Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrated Risk Management: Techniques and Strategies for Reducing Risk

Integrated Risk Management: Techniques and Strategies for Reducing Risk, by Neil A. Doherty (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000). Reviewer: Nicos A. Scordis, The College of Insurance, New York City Neil Doherty's book Integrated Risk Management begins by answering the question of why risk management programs add value to firms. Cash-flow smoothing cannot justify corporate risk management programs. The rate of return shareholders require from a firm depends on the covariance of the firm's cash-flow with broad market movement, not its overall cash-flow volatility, or variance. In general, risk managers reduce cash-flow volatility by insuring and hedging perils shareholders can eliminate themselves at lower cost by holding diversified portfolios of assets. The cashflow volatility shareholders cannot diversify is the unavoidable trapping of a business venture promising its shareholders a rate of return above the "risk-free" rate of government bonds. When risk managers reduce volatility associated with this nondiversifiable or systematic part of cash flow, they change the covariance of the firm's cash flow to broad market movements. Any reduction in systematic risk, however, is accompanied by reductions in the shareholder's return, according to traditional financial theory. If shareholders value a risk management program, it is because it mitigates the frictional costs created by cash-flow volatility. One frictional cost is management's unwillingness or inability to make optimal capital investment decisions. Another frictional cost is that progressive tax codes, together with the tax treatment of business expenses, create higher tax bills for firms with volatile taxable cash flows. Thus a risk management program may realize value for shareholders by making possible a program of optimal capital investments and by reducing tax bills. But there are alternative ways to mitigate suboptimal investment and reduce taxes. Doherty explores these alternatives and shows how they may have an effect on the value of a firm, as compared to a traditional risk management program. For example, managers can reduce the amount of interest-bearing debt in a firm's capital structure, and shareholders can alter the compensation structure of managers. Reductions in the leverage of the firm and changes in the incentives of managers have the same effect on the tendency for suboptimal investment as a risk management program. As for reducing taxes, managers can enter into operating leases, accelerate depreciation schedules, boost R&D spending, or increase the amount of interest-bearing debt in the firm's capital structure. Increases in these tax shields have the same effect as a risk management program on the firm's tax bill. Doherty explores these alternatives to illustrate the dual nature of integrated risk financing. …
The Impact of State and Local Government Spending on Charitable Giving in the United States

This paper seeks to further understand how government spending impacts private giving to charitable organizations. It considers giving and government spending in the United States in 2008 with a focus on education, welfare, healthcare, and hospital spending. Government spending is looked at the state and local levels. Taking a different approach than most work on crowding-out, this paper analyzes whether people in areas with higher per capita spending on social services act more or less generously in their private donations. The results indicate that the impact of government spending depends not only on the category of spending, but also on the income level of the giver. Increased welfare spending is shown to cause incomplete crowding-out across all income groups. Results consistently show education spending to cause crowding-out as well. The impact of both healthcare and hospital spending is more ambiguous, with differing results for different government levels (state and local) and income brackets. JEL Classification: L3, L31,L38
Are company founders underpaid?

This article examines the relation between founder status and CEO compensation in publicly listed US firms. The results suggest that CEO/founders receive lower cash pay and total compensation compared to professional managers. In contrast, CEOs who are relatives of the founders receive similar cash pay and total compensation to that of professional managers. Different compensation levels also emerge in terms of stock option awards. The findings underline the importance of distinguishing among these three CEO types when examining the determinants of executive compensation.
Long range dependence in stock market returns

Many authors have investigated the possibility of long-range dependence, or long memory, in asset returns, but very little evidence has been found for long memory in either stock or exchange rate returns. This paper examines the presence of long-range dependence in a sample of 34 stock index returns using the semiparametric methods suggested by Geweke and Porter-Hudak (1983) and Robinson (1995). The results provide significant and robust evidence of fractional dynamics in most major and small stock markets over the sample periods. Depending on the test used, statistically significant long memory is detected in approximately 65% of the series. It appears that most stock returns are long-term dependent, suggesting stock market inefficiency and a high degree of predictability.
No miracles here: Trade policy, fiscal policy and economic growth

Abstract In this paper we consider whether the rate of growth following trade liberalisation differs significantly from growth in other developing countries. We find that it does not. Given this result we explore whether these growth effects are offset by changes in other policy variables, namely changes in fiscal policy. Governments increase welfare spending as a response to greater exposure to international trade. We find evidence that countries that liberalise their trade regimes increase their spending on welfare but not other forms of expenditure. However, once we control for the effects of fiscal policy, trade liberalisation still has no growth effects.
The Inexorable and Mysterious Tradeoff between Inflation and Unemployment

