CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – April 29^th, 2025 | 18:30h – 20:00h | Room 631 | Online

“”Are we good? Or do we need to keep going?”: Unravelling auditors’ evidence sufficiency determinations”

Lisa Baudot – HEC Paris (France)

Abstract:

“Determining when sufficient appropriate evidence has been gathered is a critical aspect of audit judgment, with public regulators frequently citing insufficient evidence as a key deficiency in audits. Drawing on interviews with 45 auditors across firms of varying sizes and using a theoretical framework that integrates both the structured and affective dimensions of professional judgements, our study explores how auditors approach evidence sufficiency determinations. Our analysis reveals the dynamic, cyclical decision-making process auditors employ while assessing evidence sufficiency. Initially, auditors rely on established guidelines, which provide a structured approach. When these guidelines prove insufficient or mismatch the specific scenario, discomfort prompts auditors to engage in deeper evaluation. This might include revising evidence thresholds, adapting rules for evidence comparison, or forming mental models to better understand the situation alongside the collective inputs gathered throughout the process. This iterative process can either resolve the initial discomfort or lead auditors to accept some residual discomfort. As auditors navigate a variety of stopping rules and feelings of (dis) comfort, they continuously recalibrate their sufficiency determinations based on prior experiences, establishing a feedback loop that informs perceptions of comfort, and the evidence required to attain it.”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar

Tuesday – April 29^th 2025, at 13:00h | Room 305

Decentralized Persuasion

Itai Arieli –  Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, TECHNION – Israel Institute of Technology  (Israel), University of Toronto (Canada)

Abstract:

“Information is often distributed across multiple senders. This paper explores the extent to which senders with a common utility function but independent and imperfect information can collaboratively persuade a receiver. We suppose that the senders’ combined information (almost) fully reveals the true state, and compare these senders’ attainable utility to the maximum achievable by a single, fully informed sender. We show that decentralized senders cannot generally attain this maximum, except in cases where fully revealing a state is optimal. On the positive side, we show that they can guarantee a constant fraction of this maximum, and that the maximum itself can be obtained if senders have access to a public randomization device.”

CEF.UP – FIN Seminar

Thursday – April 24^th, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“Voting Rationales“

Silvina Rubio  – University of Bristol (England, United Kingdom)

Abstract:

“Why do institutional investors vote the way they vote? Using a novel dataset on institutional investors’ voting rationales, we provide direct evidence on the motivation for institutions’ votes in director elections. The main reasons for opposition are lack of independence and diversity. Concerns raised in rationales reflect firms’ governance weaknesses: companies with low board gender diversity receive more rationales on diversity, with similar results for independence, tenure, busyness, and CEO duality. Companies listen and change board composition in the direction stated in voting rationales. Results suggest many institutions make independent voting decisions with merits, and firms address investors’ concerns.”

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – April 8^th, 2025 | 18:30h – 20:00h | Room 631 | Online

“Transformative Service Research and Well-Being at the Intersection of Consumers with Organizational Frontlines”

Steven Rayburn – Texas State University (U.S.A.)

In this session, Dr. Rayburn will explore the origins of the Transformative Service Research initiative as well as some of the ongoing developments focused on the emergence of the Organizational Frontlines Research as a key focal area within Service Research. The intersection of Transformative Service Research, the Organizational Frontline, and Individual Wellbeing will be explored drawing, on examples from Dr. Rayburn’s consumer and employee research. During this session, he will discuss his focus on consumer and employee wellbeing as a key outcome. Specifically, from the consumer perspective he will discuss Service Captivity, a concept he developed in his dissertation to help researchers understand consumers’ loss of voice, choice, and power in service interactions. This discussion will highlight service design elements integral to diminishing consumer perceptions of service captivity. Dr. Rayburn will also discuss employee prosocial motivation and impact, employees’ desire and ability to positively contribute to the wellbeing of others. This discussion will expose the positive tripartite impact on the employee, organization, and customers that is present when prosocial motivation is facilitated.

CEF.UP – FIN Seminar

Thursday – April 3^rd, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

Bank Syndicates and Liquidity Provision

João Santos  – Federal Reserve Bank of New York (U.S.A.), NOVA School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

Abstract:

“We provide a model where credit lines syndicates commit to provide liquidity. Our model yields predictions about the syndicate, pricing and the special role of the lead bank. Consistent with our model, we find that syndicate members with a relationship with the borrower make larger investments and are less likely to exit the syndicate. Lead banks offer a discount particularly on commitment fees to borrowers they have relationships with. Consistent with their unique role, lead banks are more likely increase their investments following the failure of syndicate members, although not enough to fully offset the lost commitment.”

