Pan-European business database Amadeus (since 2021 Orbis Europe) contains comprehensive data on 21 million European companies, including annual reports (balance sheets and income statements), financial ratios, information on subsidiaries and forms of ownership, etc. (see also the Amadeus database overview).

Examples of previous studies using Amadeus data: Study by Rojec et al. (2009) on foreign investment and technology transfer, study by Stiebale and Reize (2008) on the relationship between foreign investments and innovation, study by Barba Navaretti et al. (2003) on the impact of foreign investment on labor volatility, study by Anos-Casero and Udompsah (2009) work on the relationship between labor productivity growth and the business environment, study by Arnold et al. (2010) on the impact of regulations on productivity, study by Schwellnus and Arnold (2009) on the impact of corporate tax on productivity. In their studies conducted in Estonia, Masso, Meriküll, Vahter (2013) examined the impact of the Estonian 2000 income tax reform on the entrepreneurial performance of Estonian companies using Latvian and Lithuanian data as a control group, and Meriküll and Rõõm (2014) examined the impact of foreign investments on labor mobility.

Related projects

One of the most important cooperation projects to date with the public sector is the European Union-funded project “InWeGe – Income, wealth, and gender. Study and practical web tool for understanding gender pay and pension gaps in Estonia – the country with the biggest gender pay gap in the EU.“ The aim is to facilitate the availability of wage information to job seekers through detailed labor market segments (narrowly defined occupations, regions, etc.) through a digital solution (web application). This could influence people’s decisions on labor market participation, wage bargaining, education and career choices, and would, in turn, reduce the gender gap in wages, pensions, and wealth.

Personal research funding: Team grant PRG791 “Innovation Complementarities and Productivity Growth“, 2020-2024. The project contributes by a detailed analysis of how innovation complementarities affect productivity, paying attention to analysis of timing of the costs and benefits, the role of sequence of adoption, the role of learning from prior experiences, and spillovers. Principal investigator: Priit Vahter.

Baltic Research Programme project „The Economic Integration of the Nordic -Baltic Region through Labour, Innovation, Investments and Trade“ (LIFT), 2021-2023. It is planned to research retrospectively economic integration opportunities for the Nordic and Baltic regions through labour movement, technology transfer, direct foreign investment and capital movement, and international trade. Principal investigator: Jaan Masso.

Completed studies

So far, research using data developed within the framework of the IMO has investigated the factors influencing the export success of Estonian enterprises and the impact of export on enterprise productivity and the links between the mobility of employees between enterprises and the entrepreneurial performance (e.g., export). Below are references to research using data developed within the IMO.

Benkovskis, K., Masso, J., Tkacevs, O., Vahter, P., Yashiro, N. (2020), ”Export and productivity in global value chains: comparative evidence from Latvia and Estonia”, Review of World Economics, 156(3), pp. 557-577. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10290-019-00371-0 

Masso, J., Meriküll, J., Vahter, P. (2020), “The role of firms in the gender wage gap”, University of Tartu, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper No. 120. https://www.mtk.ut.ee/sites/default/files/mtk/dokumendid/febawb120.html

Lukason, O.; Camacho-Miñano, M.M. (2020). Corporate Governance Characteristics of Private SMEs’ Annual Report Submission Violations. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 13 (10), 1−19.10.3390/jrfm13100230.

Masso, J., Vahter, P. (2019), “Knowledge Transfer from Multinationals through Labour Mobility: Are There Effects on Productivity, Product Sophistication and Exporting?”, Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Vol. 55, Issue 12, pp. 2774-2795.

Vahter, P. & Masso, J. (2019). “The contribution of multinationals to wage inequality: foreign ownership and the gender pay gap”, Review of World Economics. Vol. 155, Issue 1, pp. 105-148.

Roosaar, L.; Masso, J.; Varblane, U (2019), “Age-related productivity decrease of high-waged and low-waged employees”, International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 1151-1170.

Use of data

The database can be used for a variety of scientific and applied research, the possible topics of which being export factors of companies, innovative activities of companies, intra-company mobility of employees, and its links to the operational success of companies, factors affecting employee’ wages and salary inequalities, etc.

The database is accessible to all employees and students of the University of Tartu. To create a user account, contact the contacts below.

Contact

Jaan MassoAssociate Professor