Suchergebnisse

This paper examines the impact of crime on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the Italian provinces. The incidence of organized crime is measured by the number of complaints regarding criminal offences of different kinds traditionally related to the mafia organizations. The results show how the correlation between organized crime and FDI is both negative and significant, even when an indicator of financial incentives for investment is included in the regressions. Our analysis shows that crime represents a deterrent for foreign investors, suggesting that high levels of (certain) crimes may be perceived as a signal of a local socio-institutional environment unfavourable for FDI. [Copyright Elsevier B.V.]

In this paper, we employ a block structured near-vector autoregression in order to compare the reactions to euro-area shocks in four New Member States (Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania) and in the Old Member State of the EU. Thanks to the methodology adopted we also study the effects of national economic policies and their reactions to national shocks in each New Member State. Our analysis highlights that possible asymmetric effects of the ECB's monetary policy cannot be excluded and that the potential accession of the New Member States may increase the level of fiscal indiscipline in the eurozone.