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – April 1^st, 2025 | 18:30h – 20:00h | Room 631 | Online

“Rethinking the Service Profit Chain: A Revised Framework for the Digital Era”

Jens Hogreve – Ingolstadt School of Management, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (Germany)

Abstract:

“Over the past 25 years, the service–profit chain (SPC) has become a key framework for service managers and researchers. This talk will reflect on and synthesize published research to clarify what is well understood about the SPC and what remains less explored. Based on an in-depth discussion of the field, the talk will present a revised SPC and highlight multiple areas for further research, including internal service quality as a system of human resource management practices, the roles of employee and customer well-being as additional mediators, different targets of employee and customer loyalty, key contingencies, and the potential for non-linear and feedback effects. The talk will conclude by reimagining the SPC in light of digital and artificial intelligence–driven transformations, followed by a discussion of ongoing research on AI at the service frontline.”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar

Tuesday – April 1^st 2025, at 13:00h | Room 305

Should Egress Fees Be Eliminated? An Analysis of Cloud Services and Beyond

Andrea Mantovani – TBS – Toulouse Business School (France), Toulouse School of Economics (France) and University of Bologna (Italy)

Abstract:

“As cloud computing continues to expand, it has drawn significant attention from policymakers due to concerns over market concentration and potentially controversial practices employed by dominant providers. In this paper, we examine the impact of egress fees, which are imposed on users when switching providers. Using a simple two-period duopoly model, we analyze their effects on firms and society. Our findings reveal that cloud providers have strong incentives to implement egress fees, particularly under short-term contracts and in competition with smaller fringe providers. In such scenarios, users are notably disadvantaged by the presence of egress fees. While banning or efficiently capping these fees could enhance consumer surplus, it may also prompt cloud providers to increase switching costs for users, especially if these costs are relatively inexpensive to impose.”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar

Tuesday – March 25^th 2025, at 13:00h | Room 305

The Role of Human Capital Specificity in Entrepreneurship

Attila Gyetvai – Banco de Portugal 

Abstract:

“We argue that human capital specificity—the extent to which entrepreneurial human capital can be transferred to wage employment—is the key driver of entrepreneurial entry and exit. We provide evidence of this channel, combining data on the universe of Portuguese entrepreneurs and workers with a quantitative structural model. Our reduced-form analysis introduces a difference-in-differences approach that compares entrepreneurs who return to wage employment relative to those who never entered entrepreneurship. We find that individuals starting from lower relative wage trajectories benefit from entrepreneurship due to partial transferability, seeing average wage gains of 7.7 percent. However, individuals starting from higher relative wage trajectories are negatively impacted by partial transferability, and see average losses of 6.1 percent. We incorporate this evidence into a macroeconomic model of endogenous entrepreneurship with borrowing constraints and partially transferable human capital from entrepreneurship to wage employment. We find that borrowing constraints do not meaningfully impact entrepreneurial entry in this environment. Low-type entrepreneurs, with low optimal scale, enter entrepreneurship regardless of financial constraints due to the value of improving labor market outcomes via entrepreneurship. High-type entrepreneurs delay entry due to the risk of losing human capital, rather than inability to achieve their optimal scale. We conclude that policies which mitigate losses to human capital are more effective in spurring entry of high-type entrepreneurship.”

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – March 18^th, 2025 | 18:30h – 20:00h | Room 631 | Online

“Management control and agility: Temporal anchor practices and the (re-)production of temporal asymmetries between waterfall mainland and agile islands”

Sebastian Becker – HEC Paris (France)

Abstract:

Based on qualitative data collected in an organization attempting an ‘agile transformation’, this paper studies the emergence and (re )production of temporal clashes between temporally asymmetric worlds – between agile islands and the waterfall mainland. We argue and empirically demonstrate how temporal asymmetries and concomitant clashes between temporally asymmetric worlds may stem from the existence of different and seemingly incompatible temporal anchor practices, specifying the normatively expected and accepted temporal performance across the nexus of practices within these communities. Our analysis emphasizes the role of management control practices, central for intra-organizational cooperation in (re )producing and manifesting such temporal anchor practices and in bringing tensions between the temporally asymmetric worlds to the fore. Moreover, we outline two particular strategies that the members of the temporally asymmetric worlds resorted to in their attempts to address existing temporal clashes that jeopardized productive cooperation.