This paper discusses the short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. Although this tradeoff remains a necessary building block of business cycle theory, economists have yet to provide a completely satisfactory explanation for it. According to the consensus view among central bankers and monetary economists, a contractionary monetary shock raises unemployment, at least temporarily, and leads to a delayed and gradual fall in inflation. Standard dynamic models of price adjustment, however, cannot explain this pattern of responses. Reconciling the consensus view about the effects of monetary policy with models of price adjustment remains an outstanding puzzle for business cycle theorists.
Towards a Lighter Shade of Red? Social Democratic Parties and the Rise of Neo-liberalism in Western Europe, 1970–1999

Abstract This paper focuses on the ideological development of 19 social democratic party ideologies in Western Europe. The years of interest are the last three decades of the twentieth century, when the broadly cherished Keynesian model was gradually replaced by a revived form of classical liberal economic thinking, i.e., neoliberalism. In order to measure the impact of these neoliberal values on social democratic parties, I use the widely utilized Manifesto Data Set and develop a new, exclusively socioeconomic, left–right scale that mainly focuses on core political questions regarding the scope of the state, the role of markets and the allocation of public goods. The results from the descriptive analysis reveal that neoliberal values did gain influence also within social democratic parties, although no more than four parties demonstrate a significant and long-standing ideological change towards the neoliberal pole. A less clear neoliberal trend, moreover, can be distinguished in five additional parties while the remaining ten parties within the West European social democratic party family did not experience any enduring ideological shifts.
Relation of uric acid with components of metabolic syndrome before and after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in morbidly obese subjects.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was to investigate the prevalence of hyperuricemia in morbidly obese subjects before and after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) and its relationship with metabolic syndrome abnormalities. SUBJECTS AND METHOD We evaluated 420 morbidly obese patients. Pre and postoperative (8 months after RYGBP) blood samples were drawn. Obese patients underwent laparoscopic RYGBP and after eight months all the tests were repeated. RESULTS The overall prevalence of hyperuricemia was 34.28%. Hyperuricemia was more common in men than in women (51.72 vs. 29.72%; p = 0.0002). Men with hyperuricemia were more likely to have diabetes (p = 0.034) and more elevated fasting plasma glucose levels (p = 0.027). Women with hyperuricemia were more likely to have hypertension (p = 0.003), metabolic syndrome (p = 0.001), elevated triglycerides (p = 0.001) and GGT (p = 0.009), and decreased HDL (p = 0.011). After surgery, uric acid levels decreased from 5.60 ± 1.28 to 4.23 ± 1.20 (p < 0.0001). The prevalence of hyperuricemia decreased from 33.6% to 6.4% (p < 0.0001), in men from 48.3% to 17.2% (p < 0.0001) and in women from 29.7% to 3.6% (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Concentrations of uric acid were associated with the prevalence of metabolic abnormalities in this sample of morbidly obese patients. Also, weight loss after RYGBP can reduce uric acid levels and the prevalence of hyperuricemia.
Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from the Different Personality Traits of Online Game Teenager Players

This present study provides insight into the relationship between personality traits and the subjective well-being for online game teenager players in Taiwan. The questionnaire has been adopted in the cyber cafe shops in Taipei, Taiwan, and 134 usable questionnaires produced to be used for the final data analysis. The results demonstrate that Neuroticism and Agreeableness have significant negative influence and Openness has significant positive influence on subjective well-being.
Performance of Low-Cost Permanent Magnet Material in PM Synchronous Machines

Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) are considered a viable option in various types of applications. However, particularly in consumer and low-power industrial applications, the price may be a factor that limits the use of PMSMs. In addition to a different technology, the main reason for the high price of PMSMs is the use of expensive neodymium or samarium-cobalt magnets. Their use is necessary only if a high motor torque T to linear current density A ratio (T/A) is required. Ferrite permanent magnets are low cost, abundant, and have negligible eddy current losses in low-frequency applications such as motor drives. They have a much lower energy product (BHmax) than the most modern magnets. Because of the high prices of rare earth magnets, many parties are seeking for opportunities to use ferrites instead. In the case of rotor surface ferrite magnets, the air gap flux density remains low. The air gap torque producing tangential Maxwell stress is proportional to the product of the air gap flux density Bδ[ Vs/m2] and the linear current density A [A/m]. If the flux density is low and A cannot be increased, the rotor has to be made larger than in machines having a high air gap flux density. In the case of multiple pole machines, the outer rotor approach, with its low rotor yoke height, offers an interesting alternative. The air gap diameter of these machines can be made larger than in conventional inner rotor type motors without increasing the machine outer dimensions. In this paper, an outer rotor PMSM with ferrite magnets is analyzed and tested. The machine characteristics in a fan drive are compared with an induction machine of the same power.
Major Depressive Disorder in Youths With IDDM: A controlled prospective study of course and outcome

