ISCAL Working Papers Series
Permanent URI for this collection
O objetivo de ISCAL Working Paper Series é promover e divulgar a investigação técnica e científica dos docentes e investigadores do Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração de Lisboa (ISCAL). Working Papers aceites para publicação no ISCAL Working Paper Series serão indexados pelo RePEc e atribuídos com o ISSN.
The objective of the ISCAL Working Paper Series is promoting and disseminating the scientific and technical research of the professors and researchers of the ISCAL - Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração de Lisboa (Lisbon Accounting and Business School).Working papers accepted for publication will be indexed in RePEc and ISSN.
Browse
Recent Submissions
- Impact of the Covid-19 on liquidity of emerging market bondsPublication . Gubareva, MariyaWe analyze liquidity of the emerging market (EM) bonds during the Covid-19 fueled uncertainty. Using bid/offer spreads we demonstrate that the apogee of both, liquidity and credit stresses is reached in late-March, and that although liquidity has improved since then, it has not yet returned to the pre-Covid levels. In particular, we find that the EM financials are more resilient to liquidity shocks than the EM corporates and sovereigns. Moreover, we observe a decoupling in the dynamics of the liquidity and credit risk metrics, as credit spreads have been tightening very slowly due to the Covid-19-triggered repricing of default risk.
- Into the heterogeneities in the Portuguese labour market: an empirical assessmentPublication . Martins, Fernando; Seward, DomingosThis paper provides a comprehensive study of the heterogeneity in the Portuguese labour market. We use Labour Force Survey microdata covering a complete business cycle, from 1998:1 to 2018:1, to evaluate the labour market attachment of several labour states and assess the most suitable allocation of individuals across statuses. We also evaluate the adequacy of the conventional unemployment criteria. Following the relevant strand of literature on this topic, we apply an evidence-based categorisation of labour market status by exploiting the information on the results of the behaviour of nonemployed. To that end,we use multinomial and binary logit models of the determinants of transitions of workers across labour market states to test for the equivalence between non-employed groups. We conclude that heterogeneity is an evident feature of the Portuguese labour market, both between and within the conventional non-employment states. In particular, we find that the status comprising those inactive workers which want work constitutes a distinct state in the labour market and displays a transition behaviour closer to unemployment than to the group of inactive workers which do not want work. Moreover, the classification as inactive workers of individuals which report "waiting" as a reason for not having searched for a job, those individuals who have searched for a job but are still considered to be out-of-the-labour-force, as well as those individuals which are due to start work in more than three months might not be reasonable, since they show considerable attachment to the labour market and we reject the pooling of such states with their counterparts.
- Da Inovação-à Criatividade-à Inovação: o caso do Instituto Politécnico de LisboaPublication . Piteira, MargaridaO trabalho que se apresenta, insere-se num conjunto de estudos que têm sido desenvolvidos, ao longo do tempo, pela autora; remontando a sua génese à perspetiva da Construção Social da Inovação - CSI- (Piteira, 2014). Estas investigações emanam, transversalmente, de vários sectores, entre eles do tecido empresarial de base tecnológica, dos profissionais na área da saúde e, mais recentemente, do setor da educação. Os outputs que aqui se apresentam são originários do Projeto CREATUS, do qual emergiram alguns estudos de caso, entre eles o caso do Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (IPL). O cenário da investigação assentou na compreensão do estado criativo das Escolas do Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, segundo os seus potencial e desempenho criativos, tendo em conta a definição futura de eficientes estratégias de inovação. Assim, adotou-se como grelha de trabalho, para responder a este problema de investigação, o modelo dos 4 Ps concebido por Rhodes (1961); e, posteriormente desenvolvido por Simonton (1990) e Runco (2004, 2007a e b), resultando em 6 Ps. Recorreu-se à estratégia metodológica do estudo de caso, triangulando-se várias fontes (entrevistas, documentos institucionais, análise dos sites institucionais e outra documentação/dados produzidos pelos mass media). O campo empírico foi constituído pelas 8 Escolas do IPL, divididas em 4 áreas, a saber: i. Artes (Dança, Música, Teatro e Cinema); ii. Contabilidade e Gestão; iii. Tecnologias da Saúde e Engenharia; iv. Educação e Comunicação Social. Comparados os dados, identificaram-se as caraterísticas criativas, em termos de potencial e desempenho criativos, presentes entre estas escolas. Assumindo a inovação como uma construção social, e partindo da dimensão criatividade, discorrem-se sobre futuras estratégias para o IPL. Assim, tendo em conta a diversidade das suas escolas, um modelo de inovação, para o setor do ensino superior público em Portugal, via o caso do IPL, é discutido.
