Suchergebnisse

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the 2007 Italian severance payment reform on the cost and the access to credit for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approachThe authors study the implications of the reform adapting the theoretical credit‐rationing model of Holmstrom and Tirole, then estimate the capital outflows due to the reform and, using the theoretical prediction, assess its impact using mathematical simulations.FindingsThe authors predict that the reform may cause severe credit constraints to SMEs which cannot pledge enough collateral in order to obtain credit. The most direct consequences are to reduce in the long run the amount of liquid assets available to Italian firms, and to reduce their aggregate investment in a more than proportional way, due to access to credit restrictions. However, it will not increase the cost of intermediated finance, ceteris paribus.Practical implicationsThe fact that the reform restricts access to credit, but does not increase the cost of debt, has important policy consequences, as public interventions subsidizing credit through a constant cost of debt may be ineffective.Originality/valueWhile the topic has been analyzed in several respects (e.g. workers' participation to the reform, cost of an access to credit subsidy, etc.), no other study proposed an integrated view of these effects with a rigorous micro‐economic approach.

The publication summarises pupils' results from the global school performance study PISA 2012. The main focus lies on the areas mathematics, sciences and reading competences. For the fifth time the PISA study provides an overview of the results of the participating countries within an economic and social context.
The study, which the OECD (Organisation for economic cooperation and development) publishes every three years, makes the extensive data material from 64 countries comparable due to the specifically developed indicators. PISA 2012 is aimed at education ministers, scientists and at readers who would like to gain an insight into the effectiveness of one's own country as compared to the international standards.

The second volume of the current PISA study presents data and analyses on the development of equal opportunity in education between 2003 and 2013 in the participating countries.
The main focus of the study is on the connection between socio-economic status and student performance. Important aspects here are the influence of the family structure and the migration background of the students. Other areas of interest are the link between performance and educational resources like study options, quality and number of teachers, as well as school discipline.
PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment of the OECD examines the performance of students in the areas of mathematics, reading competence and natural sciences in more than 60 countries around the globe.