On the relationship between corporate governance and value creation in an economic crisis

The latest publication of the BRQ Business Research Quaterly Journal, num. 19(04) includes an article titled “On the relationship between corporate governance and value creation in an economic crisis: Empirical evidence for the Spanish case”. This article was written by Santiago Lago-Peñas, Elena Rivo (both GEN researchers) and Mónica Villanueva-Villar (University of Vigo).

This paper analyses the effect of corporate governance on value creation. It relies upon a dataset that includes the companies listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange for the period from 2005 to 2012. Attention is focused on the structure and composition of boards. In particular, four variables are analyzed: the size, independence of board members and their diligence (measured by the number of meetings), and the duality between chairman and chief executive officer.

Over the period of the deepest economic crisis (2009–2012), the most significant variables that had a positive effect on value creation were independence and size. Hence, the global financial crisis has highlighted the need for effective corporate governance. Policy makers should think about translating the recommendations of the Good Governance Codes into legislation (mandatory), to improve corporate governance.

More information available on BRQ Business Research Quaterly

The 13th PEARL Seminar (Public Economics at the Regional and Local level)

On Thursday 29 will begin the 13th PEARL Seminar at the Consello Económico de Galicia (CES Galicia) in Santiago de Compostela. For the first time, this event is organized in Spain. Past editions were held in France, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Finland and China.

PEARL is a network of researchers and research institutions that operate in the field of applied public economics and public finance. The main focus of the network is on the regional level of government, which of course includes studying the relationships with local, state, federal (or supra-national) institutions. The idea of PEARL is to gather various kinds of expertise both from different countries (implying different objectives, economic and institutional constraints) and from different fields of economic analysis (econometrics, public finance and public choice, local and regional economics, macroeconomics).

The 13th PEARL Conference is organized by the GEN research group (University of Vigo) and with the collaboration of ECOBAS

For more information see 13thPEARL Seminar_Program

Scientific committee:

• Jean-Michel Josselin, University of Rennes 1, France
• Hanu Laurila, University of Tampere, Finland
• Benoit Le Maux, University of Rennes 1, France
• Carla Marchese, University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy
• Thierry Madiès, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
• Antti Moisio, Government Institute for Economic Research, Finland
• Fabio Padovano, University of Rennes 1, France
• Yvon Rocaboy, University of Rennes 1, France
• Timothy Goodspeed, Hunter College & GEN, United States
• Oriol Roca-Sagalés, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona & GEN, Spain
• Andreas Kyriacou, Universitat de Girona & GEN

Spain Local organizing committee:

• Marko Crnogorac, GEN
• Lucía Ferreira, GEN
• Miriam Hortas-Rico, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid & GEN
• Xoaquín Fernández-Leiceaga, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela & GEN 
• Santiago Lago-Peñas, GEN
• Fernanda Martínez, GEN
• Jorge Martínez-Vázquez, Georgia State University & GEN
• Jorge Onrubia-Fernández, Universidad Complutense de Madrid & GEN
• Agnese Sacchi, Universitas Mercatorum & GEN

"Descentralización y Sistema Tributario: Lecciones de la Experiencia Comparada"

The book "Descentralización y Sistema Tributario: Lecciones de la Experiencia Comparada" will be presented today at 17:00 in Madrid (Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales). This book is written by Santiango Lago Peñas and Alberto Vaquero García, both members of GEN, and it is edited by "Fundación Impuestos y Competitividad".

Registration form

Galician Sports Betting

In the collaboration with the Galician Football Association, GEN is launching the Galician Sports Betting. This pioneer initiative in Spain has the objective of creating new incomes for the Galician Football, boosting its image and improving the positioning of the local football clubs.

According to the estimations, this system will generate between 2.4 and 10.2 millions of euros in annual incomes.

The sports betting system will consist of a weekly bet on thirteen matches, a bet to an additional game (the jackpot system) and one more bet for the first nine games. Each betting slip will include nine matches of the Third Galician division, two games of the First Female Division and two games of the Regional Division. This initiative, which will combine a paper betting slip with the electronic betting, will commence trial from the season 2016/2017.

Favouring bigger teams

Statistics confirms what football supporters suspected, Carlos Lago (GEN Uvigo) and Maite González (European University of Madrid) have made a study where they analyze all La Liga matches during the 2014-2015 season. They have found that the greater the difference in the score, less additional time is added to the end of the game.

In their study "The Influence of Referee Bias on Extra Time in Elite Soccer Matches", published in the “Perceptual and Motor Skills” journal, the researchers have found that referees give advantage to the big teams by shortening the added extra time when they are ahead on the scoreboard. However, If they are losing the referees would slightly lengthen the game.

Their study was based on 380 matches played in the Spanish First League, considering other variables (goal difference, number of red and yellow cards, changes, assists and fouls). After applying linear regression it was observed that the greater the difference in the score, the lower the additional time was granted by the referee.

There is also a bias that favours local teams, as the pressure of spectators manages to make the referees to add up to 112 seconds to the usual extra time in the cases when the home team is losing.

