Dpto. Economía y Empresa

This paper investigates the influence of peer financial choices on the capital structure decisions of European and North American listed companies in the oil and gas sector. It also examines how commodity prices, particularly oil and natural gas prices, and their corporate hedging affect capital structure policies. The findings underscore the existence of peer effects in the oil and gas industry, indicating that companies consider their peers' financial decisions when determining their capital structure. Further analysis reveals that there is significant cross-country heterogeneity in capital structure peer effects conditional on financial and institutional development, and disclosure quality. Additionally, the research highlights that oil and natural gas prices, along with the hedging against these prices exposure, impact the capital structure of oil and gas companies, providing invaluable insights for industry practitioners and policymakers.

The relevance of risk aversion as the key factor explaining the fluctuations of the economy is receiving increasing attention since the Great Recession. The role of financial shocks in the economic fluctuations and their associated amplifying effects are crucial aspects in the monetary policies followed by central banks around the world. The underlying mechanism behind these effects is directly linked to the time-varying behavior of risk aversion, especially during recessions. The reason is that risk aversion is strongly related to the behavior of the expected market risk premium, which is a fundamental input in the cost of capital and investment decisions of firms through the business cycle. In this research, we present an analysis of the interplay between the expected market risk premium, time-varying risk aversion, and economic uncertainty for the Spanish economy. We estimate risk aversion from aggregate consumption of Spanish households, while the expected market risk premium is extracted from options traded on the IBEX-35 index. Note that we put together variables from the real economy and financial markets. We show that both variables are positive and significantly related, clarifying the important connection between the real and financial sectors of the Spanish economy. More precisely, we show that both risk aversion and the expected market risk premia at alternative horizons are counter-cyclical, and that the slope of the term structure of the expected market risk premium is steeply downward sloping during recessions. Moreover, we find that risk aversion significantly amplifies the effects of adverse economic uncertainty shocks on the expected market risk premium. Therefore, it should not be surprising the collapse of financial prices when there is shock in uncertainty amplified by the increase in risk aversion. The corresponding rise in the expected market risk premium explains the drop in equity prices during bad economic times. The persistence of these effects depends on the nature of the economic crisis. In this framework, we understand both the initial dramatic drop in asset prices provoked by the exogenous COVID-19 crises, and the subsequent recuperation. To conclude, the positive association between uncertainty shocks, risk aversion and the expected market risk premium has extremely important consequences for the investment and output growth fluctuations of the Spanish economy.

La Comisión Europea ha planteado un itinerario digital para los países miembros de la Unión Europea (UE) cuyo objetivo es abordar el reto de la transformación digital para 2030, lo que nos permitirá mejorar nuestra competitividad y bienestar al mismo tiempo que cuidamos del planeta. En este artículo, utilizaremos los datos de la UE, de España y los recogidos en una encuesta propia realizada a las Mercas, para elaborar un análisis comparativo del nivel de digitalización y el empleo de especialistas TIC (Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones) de dichas Mercas con el de las empresas españolas y de la UE. Cabe destacar, entre los resultados obtenidos, que en los indicadores referidos al uso de software ERP (Enterprise Resource Management), tecnologías cloud y la realización de acciones de comunicación social media, las Mercas se encuentran por encima de la media de las PYMEs de la Unión Europea y de España.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) on Spanish sovereign debt. Design/methodology/approach: The authors assess the impact of the PSPP on Spanish Government bonds from two different transmission channels (the signalling and the portfolio substitution) with two effects for each of them (the announcement and the expectation effects for the former and the stock and the rebalancing effects for the latter). The empirical study has been undertaken with event study methodology, controlled by macroeconomic variables, panel data and cross-sectional regression analyses. Findings: The results show that both the ECB’s purchases under the PSPP and the announcements reduced Spanish Government bond yields. Compared to previous literature the Spanish Government bond yields reductions are larger than those for other countries. Research limitations/implications: The authors’ approach to the impact of investors’ expectations is interesting, although they cannot draw evidence on this issue due to the lack of data. Practical implications: From an economic perspective, the ECB can change economic agents’ expectations without actually carrying out any programme, only by announcing such a programme. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature examining the PSPP from different transmission channels in Spain, taking into account the announcements, the expectations, the purchases and the variation in debt holdings relating to the PSPP from the beginning of the programme until 2020. Due to the large degree of heterogeneity across euro area countries, the results in this paper should improve our understanding of the relative differences in the impact of the PSPP and, thus, be of interest to academics and policymakers.

