Regression Analysis of Count Data: Preface

This article extends the recent findings of Liu (2005), Ang (2007), Apergis et al. (2009) and Payne (2010) by implementing recent bootstrap panel unit root tests and cointegration techniques to investigate the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, and real GDP for 12 Middle East and North African Countries (MENA) over the period 1981–2005. Our results show that in the long-run energy consumption has a positive significant impact on CO2 emissions. More interestingly, we show that real GDP exhibits a quadratic relationship with CO2 emissions for the region as a whole. However, although the estimated long-run coefficients of income and its square satisfy the EKC hypothesis in most studied countries, the turning points are very low in some cases and very high in other cases, hence providing poor evidence in support of the EKC hypothesis. Thus, our findings suggest that not all MENA countries need to sacrifice economic growth to decrease their emission levels as they may achieve CO2 emissions reduction via energy conservation without negative long-run effects on economic growth.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/dp6412.pdf?abstractid=2028212&mirid=1

Energy Consumption, Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions in Middle East and North African Countries

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/58503/1/715714074.pdf

Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries $

We document BACI, our international trade database covering more than 200 countries and 5,000 products,
between 1994 and 2006. Original procedures have been developed to reconcile data reported by almost
150 countries to the United Nations Statistics Division, which disseminate them via COMTRADE.
When both exporting and importing countries do report, we have two different figures for the same flow,
which is useful to reconcile in a single figure. Firstly, as import values are reported CIF (cost, insurance
and freight) and the exports are reported FOB (free on board), CIF costs have to be estimated and removed
from imports values to compute FOB import values. We regress the unit-values ratios reported
for a given elementary flow by gravity variables and for years, and world median unit-value for each
product category . The second step is an evaluation of the reliability of country reporting, based on the
reporting distances among partners. We decompose the absolute value of the ratios of mirror flows using
a (weighted) variance analysis, and an index is build for each country. These reporting qualities are used
as weights in the reconciliation of each bilateral trade flow twice reported. Taking advantage of this double
information on each flow, we end up with a large coverage of countries not reporting at a given level
of the product classification with a special care in the treatment of unit-values. BACI is freely available
to users of COMTRADE database in our webpage: http://www.cepii.fr/anglaisgraph/bdd/baci.htm

BACI: International Trade Database at the Product-level

International production and the multinational enterprise

This article investigates the effects of horizontal acquisitions on the performance of target firms in the 1990s. Using French manufacturing firm-level data, we examine two main indicators of performance: the profit and the productive efficiency. We distinguish domestic from cross-border acquisitions. To evaluate the impact of take-overs, we implement appropriate difference-in-difference estimation techniques associated to a matching propensity score procedure. We find that Mergers  & Acquisitions (M&A) do not increase the profit of French target firms, even on the long run. However, they clearly raise the productivity of target firms. These results suggest that firms probably redistribute efficiency gains at the upstream and/or downstream production stage. There is no evidence of an increase in market power. In addition, the consequences of domestic and cross-border M&A significantly differ. Efficiency gains are stronger for cross-border M&A. This conclusion is however true only for extra-European Union ...

/pdf/domestic-versus-cross-border-acquisitions-which-impact-on-1791fb5dek.pdf

Domestic versus cross-border acquisitions: which impact on the target firms’ performance?

Are RTA agreements with environmental provisions reducing emissions

This paper analyzes industry adjustments to trade liberalization. It introduces cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as an alternative mode of industrial restructuring to firms' exit. In a two-country Cournot model, we examine the responses of domestic and foreign firms endowed with different technologies for different stages of trade openness. It is found that the less efficient firm loses market shares in its home market at the beginning of trade liberalization. Only for a more advanced level of liberalization, does it take advantage of a larger access to foreign demand. Trade liberalization may therefore harm its profits too strongly, forcing it to leave the market. However, although its incentives decrease with trade liberalization, the high-technology firm may be willing to take it over for low organizational and technological costs of firms' integration. In addition, it may buy it out even if the less efficient firm manages to stay. Then, trade liberalization affects M&A incentives depending on the technological gap. For low and high (medium) gap, there is an inverted U- (W-) shaped relation between trade costs and incentives to merge. Moreover, although technology transfer is assumed to be complete, M&A may lead to a reduction in consumers' welfare. Firms may capture some pro-competitive gains from economic openness. Lastly, an empirical analysis based on a data set of OECD members' multinationals gives some support to these theoretical predictions.

Trade Liberalization and Industrial Restructuring: The Role of Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions

By reallocating resources among more or less polluting sectors, trade reforms affect pollution levels directly. They also affect pollution indirectly through their impact on economic activity and income levels, which then affect not only emissions, but also the demand for higher environmental standards. The sign of the direct and indirect effects is ambiguous. In other words, whether trade openness leads to more or less pollution is an empirical question. Using cointegration techniques, we disentangle the long- and short-run relationship between trade openness, income per capita and CO2 emissions in Tunisia, as well as the extent of Granger causality among these variables. Results suggest that the direct effect of trade openness on CO2 emissions is positive both in the short and the long run, but the indirect effect is negative at least in the long run. The overall effect is positive both in the short and long run, highlighting the importance for trade reforms to be accompanied by strong environmental pol...

Trade openness and co2 emissions in tunisia

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01169624/document

Habib Zitouna

Papers

Domestic versus cross-border acquisitions: which impact on the target firms’ performance?

Are RTA agreements with environmental provisions reducing emissions

Trade Liberalization and Industrial Restructuring: The Role of Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions

Trade openness and co2 emissions in tunisia

The role of sectoral FDI in promoting agricultural production and improving food security