According to the interview with Carlos Lago, these actions have not been shown to be malicious, but simply human decisions. To avoid this, he recommends better training of referees and avoiding subjectivity.

The full newspaper article on this topic is available at the following link:

http://www.agenciasinc.es/Noticias/Los-arbitros-anaden-mas-tiempo-extra-cuando-pierden-los-equipos-grandes


More info:

http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=165950&CultureCode=en

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160708081918.htm

http://www.elmundo.es/deportes/2016/07/06/577d0b06e5fdeafd718b465b.html

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/deportes/arbitros-favorecen-equipos-grandes-tiempo-anadido-futbol-5250862

http://www.agenciasinc.es/Noticias/Los-arbitros-anaden-mas-tiempo-extra-cuando-pierden-los-equipos-grandes

http://www.libertaddigital.com/ciencia-tecnologia/ciencia/2016-07-07/los-arbitros-anaden-mas-tiempo-extra-cuando-pierden-los-equipos-grandes-1276577982/

https://www.vigoe.es/deportes/celta/item/11774-un-estudo-confirma-que-os-arbitros-favorecen-aos-equipos-grandes

http://hashtaglatino.com/category/noticias/deporte/

http://www.laopinioncoruna.es/contraportada/2016/07/07/reloj-arbitro-corre-igual/1086291.html

http://www.galiciaconfidencial.com/noticia/31185-arbitros-axudan-grandes

http://www.que.ad/curioses/201607080955-comprovat-arbitres-afegeixen-temps-quan.html

Promoting the transparency of municipalities through the internet

In March this year, the Government of Galicia has introduced a web portal that promotes transparency and good governance. The platform www.eidolocal.gal is a place where Galician municipalities can publish their activities and services, and more importantly fulfill the transparency criteria set by the legislation.

In meeting this criteria they will be enjoying the help and collaboration of the University of Vigo. According to the contract between the University and the Galician institutions the project will be funded by 40000 euros, which will be provided between 2016 and 2017. The collaboration comes as no surprise since this is not the first time the university is contributing to the local community in the area of law implementation and development, with Red Localis, a network based on Public Local Administration developed by GEN.

The research group GEN of the University of Vigo will have the honor of performing this task and providing expert advice and support to all municipalities that have to exhibit transparency in their work. By using the platform, the citizens will be able to access relevant information of the local administrations and councils.

The full newspaper article on this topic is available at the following link:

http://www.farodevigo.es/galicia/2016/06/16/xunta-potencia-transparencia-concellos-traves/1481055.html

Further than GDP

Albino Prada and Patricio Sánchez, researchers from GEN, have made a study where they show how some of the richest countries of the world are at the same time some of the worst when it comes to transforming growth into social development.

The study was recently published in the Social Indicators Research journal (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11205-015-1206-0). It takes a look at the rich countries of the world and their rankings in terms of material wealth and it analyses the relationship between wealth levels and estimates of social development, using United Nations Development Programme indicators, which are related to health, education, environment, employment and social welfare.

Among some peculiar cases, they found Kuwait, UAE and Saudi Arabia, which all appear on the top of the ranking if we measure their wealth by GDP. However, when the human development index (HDI) is analysed, they descend over 100 positions. On the opposite side, they find that the countries that are worst placed in wealth ranking, increase their positions when analysing progress in welfare or social cohesion. For example, China makes an ascending leap of 62 places in the ranking of social development.

The study shows that the larger the value of an indicator gets, the difference in the opposite ranking will be more pronounced. Finally, they conclude that the results allow them to identify which countries transform economic growth into social development in a better way than the others.

Further than GDP

The dictator's great goals

Last April the 13^th, three of our investigators signed an article titled “Democracy and Football” and published on Social Science Quarterly, an important American journal.

The paper talks about the influence of fascism and communism on the winners of football championships. The Lago-Peñas brothers mix their knowledge of sports, politics science and economics to explore to what extent political regimes affected the competitive balance in domestic football leagues. Relying on data from around 50 European countries and over 2,000 domestic leagues, they showed that the percentage of league competitions won by the most successful club in the country is substantially lower in democracies than in non-democracies.

http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2016/04/11/galicia/1460379115_397671.html

2016 Workshop RIFDE-GEN

RIFDE and GEN will organize a workshop on October 19 and 20 in Santiago de Compostela about sustainable public policies making emphasis on sub-central tax office and reform of autonomous community funding.

If you are interested, please, send us the title and an extended abstract to rifde@rifde.es

For more information see: www.rifde.es

The 13th PEARL Conference

The 13th PEARL Conference - Public Economics At the Regional and Local level - September 29-30, 2016, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

The Governance and Economics research Network – GEN – is organizing the 13th PEARL conference. It will be held in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) on September 29 and 30, 2016.

PEARL is a network of researchers and research institutions that operate in the field of applied public economics and public finance. The main focus of the network is on the regional level of government, which of course includes studying the relationships with local, state, federal (or supra-national) institutions.

