by adverse selection (AS). In particular, we study how the...

The 2013 pension reform in Lithuania forced workers to choose their level of participation to the second pillar system. Three options were given - a lower contribution rate, a higher contribution rate with governmental subsidy, and to exit from the second pillar system. The aim of this article...

The paper analyzes the impact of domestic and international tourism on the economic growth process for 179 European regions. The econometric analysis is based on a spatial growth regression framework where the rate of GDP per capita growth at the regional level for the period 1999-2009 is...

We model a competitive labor market populated by workers who are heterogeneous in wealth and skills, in which education plays a signaling role. We show that whenever the accumulation of factors of production such has technology results in a wider wage premium for skills over time – as it might...