Working papers published in Working Paper Series
Ashyrov, G., & Poltimäe, H. (2022). Does Corruption Hinder Firm Energy Efficiency? Evidence From Vietnam. Evidence From Vietnam University of Tartu, Working Paper.
Energy efficiency is an important issue for developing countries like Vietnam, where the economy is thriving, but energy efficiency is still low. Firms should invest in energy efficiency measures, but the desired level is not reached. While the economic determinants of firms’ investments in energy efficiency have been researched, the role of the institutional setting has not gained so much attention. By employing data from Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises that has been administered in 2015, this article investigates how corruption, as a sign of institutional dysfunctionality, is associated with the energy efficiency in firms. Results of a bivariate binary probit estimation revealed that bribery increases the likelihood of energy efficiency environmentally friendly investments. However, findings from instrumental variable two stage least squares estimations demonstrate that bribery increases the cost of the investments. Hence, in the long run, corruption might have a deterring effect on energy efficiency investments by firms.
Ashyrov, G., Paas, T., & Tverdostup, M. (2018). The input-output analysis of blue industries: Comparative study of Estonia and Finland. University of Tartu, Working Paper.
The paper focuses on examining the role of blue industries in the national economies of Estonia and Finland as two neighbouring countries that have a sea border. We exploit the Input-Output (IO) methodology to analyse inter-industry linkages relying on the OECD IO tables. The OECD database comprises information on 34 sectors of the national economy over the period 1995–2011. The results of the analysis show that despite rather weak overall backward and forward linkages of aggregated blue industries within the national economies, they play a remarkable role in the economic activities of maritime regions, and to a large extent drive the economic success of Estonian and Finnish regional and national economies in generating new growth and employment. The weak backward and forward linkages indicate that negative dynamics within the blue economy yield rather weak negative externalities for the overall economy, and by contrast, if the national economy as a whole is suffering under a crisis, the potential impact on industries is not particularly remarkable. These findings suggest that blue industries are relatively independent within national economies having a remarkable role in socio-economic development of maritime regions, and thereby, create good preconditions for the stable development of cross-border cooperation between the maritime regions of both countries.