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar

Tuesday – March 18^th, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

Brothers in Arms: Near Equivalence of Monetary and Fiscal Rules

Lukasz Rachel  –  University College London (England, United Kingdom)

Abstract:

“We consider monetary-fiscal interaction in a New Keynesian model with finite planning horizons. We argue that the introduction of finite planning horizons has fundamental implications for the impact of monetary and fiscal policy rules and for the impact of aggregate shocks. There are three main findings. First, the determinacy properties are dramatically different in our model, relative to the standard setting: bounded equilibria might cease to exist when the central bank follows the Taylor principle and the fiscal policy does not stabilize government debt sufficiently. Second, the sharp difference in equilibrium outcomes depending on the precise parameters of the policy rules that is present in the textbook model largely disappears — indeed, the properties of the equilibria vary smoothly with policy rule parameters. Third, and different to the textbook model, anticipation of shocks plays a major role: an expansionary deficit-news shock can lead a recession accompanied with higher inflation and heightened macroeconomic volatility.”

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – March 11^th, 2025 | 18:30h – 20:00h | Room 631 | Online

“Home-delivery subscription services and their impact on omnichannel grocery retailing revenue and operating costs”

Rui Soucasaux Sousa – Católica Porto Business School, Catholic University of Portugal

We examine transaction-level data from an omnichannel grocery retailer to study the impact of home-delivery subscription service on retail revenue and operating costs across online (home-delivery and click-and-collect) and offline channels. We further quantify the consumer heterogeneity of these effects to identify determinants of subscription profitability and derive a minimum order value that guarantees this profitability. We find that consumers decrease their weekly spending on home-delivery fees by 6.70% post-subscription. However, they also increase their average total weekly spending on groceries by 30% (combining all channels). This is driven primarily by increases in product spending through the home-delivery channel at the expense of other channels. We identify changes in order frequency and the value and number of SKUs and total items per order as the mechanisms behind this cannibalization. These mechanisms also increase the retailer’s order picking and delivery costs, resulting in an average 3% residual gross margin. Nevertheless, our analysis of individual consumers reveals that for many of them, these increases in costs exceed the revenue gains obtained by the retailer post-subscription. To correct for these imbalances, we contribute a procedure to identify a minimum order value required for home deliveries in the subscription program. Overall, our results show that the economic impact of delivery subscription programs is rooted in behavioural drivers leading consumers to increase their consumption and offset the sunk costs they incur from the upfront fees they pay when joining these programs. This impact is also reflected in consumers’ behavioural changes to reduce the costs of transacting with the retailer post-subscription.

CEF.UP – FIN Seminar

Thursday – March 06^th, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“0DTEs: Trading, Gamma Risk and Volatility Propagation“

Grigory Vilkov  – Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (Germany)

Abstract:

“We study the recent explosion in trading of same-day expiry (0DTE) options on the S&P500 index. 0DTE positions can destabilize the underlying market when delta-hedging requires trading in the same direction as realized returns. We address this concern by investigating whether measures of trading activity propagate volatility. We find no evidence that aggregate open interest and trading volume increase volatility. On the contrary, market makers’ inventory gamma is significantly and negatively associated with future intraday volatility. This evidence is consistent with delta-hedging by market makers because, in our sample, they hold a predominantly positive inventory in 0DTEs.”

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – February 25^th , 2025 18:30h – 20:00h | Room 631 | Online

“Risk Management in Solar Power Plants with Storage: A Comparative Study”

Fernando Siciliani Oliveira

Using risk-averse stochastic programming, we study the management of solar power plants considering trading in the spot and future markets, together with storage systems and a novel weather derivative based on solar radiation. We compare the performance of two main solar-based technologies: a concentrated solar power plant with thermal storage (CSP) and a photovoltaic power plant with electrical batteries (PV). The methodological contribution is the study of the interaction between en- ergy trading, weather derivatives and storage under risk aversion. The managerial contributions are the following. First, we analyze the interaction between optimal trading and storage. Second, we unveiled how the value of the put and call options depends on solar radiation, generation, and storage levels. Moreover, we have shown that the optimal strategy is to sell calls and buy put options and that generators with a storage system sell significantly more call options. Third, we proved that the higher the risk aversion, the more the generator sells in the futures market and the higher the number of purchased put contracts. Finally, by using numerical analysis to compare CSP and PV plants, we show that PVs are more profitable under the considered conditions and that batteries create more value.

