BEA online research seminar – Audinga Baltrunaite

We are delighted to invite you to the next BEA’s Online Research Seminars and are pleased to welcome Audinga Baltrunaite (Bank of Italy). Audinga is an economist at the research department of the Bank of Italy, Economics and Law Division. She is also affiliated to the Dondena Gender Initiative, Bocconi University. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES), Stockholm University, and published in journals such as the Journal of the European Economic Association, the Journal of Public Economics and the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization. Her main research areas are public economics, corporate governance and gender economics.

More about the speaker: http://audingabaltrunaite.com

Speaker: Audinga Baltrunaite (Bank of Italy)

Title: Board composition and performance of state-owned enterprises: Evidence from a natural experiment

Co-author: Mario Cannella (Northwestern University), Sauro Mocetti (Bank of Italy) and Giacomo Roma (Bank of Italy)

Abstract: Quality of governance crucially affects corporate outcomes, and may be particularly important for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) not disciplined by market competition forces. We identify companies with stock ownership by the public sector and examine the impact of board composition on their performance. For this purpose, we exploit the gradual introduction of a board gender quota in Italy, which was binding for SOEs, but not for companies with a minority share of public ownership.  The difference-in-differences analysis shows that the reform was effective in increasing female presence on the boards of directors of SOEs. The new female directors have mostly replaced older and less talented men, thereby rejuvenating and improving the quality of the boards. To assess the effects of the law on firm performance, we rely on companies’ balance sheets and on survey information on citizens’ satisfaction with the provision of local public services. Although we do not detect significant changes in economic performance, the evidence of higher satisfaction with public services signals the improved quality of SOEs’ output.

Date: Thursday, December 3

Time: 16:00 Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn

Join Zoom Meeting

https://sseriga-edu.zoom.us/j/89730735655?pwd=bHEzQkVvZDdxOVJxcEpnZjB2UDVQUT09

Meeting ID: 897 3073 5655

Passcode: 341510

Facilitator: Linas Tarasonis (Vilnius University, Bank of Lithuania)

BEA online research seminar – Rudolfs Bems

We are delighted to invite you to the next BEA’s Online Research Seminars, and are pleased to welcome Rudolfs Bems (IMF). Rudolfs Bems is an Economist at the Research Department of the IMF. His research interests fall in the general field of international macroeconomics with a focus on applied work. He has published in leading academic journals such as the American Economic Review and the Journal of International Economics. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Stockholm School of Economics and an MA in Economics from New York University. Prior to the IMF, he was an Economist at the Research Department of the ECB and has held positions at the University of Tokyo and Bank of Latvia.

More about the speaker: https://sites.google.com/site/rudolfsbems/

Speaker: Rudolfs Bems (IMF)

Title: Measuring trade in value added with Firm-Level Data

Co-author: Ken Kikkawa (UBC Sauder School of Business)

Abstract: Global Value Chains have proliferated economic policy debates. Yet a key concept—trade in value added—is likely mismeasured because of sectoral aggregation bias stemming from reliance on input-output tables. This paper uses comprehensive firm-level data on both domestic and international transactions to study this bias. We find that sectoral aggregation leads to overstated trade in value added and, correspondingly, understated import content of gross exports. The economic magnitude of the estimated bias varies from moderate to large—at 2-5 pp of gross exports for Belgium and 17 pp for China. We study how the interplay between within-sector heterogeneities in firm import and export intensities and firm size determine the magnitude of the sectoral aggregation bias.

Date: Thursday, November 19

Time: 17:00 Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn

Zoom Dial-In Details:

Topic: BEA seminar

Time: Nov 19, 2020 05:00 PM Riga/Tallinn/Vilnius

Join Zoom Meeting

https://sseriga-edu.zoom.us/j/86737640159?pwd=b3pkZnYrZDlraTlYZTlZOHJwQ2ZTUT09

Meeting ID: 867 3764 0159

Passcode: 114649

Facilitator: Konstantins Benkovskis (Bank of Latvia, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga)