We test whether there is a link between the performance of universities, measured through a concept of efficiency, and the economic development of the regions in which they operate. Indicators of teaching, research, and third mission are considered as outputs. To handle endogeneity problems between the efficiency of universities and economic development, a system generalized method of moments and then an instrumental variable approach are used. Our findings reveal that the presence of efficient universities fosters local economic development. Knowledge spillovers occur to areas that are in close geographical proximity to efficient universities. Results are robust to different estimation strategies.

Relying upon highly territorially disaggregated data taken at labour market areas, the paper explores the relationship between bank performances and financial stability of the banking system taking into account the role of market concentration. The z‐score is used as financial stability indicator, while the performance of financial intermediaries is measured using a parametric method recently developed (Kumbhakar et al. 2014). The empirical evidence shows a positive relationship between bank performance and financial stability and supports the ‘concentration–stability’ view for non‐cooperative banks only when concentration is measured on the whole sample of banks. Differences in the performance–stability nexus seem to depend more on the type of banks rather than different levels of market concentration. Higher market concentration of cooperative banks affects systemic stability by reducing the z‐scores of non‐cooperative banks, supporting the hypothesis that the presence of non‐profit‐maximizing entities can pull down stability of other financial institutions.

In this article, we test whether economic growth depends on human capital development mainly operating through an upgrading of human capital stock in the area where the universities are located. We specify a growth model where a qualitative measure of human capital development, university efficiency, is considered in conjunction with a customary quantitative measure of human capital development, number of graduates. The model is estimated on panel data over the period 2003 to 2011. The evidence suggests that both indicators of human capital development have a positive and significant impact on gross domestic product per capita. Results also show that knowledge spillovers occur between areas through the geographical proximity to the efficient universities, suggesting that the geography of production is affected. Results hold when robustness checks are performed.

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This paper investigates the regional innovation system (RIS) efficiency, and its determinants, in Italy through a Stochastic Frontier Analysis and using the concept of a knowledge production function. The contribution of university, private and public sector resources devoted to research and development (R&D), in generating innovation, has been examined, as well as the impact of several exogenous environmental variables on RIS efficiency. The empirical findings are in favour of the importance of R&D investments taking place in the universities and in the private sector, which benefit the most to regional innovation activities; the evidence also suggest the relevance of the knowledge context in which the firms operate as the existence of an intermediation structure, such as a university technology transfer office, has an important role on the innovation process. State-level policies can be detrimental for overall efficiency, and instead special interventions for regions in the Southern regions should be designed.

The Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI) takes no institutional policy positions. Any opinions or policy positions contained in this Discussion Paper are those of the author(s), and not those of the Institute.The Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI) is a non-profit research institute based in Bratislava, Slovakia. It fosters multidisciplinary research about the functioning of labour markets and institutions, work and organizations, business and society, and ethnicity and migration in the economic, social, and political life of modern societies. CELSI Discussion Paper series is a flagship of CELSI's academic endeavors. Its objective is the dissemination of fresh state-of-the-art knowledge, cross-fertilization of knowledge and ideas, and promotion of interdisciplinary dialogue about labour markets or broader labour issues in Central and Eastern Europe. Contributions from all social science disciplines, including but not limited to economics, sociology, political science, public polic social anthropology, human geography, demography, law and social psychology, are welcome. The papers are downloadable from http://www.celsi.sk. The copyright stays with the authors.

This paper analyzes how national income (per capita real GDP) influ- ences the environmental pollution (per capita CO2 emissions) using a very heterogenous sample composed by 120 countries during the 2000–2009 period. We first apply a panel unit root test suggested by Im et al. (J Econometr 115(1):53–74, 2003) to examine the stationarity properties of CO2 emissions and GDP and then a two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator, paying particular attention to the non-linearity of the national income–environmental pollution rela- tionship, to investigate the existence of a Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions. Pre- liminary evidence showing the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between national income and environmental pollution, validating the Kuznets’s hypothesis, turned out to be measleading once the issue of (non) stationarity has been taken into account. Results also show that as population and industrial output expand, more pressure will be put forth the environment, leading to more emissions, calling for more strict environmental and energy conservation policies

In the National Innovation System (NIS), knowledge is produced and accumulated through interactive innovation processes that are embedded in a national context, which in turn may help determine innovation. This paper investigates how product and process innovations in the European food and drink industry are affected by: (i) NIS structure; (ii) NIS output in terms of scientific publications and the supply of graduates; (iii) NIS cohesion and coordination; (iv) NIS scientific impact and specialisation. The main source of data on innovation by firms is the EU‐EFIGE/Bruegel‐UniCredit dataset. This is supplemented by information from the International Handbook of Universities, Eurostat and a bibliometric analysis of academic research output. Our results suggest that large research institutions in the public sector may well be detrimental to interaction between university and industry and to process innovation. The indicators used for public research assessment are not necessarily the most appropriate proxies of local knowledge spillovers.