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar

Tuesday – February 18^th, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“The Political Economy of Domestic and External Sovereign Debt“

Almuth Scholl –  University of Konstanz (Germany)

Abstract:

“This paper explores the political and distributional consequences of sovereign debt and default taking into account that a sizable share of public debt is held by domestic creditors. We develop a quantitative macroeconomic model in which heterogeneous households face idiosyncratic income risk and save in non-state-contingent government bonds. Debt contracts are not enforceable and the government is politically constrained in its policy choices: A fiscal plan is required to receive the support of the majority of households. If neither fiscal plan is approved, the government has to default and to restructure domestic and external debt. Debt crises are characterized by a political conflict. In the course of a crisis, rising debt service costs force the government to cut redistributive spending. While wealthy households benefit from high interest rates on their savings, poor households support a default. Consequently, the approval of the fiscal plan decreases and the likelihood of a political default rises. Political constraints generate sizable welfare costs highlighting that individuals do not internalize the impact of their voting on interest rates and redistributive spending in equilibrium.”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar

Friday – February 7^th 2025, at 13:00h | Room 305

Lost in Transition: Financial Barriers to Green Growth

Antonin Bergeaud – HEC Paris (France), CEPR (England, United Kingdom) and Centre for Economic Performance at LSE (England, United Kingdom)

Abstract:

“Green innovation offers a solution to climate change without compromising living standards. Yet the share of climate-enhancing innovations in total patents, after booming for two decades, has seized to grow since the Global Financial Crisis. We develop a quantitative framework in which firms direct innovation towards green or polluting technologies, and become better at innovating in technologies that they have previously succeeded in. This causes mature, incumbent firms to predominantly innovate in polluting technologies. When green technologies become more attractive, e.g. due to a carbon tax, young firms are responsible for a large share of the transition to green innovation. As young firms are financially constrained, a credit shock harms their innovation, bringing the green transition to a halt. We validate the theory with two empirical exercises. First, we use micro data to provide causal evidence that tight credit disproportionately affects green innovation, through its effect onyoungfirms. Second,weshowthatcontractionarymonetarypolicyshockshaveasignificantly larger effect on green patenting than non-green patenting, in line with the model. Quantifying the model, we find that tight credit can explain around 60% of the recent slowdown in the rise of green patenting. This translates to a cumulative increase in emissions by half a year of the initial (high pollution) steady state.”

CEF.UP – FIN Seminar

Thursday – January 23^rd, 2025 at 13:00 h | Room 305

“Co-investment Games Under Uncertainty“

Benoît Chevalier-Roignant – Emlyon Business School (France)

Abstract:

“There are many business situations in which investments by a supplier and a producer (“coinvestments”) are both necessary for either of them to grasp a business opportunity (e.g., emergence of hydrogen-powered vehicles). One of these two firms, typically the one facing a lower cost (“low-cost firm”), may be more willing to invest, but the cautionary attitude of the firm with a larger cost (“large-cost firm”) delays the coinvestment. We model supply-chain interactions in a tractable way to derive the firms’ net present values upon coinvestment and determine their Nash equilibrium investment (timing) strategies. These situations are likely to be affected by evolving market circumstances, in particular due to changes in the demand dynamics and endogenous decision (say, by the supplier) to conduct research and development (R\&D) to reduce production costs. We investigate these model extensions, which confirm the robustness of our key result.”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar

Tuesday – January 21^st, 2025, at 13:00h | Room 305

“Returns Heterogeneity and Consumption Inequality Over the Life Cycle“

Claudio Daminato –  Lund University (Sweden)

Abstract:
“A recent literature argues that persistent heterogeneity in wealth returns (“type dependence”) as well as a positive association with wealth levels (“scale dependence”) play an important role for explaining features of the wealth distribution, especially its extreme concentration at the top. In contrast, traditional models of wealth accumulation emphasize the role of persistent differences in labor earnings. Using panel data from the PSID, we first document that a common unobserved component (which we interpret as the endowment of cognitive and non-cognitive skills of an individual) drives persistent heterogeneity in both wealth returns and labor earnings. We embed these features of the joint wealth return-earnings process in a life-cycle model of consumer behavior and show that ignoring them would dramatically understate average returns for people at the top of the wealth distribution as well as the level and rise of consumption inequality over the life cycle.”