- As competências desenvolvidas no ensino superior de Contabilidade e sua importância para a profissãoPublication . Domingos, Alexandra Margarida; Sarmento, Maria Manuela; Duarte, Maria Manuela RebeloAs competências são uma questão significativa em contexto de educação, consequência das constantes mudanças que vão ocorrendo no ambiente empresarial. O objetivo deste estudo consiste em analisar a perceção dos estudantes finalistas dos cursos de Contabilidade do 1.º ciclo de ensino superior, quanto às competências desenvolvidas no seu percurso de formação e investigar as competências que os contabilistas certificados percecionam serem mais importantes para o exercício da profissão. A metodologia científica utilizada, baseou-se numa abordagem quantitativa, assentando no tratamento dos dados recolhidos a partir das respostas obtidas ao inquérito por questionário efetuado a 345 estudantes finalistas e a 392 contabilistas certificados. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que os estudantes finalistas percecionam a capacidade de trabalhar em equipa como a competência geral mais desenvolvida e os contabilistas certificados percecionam a capacidade de organização como a mais importante para a atividade profissional. A compreensão da linguagem técnica é percecionada como a competência específica mais importante e mais desenvolvida na formação superior.
- Measuring efficiency and frontier shift in Portuguese hospital industry: a non-parametric approachPublication . Gonçalves, Luís MeloHospitals are complex bodies which produce multiple outputs through the utilisation of multiple inputs (Fare et al., 1994). Besides complexity, many relevant issues are raised in regard to its operation, and efficiency is one of them. It is estimated that half of the resources assigned to the health sector are allocated to hospitals operations. In Portugal, reforms in the public sector have started in the decade of 90’s of the last century and great efforts have been made to fight back the excessive expenditure in the health sector. Under this movement, some experiences in hospital management have been carried out, in particular, the privatisation of the management system of 34 hospitals of the Portuguese National Health System by converting them into 31 corporations running the hospital business. The study we have conducted concerns the economic efficiency of hospitals and our analysis is based on the concept of the efficiency frontier (Farrell, 1957). For achieving this objective we have explored two possible methodologies, the parametric approach which is the econometric one, and the non-parametric approach, the data envelopment analysis. As main conclusions of our research, the newly established hospital corporations helped to improve the efficiency frontier of the entire hospital industry, notwithstanding public hospitals could show higher technical efficiency scores than those that were transformed into corporations.
- Non-base wage components as a source of wage adaptability to shocks: evidence from European firms, 2010–2013Publication . Babecký, Jan; Berson, Clémence; Fadejeva, Ludmila; Lamo, Ana; Marotzke, Petra; Martins, Fernando; Strzelecki, PawelThis paper provides evidence on the role of non-base wage components as a channel for firms to adjust labour costs in the event of adverse shocks. It uses data from a firm-level survey for 25 European countries that covers the period 2010–2013. We find that firms subject to nominal wage rigidities, which prevent them from adjusting base wages, are more likely to cut non-base wage components in order to adjust labour costs when needed. Firms thus use non-base wage components as a buffer to overcome base wage rigidity. We further show that while non-base wage components exhibit some degree of downward rigidity, they do so to a lesser extent than base wages.
- Simulation Games in Economics and Business: Building Artificial Worlds for Flesh and Blood PlayersPublication . Gomes, OrlandoSimulation games, from the simplest ones to the most sophisticated, are instruments frequently used in the classroom to enhance teaching practices and improve learning outcomes. In economics and business, assembling a simulation game requires conceiving an artificial representation of the economy (or part of it), wherein the players, endowed with their own preferences, skills and viewpoints, interact with one another and also, eventually, with virtual agents. Such artificial worlds might be built resorting to the principles of complexity theory, network science, and agent-based modeling, and taking into account a modular approach, where each module is self-contained but easily attachable to other modules representing specific economic processes or components. This article puts into perspective business and economic simulation, from its teaching virtuosities to its scientific foundations. The modular perspective is highlighted and a prototype module is sketched.
- IFRS 9 compliant adjustment of CDS implied point-in-time PDs to through-the-cycle default frequenciesPublication . Gubareva, MariyaThis paper presents an economically justified International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS 9) compliant solution around the impairment component related to Expected Credit Loss (ECL) modeling. Under IFRS 9 the probabilities of default (PDs) employed in ECL calculation must be real-time estimates, i.e., the PDs must be point-in-time and incorporate forward-looking information. While market indicators of future debt performance, as credit default swap (CDS) spreads and yield curves, are frequently available in the market, at least for large issuers, they cannot be used directly for PD estimates, as non-default risks, such as liquidity, transparency, and other, explain a relevant part of a fixed-income issue´s credit spread. Still, IFRS 9 requires a neutral character of PD estimations. We demonstrate how to calibrate single-name CDS implied PDs by examining the relationship between individual point-in-time forward-looking credit spreads and historically observed long-term average default frequencies. As CDS spreads are individual measures corresponding to a concrete reference entity while default frequencies represent aggregate measures across homogeneous groups of issuers, to make an economically meaningful calibration possible the CDS data must be averaged over time and rating, sector and/or geography to allow for comparison of comparable metrics. Our easy-to-implement solution specifically targeting IFRS 9 purposes is illustrated on a sample of corporate issuers. The proposed adjustment framework permits to reach better understanding by banks and financial institutions of complex ongoing interactions between the impairment and economic capital requirements in relation to credit losses