Bootstrap confidence intervals on fixed-effects efficiency estimates from finite-sample panel data models exhibit low coverage probabilities, because the traditional estimate involves a "max" operator that induces a finite sample bias. Attempts to bootstrap confidence intervals for the traditional estimate have focused on correcting bias. Rather than addressing this bias at the bootstrap stage,...

In this work we investigate two crucial dimensions of firms’ structure and dynamics, that is profitability and productivity performance. The empirical distributions and the associated persistence over time are explored through a set of parametric and non parametric exercises performed on an large panel of Italian firms active in both Manufacturing and Services during the period 1998-2003. The m...

In this paper, we take a cost function approach to the investigation of the e¤ects of public infrastructure on the performance of the U.S. manufacturing industry, using KLEMS data over the period from 1953 to 2001. We build on Duggal et al. (1999) and Feng and Serletis (2008) and propose a price augmenting Asymptotically Ideal Model (AIM) model where public infrastructure is incorporated into t...

Studies have demonstrated that oncolytic adenoviruses based on a 24 base pair deletion in the viral E1A gene (D24) may be promising therapeutics for treating a number of cancer types. In order to increase the therapeutic potential of these oncolytic viruses, a novel conditionally replicating adenovirus targeting multiple receptors upregulated on tumors was generated by incorporating an Ad5/3 fi...

We study the impact of bank credit supply on the output and productivity of borrower firms. Exploiting a matched firm-bank database covering all credit relationships of Italian corporations over more than a decade, we measure idiosyncratic supply-side shocks to firm credit availability. Then, we estimate a production model augmented with heterogeneous financial frictions, to show that an expans...

It has been argued that Africa will not be able to export manufactures as it lacks the necessary skills. Without an ability to export there will only be an incentive to invest in the sector if domestic demand grows rapidly. Comparative data for four African countries the Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe shows that in the early 1990s investment in manufacturing remained very low. The micro ev...

Article history: Received 29 August 2011 Received in revised form 20 September 2012 Accepted 11 December 2012 Available online 20 December 2012 Using the firm-level census data, this paper re-estimated the total factor productivity (TFP) of firms in China's iron and steel industry and examined its potential determinants over the period 1998–2007. To deal with the “endogenous input” problem, we ...

This paper studies the relationship between export activities and firm-level productivity. Unique matching of German and Austrian micro data from 1994 to 2003 suggests that exporters are more productive by around 40 percent compared with non-exporters. Moreover, beside other analysis techniques, instrumental variable estimations suggest that exporting causes a rise in firm-level productivity. T...

In two experiments on the choice of consumer goods, the estimated marginal willingness to pay for food are found to be lower in the survey version with cheap talk. Our test can be seen as a test of hypothetical bias. This implies we cannot reject the hypothesis of a hypothetical bias for marginal WTP in choice experiments. JEL classification: C91, Q13