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar

Monday – January 13^th, 2025 | 18:30h | Room 305

“Disruptive Technologies and Innovation as Drivers of Sustainable Business Practices in SMEs: The Role of Business Model Compatibility”

Antonio Revilla Torrejón – University Carlos III of Madrid (Spain)

Alicia Rodríguez Márquez – University Carlos III of Madrid (Spain)

Abstract:

“The rapid adoption of advanced digital technologies, along with the pressing need for the transition to a greener economy, are disrupting most industries and posing significant challenges to SMEs. In this study, we analyze how disruptive digital technologies and innovation may contribute to developing sustainable business practices in SMEs in two ways. First, the utilization of these technologies may directly reduce negative environmental impacts, enabling greater resource efficiency, waste reduction, and optimization of processes and operations. Second, as an indirect effect, these technologies may facilitate innovations that in turn may result in more sustainable business practices. Additionally, we introduce the concept of business model compatibility and analyze its role in moderating both relationships. The arguments above are captured in a moderated mediation model tested on a sample of 11,309 European Firms. The results provide empirical support for direct and indirect hypothesized relationships. Our findings also show that business model compatibility strengthens the direct relationships between disruptive technologies and sustainability. We conclude that digitalization brings significant opportunities for more environmentally-friendly businesses. We also conclude that the ability of SMEs to seize such opportunities and contribute to the transition to a greener economy partially depends on their innovation activities and the design of their business models.”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar

Friday – December 20^th 2024, at 13:00h | Room 305

Monetary Policy, Information and Country Risk Shocks in the Euro Area

Giovanni Ricco – University of Warwick (England, United Kingdom) and CREST – École Polytechnique (France)

Abstract:

“This study examines high-frequency market responses to ECB policy announcements, providing instrumental variables to identify four types of monetary policy shocks — conventional policy, forward guidance, quantitative easing/tightening, and asymmetric country risk — along with information shocks. Our findings show that non-linear information effects, especially prominent during episodes of acute market stress in euro area crises, are key to resolving puzzles in macroeconomic and financial variable responses reported in studies using high-frequency European data. The IVs obtained by controlling for these effects yield, in a VAR model, dynamic responses to monetary tightenings with contractionary impacts on output and prices.”

CEF.UP – WiP Seminar

Tuesday – December 17^th, 2024 at 13:00h (1 pm) | Room 305

Nurturing the sustainable and circular economy: An integrated ecosystems model

Cristina Fernandes – FEP – School of Economics and Management – University of Porto, CEF.UP and NECE

Abstract:

“Environmental sustainability and the circular economy are receiving regular mention in literature as paradigms capable of addressing major social challenges. However, understanding how best to assist ecosystem transition toward a sustainable and circular economy ecosystem and which strategic variables are effective levers in nurturing its adoption, remaining elusive. This research investigates factors contributing to a successful transition towards green innovations. The study employed a four-study research designto achieve a holistic understanding across the multiple levels of the ecosystem. Firstly, a systematic literature review was conducted to develop a conceptual model for identifying variables to nurture the transition (study 1) across the interrelated layers of the ecosystem. Secondly, a micro-level analysis was undertaken using ANCOVA to examine the strategic orientations (market and product) that impacts green innovations of companies (study 2). Thirdly, a meso-level analysis was conducted, applying logistics regression to identify the moderating effect of industry type on the relationship between strategic orientations and green innovations (study 3). Finally, the study evaluated the impact of environmental assets on economic growth and the mediating role of Industry 4.0 on this relationship, using multiple regression panel data models. The development and empirical testing of the multi-level model contributes to this emerging field, to better reflect the integrated nature of ecosystems and identify advantageous strategies for nurturing ecosystem transition towards increased sustainable and the circular economy.”

CEF.UP – FIN Seminar

Thursday – December 12^th, 2024 at 13:00h (1:00 p.m.) | Room 305

Matching for Risk-Taking: Overconfident Bankers and Government-Protected Banks

Andreas Haufler – Ludwig-Maximilians University – Munich (Germany)

Abstract:

“We set up a simple theoretical model in which banks with varying degrees of government support are matched with CEOs that have different degrees of over-
confidence. The channel through which the matching occurs is the share of bonus payments offered by the bank in its profit-maximizing contract. This yields a sequence of hypotheses: banks with more government support incentivize their CEOs more and this disproportionately attracts overconfident CEOs. In equilibrium this in turn leads to an assortative matching between overconfident managers and banks with a larger bailout probability. We then test the hypotheses derived from this model empirically. Our regression results confirm the hypotheses from our theoretical model for normal years, but not during crises and periods of enhanced regulation. In these times, overconfident CEOs do not behave differently from non-overconfident CEOs.”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar

Friday – December 6^th 2024, at 13:00h | Room 305

Flight to Safety and New Keynesian Demand Recessions

Sebastian Merkel –  School of Economics, University of Bristol (England, United Kingdom)

Abstract:

“This paper builds a tractable New Keynesian model with idiosyncratic risk, incomplete markets, and nominal safe assets to study the transmission of uncertainty shocks through investors’ portfolio decisions and how monetary-fiscal policy can stabilize fluctuations in the demand for safe assets. A sudden increase in uncertainty triggers a flight to safety: investors reallocate portfolios from productive assets to safe assets. When prices are sticky, the real value of nominal safe assets cannot flexibly adjust. Instead, the flight to safety gives rise to aggregate demand recessions and overshooting in capital price adjustments. Conventional monetary policy that operates through interest rate changes alone has limited power in influencing household portfolios. Instead, fiscal policy plays a crucial role in price stabilization and optimal policy.”

