The analysis of bilateral trade flows features prominently in empirical research in international economics. Various different
international statistical sources are available for researchers and commonly used. Unfortunately, the data happen to differ
quite substantially across the different sources. It is the task of this project to identify those differences, quantify them,
and track their origin and to demonstrate the consequences of differences in the data for estimation of fundamental relationships
such as the gravity equation. We find the largest discrepancies in a comparison of UN and OECD databases to the IMF and Eurostat
trade data. In the most extreme cases the differences to reported trade flows in other data sources amount to as much as 40
billion $ in measured export flows and to as much as 50 billion $ in bilateral "mirrored imports". Most importantly we find
that these differences carry over to econometric results in applications of the gravity model, one of the workhorses of empirical
trade research. Parameters of key variables such as log bilateral distance, common borders, common language, or a colonial
relationship dummy variable vary substantially and do not even have a stable sign when using one database versus the other.
Hence, heterogeneous reporting standards across data sources and the inhomogeneous sample coverage have a non-trivial impact
on the quantifications of trade costs in empirical research.
This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the impact of acquisitions, initial public offerings and management buyouts on
productivity and profitability of a large sample of Europe-based manufacturing companies covering the period from 1996 to
2005. At the center of our analysis is the perception that the performance evaluation of governance-related activities in
the business sector such as ownership changes is similar in spirit to the assessment of treatment effects in the evaluation
literature. We use propensity score matching techniques in order to resolve the missing data and the selection problem and
find evidence corroborating the view that efficiency gains are strongest for those ownership changes that establish corporate
governance structures with low principal-agent costs.
Similar to the discrepancy between "normal" and "actual" bilateral trade, one may ask the question about the difference between
"normal" and actual bilateral multinational activity. However, with multinational activity, zero bilateral data and heteroskedasticity
are very important, even more so than with trade data. Therefore, this paper suggests using generalized linear rather than
log-linear models to specify "normal" FDI and obtain estimates of unexhausted FDI potentials. I use panel data on Austria's
bilateral multinational activity across 25 countries and 7 country-blocs, 4 sectors and 13 years to illustrate the disadvantage
of log-linear model estimation at quasi-maximum likelihood estimation.
Trade economists have long considered gravity models to estimate unexhausted potentials for bilateral trade. Similar to the
discrepancy between "normal" and "actual" bilateral trade, one may ask the question about the difference between "normal"
and actual bilateral multinational activity. However, with multinational activity, zero bilateral data and heteroscedasticity
are very important, even more so than with trade data. Therefore, this paper suggests using generalised linear rather than
log-linear models to specify "normal" FDI and obtain estimates of unexhausted FDI potentials. It uses panel data on Austria's
bilateral multinational activity across 25 countries and 7 country blocs, 4 sectors and 13 years to illustrate the disadvantage
of log-linear model estimation at quasi-maximum likelihood estimation.
This paper examines the effect of mergers on the performance of banks. We use a unique and exhaustive panel data set of mergers
of Austrian banks covering the period from 1996 to 2002. A probit selection equation is formulated to explain the adoption
of a merger strategy. We use various matching techniques to estimate the treatment effects of bank mergers on the banks' performance.
The analysis provides evidence in favour of the view that there are longer lasting positive effects on bank performance, especially,
in terms of improved cost efficiency. The findings also suggest that pre-merger effects are likely to occur in terms of higher
cost efficiency immediately before the establishment of the merger. Finally, smaller banks involved in merger activities are
more likely to enjoy cost-efficiency gains earlier than larger banks.
This report brings together three case studies on the effects of integration of border regions and the regional distribution
of economic activity. These case studies include analyses of: the effects of previous enlargements on employment, wage and
population growth as well as investment rates, the effect of German unification on the former border regions on western German
regional labour markets in the time period from 1987 to 2000, the effects of the opening of candidate countries in the 1990s
on gross and net employment changes and firm creation in border regions of Austria. Furthermore, this report comprises three
research papers focusing on long-run regional growth in the new EU member states and accession candidate countries. The common
theme of these papers is to identify potential effects of integration on regional disparities in candidate countries.