OBJECTIVE To determine whether IDDM affects the course of major depressive disorder (MDD) in youths. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study samples include 24 youths with IDDM (of a group of 92) who developed MDD during a longitudinal follow-up of 10 years, on average, since onset of the medical condition, and 30 depressed psychiatric control subjects, matched on relevant variables. Both groups were repeatedly assessed by semistructured interviews and diagnosed by operational criteria. RESULTS In diabetic subjects, median time to recovery from the first episode of MDD was 6.4 months; by 12 months from onset, 69% of the youths will have recovered. Within 2 years of recovery, 32% were at risk for a new episode; by 6.5 years, altogether 47% are estimated to have a recurrence. Only 37.5% of diabetic subjects received treatment for the first episode of depression, and 50% received treatment for the second episode. Overall rates of recovery and recurrence were indistinguishable in the diabetic and psychiatric control groups. However, young women with diabetes were at nine times greater risk for recurrent depression than their male counterparts, and diabetic subjects eventually spent more time being depressed than the control subjects. CONCLUSIONS The course characteristics of MDD in young diabetic subjects and psychiatric control subjects appear to be similar in several regards. However, the eventual propensity of diabetic youths for more protracted depressions and the higher risk of recurrence among young diabetic women suggest that the mental health of patients with IDDM should be closely monitored. The findings confirm that depression is undertreated among patients in the primary health care sector.
A Role for Caspase-1 in Serum Withdrawal-Induced Apoptosis of Endothelial Cells

Mouse lung endothelial cells (MLEC) and HUVEC were used under serum withdrawal (SW) conditions as a model of endothelial cell (EC) apoptosis. Apoptosis was quantified by time-lapse video microscopy. Mouse lung ECs from caspase-1−/− mice had significantly reduced rates of SW-induced apoptosis compared with wild-type mice, specifically implicating caspase-1 in proapoptotic signaling in ECs. SW conditions induced HUVEC apoptosis with concomitant activation of caspase-1. Further studies demonstrated that the caspase-1 inhibitors z-VAD and z-YVAD significantly reduced the rate of SW-induced HUVEC apoptosis. HUVEC, when transfected with caspase-1, showed a highly significant increase in apoptosis. SW was associated with increases in reactive oxygen species production that were significantly inhibited by the antioxidant N-acetyl-l-cysteine, although rates of apoptosis and caspase-1 activation were unaffected. These results demonstrate the involvement of caspase-1 in SW-induced EC apoptosis, independently of reactive oxygen species production.
Natural and treatment-assisted recovery from gambling problems: a comparison of resolved and active gamblers.

AIM An exploratory study was conducted to understand the process of recovery from gambling problems. DESIGN Media recruitment was used to identify a resolved (n = 43) and a comparison group of active pathological gamblers (n = 63). PARTICIPANTS Participants showed evidence of significant problems related to gambling as well as high rates of co-morbid mood and substance use disorders. The median length of resolution was 14 months with a range of 6 weeks to 20 years. FINDINGS Resolved gamblers reported a variety of reasons for quitting gambling, related mainly to emotional and financial factors. They did not experience a greater number of precipitating life events compared with active gamblers but did report an increase in positive and a decrease in negative life events in the year after resolution. Both resolved and active gamblers who had relatively more severe problems were more likely to have had treatment or self-help involvement, whereas those with less severe problems, if resolved, were "naturally recovered". CONCLUSIONS The results support the need for a continuum of treatment options for problem gamblers and provide helpful information about recovery processes.
India shining? A two-wave study of business constraints upon micro and small manufacturing firms in India

The national marketing slogan ‘India Shining’ was launched in 2004 by the Indian government to showcase rapid economic growth; around the same time, a number of new policy measures to promote small businesses were introduced to help them deal with an increasingly globalised environment. This article analyses survey data collected by the World Bank from owners and managers of 1300 Indian firms in 2002 and 608 firms in 2006 respectively, to explore how prevailing business constraints limit the performance of micro (fewer than 10 ) and small (10 to 49 employees) manufacturing businesses in 2002 and 2006. Using capacity utilisation to measure performance, the study finds that both micro and small firms fared somewhat worse in 2006 than in 2002.
The Changing Nature of Chapter 11

The U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy system has long been viewed as debtor friendly, with frequency of absolute priority deviations (APD) in favor of equity holders commonplace, as high as 75%, before 1990. In the 1991-2005 period, we find a secular decline in the frequency of APD to 22%, with the frequency as low as 9% for the period 2000-2005. We identify the increasing importance of debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing and key employee retention plans (KERP) in bankruptcy as the key drivers of this secular decline. We also find management turnover in Chapter 11 has increased by 65% since 1990 and that APD are more likely when management has substantial share holdings in the firm. The time spent in bankruptcy has also declined from about 23 months before 1990 to 16 months after 2000. Collectively, these results are consistent with the thesis that Chapter 11 has increasingly become creditor friendly over the years. We discuss the implications of our results for models that assume that equity has a valuable dilatory option in the bankruptcy process.
Geographical variations in the nature of undeclared work