CEF.UP – WiP Seminar

Tuesday – December 3^rd, 2024 at 13:00h (1 pm) | Room 305

Agglomeration in an urban corridor

José Gaspar – FEP – School of Economics and Management, University of Porto and Cef.Up

Abstract:

We study agglomeration within a corridor characterized by a continuous path connecting a finite number of places where cities may locate. As economic integration changes, a corridor may undergo successive bifurcations whereby the number of cities increases (decreases) two by two in a way that preserves the bilateral symmetry of places around the central place. We focus on the bifurcation from the state of full agglomeration in the central place occurring at a critical level of economic integration, called the sustain point. For a particular model, full agglomeration becomes unstable below the sustain point and two identical cities may emerge stably with the same distance to the central city. The existence and uniqueness of both the sustain point and the optimal distance to the central city are determined analytically. We find that cities can only emerge optimally at places that are sufficiently far away from the central place, thereby generating a polycentric structure. As integration increases, a preexisting state of twin cities may engender a central city, which grows in size and may eventually develop further into a core city. Finally, we draw a comparison of our model with its discrete–space analogue and discuss the impact of local dispersion forces (e.g. congestion costs) on agglomeration.

CEF.UP – FIN Seminar/Webinar

Thursday – November 28^th, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“Poison Bonds“

Rex Wang Renjie  – VU Amsterdam University (Netherlands), Tinbergen Institute (Netherlands)

Abstract:

“This paper documents the rise of “poison bonds”—corporate bonds that allow bondholders to demand immediate repayment in change-of-control events. The share of poison bonds among new issues has grown substantially in recent years, from below 20% in the 1990s to over 60% since the mid-2000s, predominantly driven by investment-grade issues. We show that a key factor behind this rise is shareholders’ aversion to poison pills, leading firms to issue poison bonds as an alternative. Moreover, our analysis suggests that this practice can entrench incumbent managers and destroy shareholder value. Holding a portfolio of firms that remove poison pills but promptly issue poison bonds generates negative abnormal returns of -7.3% per year. Our findings have important implications for the agency theory of debt: (i) more debt may not discipline the management; and (ii) even without financial distress, managerial entrenchment can lead to agency conflicts between shareholders and creditors.”

CEF.UP – FIN Seminar/Webinar

Thursday – October 31^th, 2024 at 13:00h | Room 305| Online

Securities Losses, Interbank Markets, and Monetary Policy – Transmission: Evidence from the Eurozone

Mariassunta Giannetti  – Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden), European Central Bank (European Union), Center for Economic Policy Research (U.K.)

CEF.UP – FIN Seminar/Webinar

Thursday – October 24^th, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

The VAT Trap: How Consumption Tax Hikes Make Firms Pay Out More and Invest Less

Martin Jacob  – IESE Business School, University of Navarra (Spain)

Abstract:

“Using comprehensive firm-level data for 54 countries, we document that, contrary to standard economic theory, value-added tax (VAT) increases cause firms to permanently increase their cash payout and to reduce their investment. We reconcile these surprising findings using an OLG model where agents have finite lives. We show that VAT increases can come with unintended negative consequences on capital accumulation. Furthermore, the negative effects of VAT on capital accumulation critically hinge on the country’s culture. The more the country’s attitudes are oriented toward the consumption of current generations, the greater the negative consequences of VAT on capital accumulation and growth.”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar/Webinar

Friday – October 11^th, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“Not Incentivized Yet Efficient: Working From Home in the Public Sector”

Tom Kirchmaier –  LSE, London School of Economics (England, United Kingdom)

Abstract:

“This paper studies whether working from home (WFH) affects workers’ performance in public sector jobs. Studying public sector initiatives allows us to establish baseline estimates on the impact of WFH net of incentives. Exploiting novel administrative data and plausibly exogenous variation in work location, we find that WFH increases productivity by 12%. These productivity gains are primarily driven by reduced distractions. They are not explained by differences in quality, shift length, or task allocation. The productivity gains more than double when tasks are assigned by the supervisor.”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – September 24^th, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“Consumption, Wealth, and Income Inequality: A Tale of Tails“

Christian Hellwig –  Toulouse School of Economics (France), CEPR – Center for Economic Policy Research (E.U.)