The idea of PEARL is to gather various kinds of expertise both from different countries (implying different objectives, economic and institutional constraints) and from different fields of economic analysis (econometrics, public finance and public choice, local and regional economics, macroeconomics).

Comparative analyses and transversal studies will be appreciated.

Some subjects of interest are listed below:

• Status of regions in fiscal federalism (focus on cross-country analyses and case-study – e.g., Spain, Italy).
• State and local taxation, revenue and intergovernmental grants.
• State and local government spending: health, education, welfare.
• Regional economic activity: growth, development, environmental Issues, and changes.
• Regional and local government analysis: finance, public facilities, land use, urban economies.
• State and local politics, the economic role of political institutions.
• Vertical and horizontal tax competition.
• Local public goods and public choice approach.

The GEN will cover the expenses for accommodation, meals and a tour in Santiago de Compostela during the conference for the authors whose papers have been accepted. In the case of a joint paper, only one author will be covered for the above-mentioned expenses. Travel expenses are covered by the participants themselves.

Please send the title and an extended abstract by May 1, 2016 to:

• Fernanda Martínez (gen@uvigo.es)

Scientific committee:

• Jean-Michel Josselin, University of Rennes 1, France
• Hanu Laurila, University of Tampere, Finland
• Benoit Le Maux, University of Rennes 1, France
• Carla Marchese, University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy
• Thierry Madiès, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
• Antti Moisio, Government Institute for Economic Research, Finland
• Fabio Padovano, University of Rennes 1, France
• Yvon Rocaboy, University of Rennes 1, France
• Timothy Goodspeed, Hunter College & GEN, United States
• Oriol Roca-Sagalés, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona & GEN, Spain
• Andreas Kyriacou, Universitat de Girona & GEN, Spain

Local organizing committee :

• Marko Crnogorac, GEN
• Lucía Ferreira, GEN
• Miriam Hortas-Rico, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid & GEN.
• Xoaquín Fernández-Leiceaga, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela & GEN
• Santiago Lago-Peñas, GEN.
• Fernanda Martínez, GEN
• Jorge Martínez-Vázquez, Georgia State University & GEN.
• Jorge Onrubia-Fernández, Universidad Complutense de Madrid & GEN.
• Agnese Sacchi, Universitas Mercatorum & GEN.

More information in www.condorcet-center.fr

Sponsor:

Dossier de Prensa - XXIII Encuentro de Economía Pública

Los días 4 y 5 de Febreró se celebró en Ourense el XXIII Encuentro de Economía Pública, organizado por el Grupo de Investigación GEN.

En la conferencia inaugural estuvieron presentes José Manuel Baltar, presidente de la diputación de Ourense, Virxilio Rodríguez, Vicerrector del campus de Ourense, Jorge Martínez Vázquez, profesor en la Georgia State university así como Diego Martínez y Santiago Lago, presidentes del comité científico y organizador, respectivamente.

Para la realización de una mesa redonda sobre "Tributación Empresarial", se contó con la presencia de José González Vázquez, Inspector de la AEAT, Salvador Barrios, miembro de la Comisión Europea y Santiago Díaz de Sarralde, profesor de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos.

El presidente de la AIReF, José Luis Escrivá, participó en la conferencia de clausura junto al presidente de la Xunta de Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo; el rector de la Universidad de Vigo, Salustiano Mato; el presidente del comité organizador, el profesor Santiago Lago, y con el co-presidente del comité científico, Javier Salinas. La ponencia del presidente de la AIReF se centró en la situación y perspectivas de las finanzas públicas en España, con una idea central: la sostenibilidad de las finanzas públicas es fundamental para el bienestar de la sociedad y, por ello, ha de ser una de las anclas de la política económica. En este sentido, es crucial reforzar la credibilidad de la consecución de los objetivos presupuestarios a medio plazo. José Luis Escrivá hizo un repaso de la situación de las finanzas públicas incidiendo en los determinantes del aumento de la deuda pública y su evolución en las distintas administraciones.

Aquí pueden consultar el dossier de prensa del XXIII Encuentro de Economía Pública

Santiago Lago Peñas: “O Estado das Autonomías foi unha bendición para Galicia”

Entrevista a Santiago Lago Peñas, director de GEN, sobre el trabajo "Fondo de Compensación Interterritorial: análisis y propuestas de reformas" publicado por el Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública.

Noticia completa aquí

Javier Miñano realiza una primera "toma de contacto"

Javier Miñano, preparador físico de la selección española de fútbol, ha sido invitado por el profesor y miembro de GEN Carlos Lago.

Miñato visitó la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación y del Deporte del campus de Vigo y destaca la importancia de que fútbol y ciencia "hablen el mismo idioma".

Esta primera toma de contacto supone una oportunidad de acercar a Miñato a las líneas de investigación sobre aspectos del entrenamiento y el análisis del juego en el fútbol abiertas en el grupo GEN. Esta primera visita también promueve la transferencia de conocimiento hacia el mundo profesional, acercando cada vez más el componente científico al práctico.


Para más información, consultar aquí