Research Bulletin

BULLETIN #20

Policy Dynamics in the Euro Area (with Ana Paula Ribeiro)

Research in a Tweet: Policy uncertainty shapes fiscal outcomes. It amplifies the effect of temporary shocks in government spending and weakens that of permanent ones. Credit responsiveness across Euro Area countries is heterogeneous, influenced by the size of banks and the financial health of firms. It is important to adapt and coordinate policies to address the economic diversity of those countries, eventually through the mediation of the ECB.

BULLETIN #19

A Different Look at Conditional Welfare Systems (with Luís Guimarães)

Research in a Tweet: Conditional welfare systems suffer from consequential imperfections. A universal income would alleviate distortions and reach those in the dead-angle of existing programs. A universal income would be preferable to a moderate increase in the generosity of the current US welfare system.

BULLETIN #18

Overlapping-Generations Models for Better Policymaking (with Anna Rubinchik)

Research in a Tweet: Overlapping-generations models enhance policy evaluation, capturing key aspects of economic reality and accounting for agents’ anticipation of policy impacts. Studying neural firing and sensory processing in rats helps understand cognitive adaptation, learning, and boundedly rational behavior.

BULLETIN #17

From Chuckles to Service Quality: Understanding Humour in Customer Interactions (with Eduardo Oliveira)

Research in a Tweet: In customer service, the right blend of affiliative and self-defeating humour significantly impacts perceived service quality. Affiliative humour, when predominant, enhances customer perceptions, while excessive self-defeating humour can have a negative effect. The key lies in balancing these humour styles to optimally engage customers.

BULLETIN #16

Fostering Consumer Engagement (with Teresa Fernandes)

Research in a Tweet: In recent years, consumer engagement has risen to occupy a prominent position in brand management research and practice. Although most research has adopted the brand as the focal object, consumer engagement can transpire with different actors and objects such as AI-based digital assistants and social media influencers.

BULLETIN #15

Value-Driven Business: a Journey Through the Heart of Finance and Innovation
(with Miguel Sousa)

Research in a Tweet: Conventional wisdom on exit strategies for Private Equity favors IPOs. However, other alternatives, like secondary buyouts, are preferable in certain market conditions, as they allow strategies out of reach to a public company.

BULLETIN #SI

CEF.UP's Advanced Courses

Research in a Tweet: Amidst a dynamic, progressively technical, and fiercely competitive academia, researchers grapple with the challenge of remaining abreast of the latest developments. To aid them in this, in the previous academic year, CEF.UP took a pioneering step and launched a new initiative: a series of advanced courses led by preeminent experts at the forefront of their fields.

BULLETIN #14

Developing a dynamic theory of the firm (with Elvira Silva)

Research in a Tweet: Most research on efficiency and productivity measurement disregards the time interdependence of firms’ production and investment decisions. Elvira’s career has been dedicated to correcting this. Her approach is fruitful, allowing, among others, the estimation of environmental efficiency or the bite of taxes on emissions.

BULLETIN #13

Corporate social responsibility and tax aggressiveness (with Mário Marques)

Research in a Tweet: Previous studies yield contradictory findings on the association between firms’ environmental and social responsibility and their tax avoidance strategies. A meta-analysis identifies the influence of study design on these results. It also suggests that the association is usually non-existent.

BULLETIN #12

Measuring barriers to sustainable fashion consumption (with Amélia Brandão)

Research in a Tweet: The fashion industry has a significant environmental footprint. Consumers show concern, but it does not translate into changed purchasing behaviours. The perceived lack of style, quality and variety of sustainable alternatives is the main barrier to change.

BULLETIN #11

Wage determination and collective bargaining: explaining wage compression (with Hugo Vilares)

Research in a Tweet: Wage inequality has decreased in Portugal. Bargaining power has shrunk for middle and high-wage earners. Wages and firm productivity have decoupled. Labour market institutions, such as those related to collective bargaining, are crucial in explaining these facts.

BULLETIN #10

Using Microdata to Foster Better Banking Policies (with Ana Sá)

Research in a Tweet: Some measures of policy protecting borrowers may result in higher collateral requirements on new mortgages, raising issues of inequality. A low interest-rate environment may lead to riskier adjustable-rate mortgages. Mortgage heterogeneity endangers the effectiveness of the one-size-fits-all monetary policy of the ECB.

BULLETIN #09

Microcredit as a Refuge for Refugees (with Fábio Duarte)

Research in a Tweet: Claiming prior borrowing experience bolsters a refugee entrepreneur’s chances to access crowdfunding. Refugee loan campaigns associated with local microfinance institutions of good repute are more successful and help break the vicious circle of financial exclusion in which refugees often find themselves.

BULLETIN #08

Firms' Discursive Practices and Organizational Legitimacy (with Adelaide Martins)

Research in a Tweet: In the wake of the 2010-2014 Portuguese Financial Crisis, Energias de Portugal (EDP) was mired in controversy surrounding excessive rents and increasing electricity bills. Its CEO used several discursive strategies to navigate contradictory environmental pressures and legitimize the firm’s profit-seeking behavior.

BULLETIN #SI

The PhD Programmes at FEP

Research in a Tweet: Doing a PhD is a worthy, albeit challenging, journey. Doing it at FEP ensures students can carry out innovative and world-class research in economics or management sciences. There are currently two PhD programmes at FEP: in Business and Management Studies and in Economics.

BULLETIN #07

Meta-analytical Spillovers (with Pedro Neves)

Research in a Tweet: A meta-analysis is a quantitative literature review that explains the variability across empirical studies and offers new estimates for theory testing or calibration. An example on knowledge spillovers illustrates this.

BULLETIN #06

The Many Benefits of the Current Energy Transition (with Susana Silva)

Research in a Tweet: Electricity consumption in Portugal has been impacted by rising average temperatures and is sensitive to extreme weather events. The benefits of the current energy transition go beyond their environmental effects.

BULLETIN #05

Governance Structures, Board Diversity, and Banks' Performance in Times of Crisis (with Jorge Farinha)

Research in a Tweet: Governance structures and the composition of the board affect the performance of banks in times of crisis. Greater diversity and experience are associated with a better performance of European banks in the 2007-08 financial crisis. These insights are robust to different measures of performance and estimation techniques.

BULLETIN #04

Doing Economic Research that Matters (with Aurora Teixeira)

Research in a Tweet: Aurora’s research falls under an overarching concern with being of service to the community. Some of her most recent contributions in the fields of Economic Growth and of Innovation illustrate this.

BULLETIN #03

Banking Business Models in a Turbulent World (with Carlos Alves)

Research in a Tweet: Four business models can be identified in the European banking sector. Individual banks adopting different models do not show the same performance and resilience. Still, a diversified banking sector is better prepared to deal with crises.

BULLETIN #02

Educational Mismatches in the Portuguese Labour Market (with Anabela Carneiro)

Research in a Tweet: 1st and 2nd cycle higher education graduates entering the labour market in occupations for which they are relatively overqualified suffer a wage penalty of up to 16.2% and a lower likelihood of changing jobs than similar graduates that are well-matched.

BULLETIN #01

The State of Economics Research in Portugal (with Paulo Guimarães)

Research in a Tweet: Despite a significant decline after 2013, the last 20 years have witnessed an upsurge in the number of international publications by Portuguese economists. However, the body of researchers is worryingly aged, and significant gender imbalances remain.

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