Abstract:

“We provide evidence that the distributions of consumption, labor income, wealth, and capital income exhibit asymptotic power-law behavior with a strict ranking of upper tail inequality, in that order, from the least to the most unequal. We show analytically and quantitatively that the canonical heterogeneous-agent model cannot replicate the proper ranking and magnitudes of these four tails simultaneously. Mechanisms addressing the wealth concentration puzzle in these models through return heterogeneity lead to a mirror consumption concentration puzzle. We match the cross-sectional data on these four Pareto tails by positing a combination of non-homothetic, wealth-dependent preferences and scale-dependent returns to capital. We underscore the importance of these results by showing that all four dimensions of top inequality jointly determine the long-run elasticity that governs the revenue-maximizing capital tax rate.”

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Monday – July 8^th , 2024 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Room 631 | Online

“Fifteen years of customer engagement research: a bibliometric and network analysis“

Linda D. Hollebeek – Sunway University (Malaysia)

Abstract:

“Purpose – In recent years, customer engagement (CE) with brands, which has been shown to yield enhanced firm sales, competitive advantage and stock returns, has risen to occupy a prominent position in brand management research and practice. Correspondingly, scholars have explored CE’s conceptualization, operationalization and its nomological networks as informed by different theoretical perspectives. However, in spite of important advances, the knowledge structure of the overall corpus of CE research remains tenuous. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the intellectual structure of CE research.

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Monday – June 17^th , 2024 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Room 631 | Online

“Developing and Publishing Systematic Literature Reviews in Premier Business Outlets”

Michael Christofi – School of Economics and Management – Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus)

The seminar will briefly explain what a systematic literature review is, as well as the various categories of systematic review articles. Continuing, it will mainly focus on the basics steps for developing such type of articles, with practical examples of systematic review papers published in premier business outlets. Finally, the seminar will provide tips and recommendations when it comes to submit such manuscripts for publication in premier business journals, by analysing what editors and reviewers see when it comes to review such papers.

CEF.UP – WiP Seminar/Webinar

Friday – June 7^th, 2024 at 13:00h (1 pm) | Room 305 | Online

Fiscal Policy Dispersion in the Euro Area – a new quantitative index

Daniel Loureiro – FEP – School of Economics and Management – University of Porto and Cef.Up

Abstract:

“We developed a new Fiscal Dispersion Index to assess fiscal policy coordination in the Euro Area and complement the existent literature. We found greater fiscal policy dispersion around the years of economic crisis, signaling a deterioration of coordination. Besides, we highlighted Portugal as one the most problematic countries, continuously deviating from the average policies. However, the direction of the Portuguese deviation is not constant over time. It shifted from looser policies between 2000 and 2007 to tighter policies from 2016 to 2021. Moreover, we also found that Germany and Netherlands pursued tighter policies than the average, particularly when facing common shocks. Thus, we recommend that additional measures should be approved to improve coordination during the more challenging times, preventing insufficient expansionary policies. Failing to do so will likely hamper the credibility of the European framework and institutions.”

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – June 4^th , 2024 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Room 631 | Online

“Peer pressure and manager pressure in organisations”

Tom Kirchmaier – LSE – London School of Economics and Political Science (England, United Kingdom)

Abstract:

“We study the interaction between horizontal (peer) and vertical (manager) social factors in workers’ motivation. In our setting, individuals work using open-plan desks. Using a natural experiment, we identify a sharp increase in workers’ productivity following the occupation of adjacent desks. We link this peer pressure effect to two key aspects of the worker-manager relation. First, we find stronger peer pressure when managers monitor workers less. Second, we find stronger peer pressure among workers performance-evaluated by the same manager. In a set of counterfactual exercises, we illustrate how organisations could take advantage of these interdependencies to increase worker productivity. ”

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – June 4^th, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“Uncertainty shocks in monetary unions: The case for a nominal anchor”

Benjamin Born  –  Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (Germany)

Abstract:

“Uncertainty shocks contract economic activity and arguably more so if monetary policy cannot cushion their effect. Yet, as we employ a Bayesian VAR model to identify and contrast the effects of country-specific and common uncertainty shocks on the countries in the euro area, we find that countryspecific shocks have milder effects—even though they are not accommodated by monetary policy. We rationalize this result in a two-country model of a monetary union and find that union membership provides a nominal anchor for the price level, thereby dampening the “markup channel” through which the adverse effects of uncertainty shocks unfold.”

