Empirical evidence

About: Empirical evidence is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6346 publications have been published within this topic receiving 222085 citations. The topic is also known as: empirical knowledge.

Competition and corporate performance

Abstract: Are people right to think that competition improves corporate performance? My investigations indicate first that there are some theoretical reasons for believing this hypothesis to be correct, but they are not overwhelming. Furthermore, the existing empirical evidence on this question is weak. However, the results reported here, based on an analysis of around 670 U.K. companies, do provide some support for this view. Most important, I present evidence that competition, as measured by increased numbers of competitors or by lower levels of rents, is associated with a significantly higher rate of total factor productivity growth.

Realist review - a new method of systematic review designed for complex policy interventions

Abstract: Evidence-based policy is a dominant theme in contemporary public services but the practical realities and challenges involved in using evidence in policy-making are formidable. Part of the problem is one of complexity. In health services and other public services, we are dealing with complex social interventions which act on complex social systems--things like league tables, performance measures, regulation and inspection, or funding reforms. These are not 'magic bullets' which will always hit their target, but programmes whose effects are crucially dependent on context and implementation. Traditional methods of review focus on measuring and reporting on programme effectiveness, often find that the evidence is mixed or conflicting, and provide little or no clue as to why the intervention worked or did not work when applied in different contexts or circumstances, deployed by different stakeholders, or used for different purposes. This paper offers a model of research synthesis which is designed to work with complex social interventions or programmes, and which is based on the emerging 'realist' approach to evaluation. It provides an explanatory analysis aimed at discerning what works for whom, in what circumstances, in what respects and how. The first step is to make explicit the programme theory (or theories)--the underlying assumptions about how an intervention is meant to work and what impacts it is expected to have. We then look for empirical evidence to populate this theoretical framework, supporting, contradicting or modifying the programme theories as it goes. The results of the review combine theoretical understanding and empirical evidence, and focus on explaining the relationship between the context in which the intervention is applied, the mechanisms by which it works and the outcomes which are produced. The aim is to enable decision-makers to reach a deeper understanding of the intervention and how it can be made to work most effectively. Realist review does not provide simple answers to complex questions. It will not tell policy-makers or managers whether something works or not, but will provide the policy and practice community with the kind of rich, detailed and highly practical understanding of complex social interventions which is likely to be of much more use to them when planning and implementing programmes at a national, regional or local level.

Motivation crowding theory

Abstract: The Motivation Crowding Effect suggests that external intervention via monetary incentives or punishments may undermine, and under different identifiable conditions strengthen, intrinsic motivation. As of today, the theoretical possibility of motivation crowding has been the main subject of discussion among economists. This study demonstrates that the effect is also of empirical relevance. There exist a large number of studies, offering empirical evidence in support of the existence of crowding–out and crowding–in. The study is based on circumstantial evidence, laboratory studies by both psychologists and economists, as well as field research by econometric studies. The pieces of evidence presented refer to a wide variety of areas of the economy and society and have been collected for many different countries and periods of time. Crowding effects thus are an empirically relevant phenomenon, which can, in specific cases, even dominate the traditional relative price effect.

The Boundaries of Multinational Enterprises and the Theory of International Trade

Abstract: This paper begins with a review of empirical evidence on multinational firms. Conceptual underpinnings of a theory are developed, relying in particular on the notion of knowledge capital as a mobile, joint input into geographically separated production facilities. This idea is embedded in a simple two-country general equilibrium model that supports multinational production in equilibrium under conditions consistent with the empirical evidence. The final section examines internalization and shows why certain properties of knowledge capital also imply a preference for transferring technologies internally within the firm, rather than through arm's-length markets.