Abstract Inspired by a stream of cultural economic geographical thought that has sought to deconstruct the view that monetary transactions are everywhere market‐like and profit‐motivated, this paper seeks to reread the nature of undeclared work. Conventionally, such work has been seen as epitomising unbridled profit‐motivated market‐like monetised exchange, and depictions of the geographical variations in its character have distinguished only between various types of profit‐motivated informal employment in different area types. Drawing upon detailed empirical evidence from eleven deprived and affluent localities in urban and rural England, however, it is here displayed that universally portraying undeclared work as a form of profit‐motivated informal employment over‐simplifies and obscures its spatially variable nature and heterogeneous meanings. Although undeclared work in affluent locality types and urban areas is more likely to be market‐like and conducted for profit‐motivated purposes, undeclared work in deprived locality types and rural areas is revealed to be much more a form of mutual aid conducted for kin, neighbours and friends and embedded in non‐market motives. The outcome is not only a refiguring of the geographical variations in the nature of undeclared work but also clear evidence of the need to investigate other mainstream economic spaces so as to explore further the heterogeneous and spatially variable nature of monetised transactions.
Ovalbumin-Induced Airway Inflammation and Fibrosis in Mice Also Exposed to Ultrafine Particles

A murine model of allergen-induced airway inflammation was used to examine the effects of exposure to ultrafine particles (PM2.5) on airway inflammation and remodeling. Lung inflammation was measured by quantitative differential evaluation of lung lavage cells. Alterations in lung structure (airway remodeling and fibrosis) were evaluated by quantitative biochemical analysis of microdissected airways and by histological evaluation of stained lung sections. The same total number of cells was observed in lavage fluid from animals exposed for 4 wk to ovalbumin alone or to ovalbumin for 4 wk immediately before or after 6 exposures over a period of 2 wk to 235 ug/m3 of PM2.5. Mice exposed to ovalbumin for 6 wk with concurrent exposure to PM2.5 during wk 5–6 had a significant decrease in the total number of cells recovered by lavage as compared with the group exposed to ovalbumin alone. There were no significant differences in the cell differential counts in the lavage fluid from mice exposed to ovalbumin alone as compared with values from mice exposed to ovalbumin and PM2.5 under the protocols studied. Airway structural changes (remodeling) were examined by three different quantitative methods. None of the groups exposed to ovalbumin and PM had a significant increase in airway collagen content evaluated biochemically (i.e., total airway collagen) as compared to the matched groups of mice exposed to ovalbumin alone. Airway collagen content evaluated histologically by sirius red staining showed significant increases in all of the animals exposed to ovalbumin, with or without PM, and no apparent difference between the ovalbumin group and mice exposed to PM with ovalbumin. The findings were consistent with an additive, or less than additive, response of mice to exposure to PM and ovalbumin. Air or PM exposure alone for 2 wk did not result in observable goblet cells in the airways, while mice exposed to ovalbumin aerosol alone for 4 wk had about 20–25% goblet cells in their conducting airways. Sequential exposure to ovalbumin and PM (or vice versa) caused significant increases in goblet cells (to about 35% of total cells) in the conducting airways of the exposed mice. We conclude that when mice with allergen-induced airway inflammation induced by ovalbumin are also exposed to PM2.5, the lung inflammatory response and airway remodeling may be modified, but that this altered response is dependent upon the sequence of exposure and the duration of exposure to ovalbumin aerosol. At the concentrations of PM tested, we did not see changes in airway fibrosis or airway reactivity for animals exposed to ovalbumin and PM2.5 as compared with animals exposed only to ovalbumin aerosol. However, goblet-cell hyperplasia was significantly increased in mice exposed concurrently to ovalbumin and PM2.5 as compared with mice exposed to ovalbumin alone.
Real Shock or Nominal Shock? Exchange Rate Movements in Cambodia and Lao PDR

This paper studies sources of fluctuations in real and nominal US dollar exchange rates in Cambodia and Lao PDR by decomposing them into the components induced by real and nominal factors. These shocks affecting real and nominal exchange rates are identified by using a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model with the long-run neutrality restriction of Blanchard and Quah (1989). The empirical analysis demonstrates that real shocks in direction of depreciation lead to real and nominal depreciation, while nominal shocks induce long-run nominal depreciation but real appreciation in the short-run. Several economic implications are also discussed.