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar

Tuesday – May 28^th , 2024 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Room 631

MEET THE EDITORS

This seminar is an opportunity to meet and talk with the editors of selected journals, all of them affiliated with FEP – School of Economics and Management of the University of Porto.

Editors will answer questions about the journals, discuss the submission and review processes, and provide attendees with advice on how to increase the likelihood of publication.

• João Oliveira (Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management)
• Luísa Pinto (Journal of Global Mobility)
• Amélia Brandão (International Journal of Consumer Studies)
• Dalila Fontes (Journal of Combinatorial Optimization)

Moderator: Teresa Fernandes (Services Marketing Quarterly)

CEF.UP – ECO Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – May 28^th, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“Optimal Redistribution with Government Debt“ (with Kirill Shaknov)

Facundo Piguillem  –  Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (Italy)

Abstract:

“We analyze the tight relationship between government debt, redistribution and capital taxation in Overlapping Generations Economies (OLG). We do so in an heterogeneous agents economy where the government collects capital and progressive labor taxes to pay government spending, debt and redistribute income. In this environment, the Ramsey planner uses all taxes, even in the long run. We show that rising inequality leads not only to more progressivity, but also to more government debt and capital taxation. The necessary increase in debt to achieve the optimal redistribution policy can be substantial. We explore how limits to government’s borrowing choices severely restrict its ability to redistribute income. We calibrate the model to the U.S. in the 2000-10 decade and estimate the optimal response to the observed change in inequality. We find the optimal level of debt should approximately doubled.”

CEF.UP – WiP Seminar/Webinar

Friday – May 24^th, 2024 at 13:00h (1 pm) | Room 305 | Online

The Political Economy of Central Bank Digital Currencies and Monetary Policy

Francisco Nunes Pereira – FEP – School of Economics and Management, University of Porto and Cef.Up

Abstract:

This paper scrutinizes the monetary policy case in favor of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) from a political economy angle. The proponents of CBDCs argue that their introduction would streamline the monetary policy transmission mechanism, enable novel policy interventions, and enhance data collection capabilities, ultimately leading to improved central bank performance. However, the arrangements of monetary institutions result in central banks entangled in incentive and epistemic issues, which limit their performance. CBDCs not only fail to mitigate these problems but indeed exacerbate them. We argue that the central bank becomes more vulnerable to political interference and rent-seeking activities once a CBDC is created. Moreover, the enhanced ability to monitor economic activities may lead central banks to succumb to the ‘pretense of knowledge syndrome,’ which compounds the incentives for discretionary interventions. We conclude that there is a means-ends inconsistency in the monetary policy case for CBDCs.

CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – May 21^th , 2024 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Room 631 | Online

” Understanding the complexity of ethics, moral blindness and designing an ethics experience that inspires ethical behaviour“

Ana Roque – FEP – School of Economics and Management, University of Porto

Abstract:

“Organisations positioning regarding ethics is still, in general terms, reactive and compliance oriented. When we look at companies reports, we see that very few include people from the ethics office in core management committees, such as marketing, product development, or innovation. However, ethics is nowadays fundamental from the perspective of internal culture and climate, organizational development, reputation, and is a necessary condition for a true and consistent path towards sustainable development.There are many obstacles preventing ethics from being present in the daily lives of organizations, which would be important. The name itself can be intimidating; some people might think we’re talking about morality, but ethics and morality are not the same thing. There are many myths, starting with the idea that being ethical is easy, that bad practices are essentially a matter of a few bad apples, and that an ethics program can be unilaterally created, almost just a code (as we see in many organizations), and that this has power over culture.”

CEF.UP – SPECIAL Seminar/Webinar

Wednesday – May 15^th, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“Paying attention: brain contraints on attention, learning and decision making” 

Genela Morris  – Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Israel)

Abstract:

“Everyday decision-making demands the ability to distill complex and multifaceted information into actionable responses. These responses are typically geared toward favorable outcomes, rooted in reinforcement learning principles. While decades of research have unraveled the neural substrates of reinforcement learning, the process is inherently twofold. Effective decision-making hinges not only on learning the best actions in a given context but also on discerning relevant attributes of the environment to inform those decisions. In this seminar, I propose a theoretical framework that distinguishes between the learning of value and attention and elucidates their interplay. Drawing on experimental evidence from our rodent and non-human primate studies, I will share our suggestions on the distinct and complementary roles of striatal dopamine and acetylcholine in orchestrating this intricate process. I conclude by urging scholars of economic behavior and decision making to consider the brain mechanisms underlying attention, learning, and decision-making”