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AbstractThis paper explores whether firm characteristics matter in determining the effect of investor herding on asset returns. We find that the level of herding alone does not command a significant effect on industry returns, implied by insignificant return spreads between industries that experience high and low degrees of herding. On the other hand, we observe that herding has a significant interaction with size and past returns. We find that small firms with high level of herding significantly underperform small firms that experience low herding. Similarly, past loser industries with high level of herding significantly outperform loser industries with low herding. No significant interactions between book‐to‐market and market beta with herding are observed. Overall, the findings suggest that the herding effect presents itself via size and momentum channels with significant investment implications.

AbstractUsing a large panel of listed firms in China from 2010 to 2015, this study investigates the valuation effect of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and firm characteristics that influence such an effect. We implement the ordinary least squares and the fixed effects panel regressions as well as the two‐stage least squares regressions that control for potential endogeneity. We find that CER has a significantly positive effect on firm performance. The positive effect is more pronounced for firms in highly polluting industries, with high asset tangibility and with low state ownership. Furthermore, firms with high ownership concentration and low managerial ownership tend to benefit more from their environmentally responsible activities, suggesting that enhanced environmental engagement may serve as a strategic tool in reducing the negative effects of agency cost and weak corporate governance on firm valuation. Our results are robust to alternative measures of performance (Tobin's Q and return on assets).

Using a new survey, we show that the dispersion of marginal products across firms in the European Union is about twice as large as that in the United States. Reducing it to the US level would increase EU GDP by more than 30 percent. Alternatively, removing barriers between industries and countries would raise EU GDP by at least 25 percent. Firm characteristics, such as demographics, quality of inputs, utilization of resources, and dynamic adjustment of inputs, are predictors of the marginal products of capital and labor. We emphasize that some firm characteristics may reflect compensating differentials rather than constraints and the effect of constraints on the dispersion of marginal products may hence be smaller than has been assumed in the literature. We also show that cross-country differences in the dispersion of marginal products are more due to differences in how the business, institutional and policy environment translates firm characteristics into outcomes than to the differences in firm characteristics per se.

Using a new survey, we show that the dispersion of marginal products across firms in the European Union is about twice as large as that in the United States. Reducing it to the US level would increase EU GDP by more than 30 percent. Alternatively, removing barriers between industries and countries would raise EU GDP by at least 25 percent. Firm characteristics, such as demographics, quality of inputs, utilization of resources, and dynamic adjustment of inputs, are predictors of the marginal products of capital and labor. We emphasize that some firm characteristics may reflect compensating differentials rather than constraints and the effect of constraints on the dispersion of marginal products may hence be smaller than has been assumed in the literature. We also show that cross-country differences in the dispersion of marginal products are more due to differences in how the business, institutional and policy environment translates firm characteristics into outcomes than to the differences in firm characteristics per se.

This paper explores the determinants of market diversification by export-oriented manufacturing firms using the logistic regression framework. The results show that firm level characteristics including age of the enterprise, managerial expertise, type of ownership, and size of the enterprise play a key role in determining the probability of market diversification by firms. These findings highlight the salience of firm level capacities in achieving export diversification in Pakistan. JEL Classification: F14, L25
Keywords: Exports, Firms, Market Diversification, Manufacturing

The employment period is of central importance in the life course and therefore ensuring job
stability, whether internally or between firms, is essential for workers. In considering this, it is
worthwhile to note from the outset that employees act within a particular framework. Employment trajectories are affected by firm-specific opportunity structures and diverse regional heterogeneities. Furthermore, the role of the business cycle is also an important factor to be addressed. This article is to contribute to existing research on employment trajectories and particularly towards addressing more fully structural factors that frame action, which remain under investigated. In order to gain a fuller picture of structural and cyclical determinants, a German linked employer-employee dataset as well as data on regional economic characteristics using the
'Spatial Planning Regions' (German statistical units) were merged. The hierarchically
clustered data was explored through multilevel models of analysis. Firstly, the key factors of
influence on employment stability were identified, followed by the determinants of upward, lateral and downward inter-firm mobility as well as those transitions that lead to unemployment. This article shows that during an economic upswing inter-firm promotions are more frequently achieved, whereas in an economic downswing the risks of unemployment increase. Moreover, it was found that investment in further training and internal infrastructure has a positive effect on employment trajectories. In addition, work councils increase employment stability, especially during periods of economic growth. In contrast to this, employment trajectories are destabilised through a disadvantageous firm demography as well as the intensive use of fixed-term employment. Densely populated areas offer better employment
opportunities, whereas unemployment risks dominate in rural areas during an economic downswing. Furthermore, differences in levels of productivity as well as the particular labour market environment accentuate unequal employment opportunities. Regardless of qualification level, all employees within a region during an economic upswing benefit from the accumulation of a higher level of human capital, whereas during an economic downturn, skill segregation prevails, where it is only the highly qualified that benefit.