The objective of this study is to examine the digital transformation of the complete population of 24 Spanish food units, named Mercas. We develop an index that gauges the degree of digital transformation of these public sector companies. Using a Tobit panel data model, we identify the main determinants of the Mercas’ digital transformation status. Our findings suggest that the size of the Merca, the proficiency of digital technologies by top management, the cooperation between the millennial generation staff and the remaining staff, the business management of buying and selling flowers, fruit and vegetables, and meat, and the utilization of B2B platforms for transactions and information exchange with wholesalers are some of the key determinants of digital transformation. The study also emphasizes the significance of customer demand for the implementation of new technologies as an external factor that influences digital transformation.

En este trabajo, examinamos los determinantes de la financiación mediante deuda intragrupo y su relación con otras alternativas de financiación, especialmente la deuda externa. Realizamos un análisis de datos de panel con una muestra de 787 empresas no financieras españolas, que financian sus operaciones de manera recurrente mediante deuda intragrupo durante el periodo que abarca entre 2013 y 2018. Nuestros resultados muestran como la deuda intragrupo depende positivamente del tamaño y la tangibilidad de los activos, mientras que la rentabilidad, la edad y el crecimiento mantienen una relación negativa. También observamos como tener una mayor financiación mediante deuda intragrupo supone reducir hasta en una cuarta parte la financiación con deuda externa. Además, identificamos la existencia de una jerarquía de preferencias en la selección de distintas fuentes de financiación, donde la deuda intragrupo cumple mejor con la teoría de la jerarquía de preferencias que la deuda externa.

A geographical concentration of businesses enables them to mitigate the drawbacks arising from their small size. It is therefore important to highlight the existence of such zones and their location in regions where most businesses are SMEs, such as the Valencia Community region. Moreover, it is particularly important for technological companies, since such concentrations act as a means of increasing their productivity. By using georeferencing software, SatScan, four zones with a high concentration of technological companies are identified superimposed on zones with a very industrial tradition. The profile of the companies analysed could be of interest in implementing suitable industrial policies.

Business innovation is fundamental for sustained economic growth at the regional level. Knowing the common characteristics of innovative companies and their location is essential to carry out appropriate economic policies. To this end, we have carried out a double analysis: one grouping of companies according to characteristics and another by geolocation. This study focused on one of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities, the Comunitat Valenciana, a region characterised by significant industrial diversity. Our results show, among other things, that size is not a differentiating factor when it comes to innovation, and that there is a positive relationship between physical clustering and productivity.

This paper analyzes the performance of various asset classes traded in the Spanish Capital Market. We compare the relative behavior of stock and corporate bond market indices, risk factors, and option-based expected market risk premia of the IBEX-35 at alternative horizons. We finally discuss the spillover volatility connections between the stock market portfolio, the general index of corporate bonds, the long-term government bond, and risk-neutral volatility and skewness. The stock market index is a net sender of volatility to the rest of asset classes, especially during the Great Recession and the Eurozone debt crises. The government bond is a net sender of volatility to corporate bonds and risk-neutral volatility and skewness. In fact, during stressed periods, the returns of the government bond have a positive exposure to the market stock return, which suggests that the Spanish long-term bond is a risky asset rather than being a hedging asset. This fact, together with the strong counter-cyclical behavior of the expected market risk premium at any horizon, suggests that the Spanish corporations are badly affected during recessions with a negative impact on investment and output growth. It is not surprising how rapidly the Spanish economy deteriorates at the beginning of recessions. Note that the ultimate objective is to learn about the Spanish real economy through the lens of financial markets

This analysis addressed the potential systemic effects of guarantee requirements by central counterparties. Using data from the Spanish BME and German Eurex central clearing counterparties and controlling for tail risk and monetary and real activity variables, we found a significant, positive, and robust relationship between the guarantees required and the spillover or total connectedness effects among nine financial assets in the Spanish, United States, and German capital markets. Bad economic times also had a significant incremental effect on the relationship between guarantees and connectedness. These findings are robust across central clearing corporations and futures contracts in the IBEX 35, DAX 30, and EURO STOXX 50. In addition, an event study indicated that global spillover effects tend to increase before central counterparty institutions raise their guarantees. The implication of the findings is that European clearing institutions react to rather than cause bad economic times.