Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shareholder Heterogeneity, Adverse Selection, and Payout Policy

Abstract When shareholders have different plans to sell their shares, they will, in general, have different preferences concerning the firm's decision to pay out cash using dividends or share repurchase. We illustrate these different preferences and explore a model of payout policy that highlights the adverse selection costs of repurchases when managers have superior information about the value of the firm. We show that, in the absence of fixed costs to repurchasing shares, there is a separating equilibrium in which managers use taxable dividends to signal the quality of the firm, with better firms paying lower dividends, using repurchases for the remainder of the payout. With fixed costs to repurchasing, small payouts are made via dividend and large payouts are divided between repurchases and dividends, as in the no-fixed cost case. In both cases, the percentage of shares repurchased increases with the size of the payout and larger repurchases are better news.
Veto Players and the Choice of Monetary Institutions

I argue that two types of veto players matter in the choice of monetary institutions: party veto players and subnational governments, which are strong in federal systems but weak in unitary systems. A crucial issue is whether voters can readily identify the manipulation of the economy with party players. A second issue concerns the national party veto player's ability to control either fiscal or monetary policy. In one-party unitary governments identification and control are clear; parties where such governments are common prefer flexible exchange rates and dependent central banks. In multiparty coalition governments in unitary systems, identification is traditionally difficult, and the ability to target benefits to specific constituencies under fiscal policy makes fiscal policy autonomy more attractive for coalition governments. Such governments prefer central banks that are politically independent but that finance government debt. Under federalism, parties that constitute the central government have less control over fiscal policy and they prefer flexible exchange rates. Subnational governments do not support a dependent central bank that gives more power to the central government.
Trade and Productivity: The Family Connection Redux

We investigate the effects of demographic change and human capital accumulation on trade and productivity of domestic firms. In so doing we integrate a micro-founded education and fertility decision of households into a model of international trade with firm heterogeneity. Our framework leads to four testable implications: i) the export share of a country increases in the education level of its population, ii) the export share of a country decreases in the birth rate of its population, iii) the average profitability of firms increases in the education level of a country, iv) the average profitability of firms decreases in the birth rate of a country. We find that all four implications are supported by empirical evidence for a panel of OECD countries from 1960 to 2010. Our results suggest that investments in human capital accumulation, especially in higher education, are an important determinant of a country's international competitiveness. Furthermore, falling birth rates need not be a serious concern with respect to productivity and international competitiveness of countries.
CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS AND MATERNAL CONSUMPTION OF BENZODIAZEPINES: A CASE‐CONTROL STUDY

This study assessed potential teratogenic properties of benzodiazepine (BZD) intake during early pregnancy. Four neonatal diagnoses of congenital malformations (embryopathy and fetopathy, unspecified; unspecified congenital malformations of the nervous system; cleft palate and cleft lip; congenital malformations of the urinary tract) were selected. The authors' previous clinical experience had shown these diagnoses to be characteristic of infants born to mothers with excessive intake of BZD in early pregnancy. The selected diagnoses were present in 25 of 10,646 liveborn infants (2·3 per 1000) delivered by mothers living in the city of Gothenburg in 1985 and 1986. In 18 of these cases, it was possible to analyse maternal plasma, and eight samples (44 per cent) were found to be BZD‐positive. Of 60 controls, two maternal blood samples (3 per cent) were positive for BZD. The difference is highly significant and suggests an association between these congenital malformations and BZD consumed during early gestation.
When in Doubt, Use Proxies

This article argues that citizens employ proxies rooted in attitudes about domestic politics when responding to survey questions about the European integration process. It develops a model of public opinion toward European integration based on attitudes toward the political system, the incumbent government, and establishment parties. With the help of data from Eurobarometer 34.0, the study tests political and economic models of public support for membership in the European Union in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Portugal. The analyses show that system and establishment party support are the most powerful determinants of support for membership in the European Union. The results also suggest that the relationship between economic factors and support previously reported in research on public opinion toward European integration is likely to be mediated by domestic political attitudes.
Defining the Eu Political Space

Descriptive models of the EU political space are fundamental components of both descriptions of EU politics and theories of EU policy making. But there is no consensus on which, if any, model accurately captures the EU political space. In this article, the authors seekto advance their understanding of the EU political space by bringing evidence to bear on the accuracy of four extant models. Following the methodology used to analyze the national political space of Euro-pean democracies, they assemble and code manifestos of party federations written prior to Euro-pean elections. They then use confirmatory factor analysis to analyze the underlying structure of these party federations'policy positions. They also examine temporal differences in party feder-ation positions over several sets of issues. The results of the study indicate that the EU political space is basically one dimensional and similar to the domestic Left-Right dimension in policy content.
Analysts' Forecasts in Asian-Pacific Markets: The Relationship Among Macroeconomic Factors, Accounting Systems, Bias and Accuracy

In this study, we describe determinants of accuracy/bias of analysts' forecasts in 13 economies of the Asian-Pacific region. Examination of the accuracy of analysts' earnings forecasts allows us to judge how accounting systems and macroeconomic distinctions in this region affect earnings predictability. As many investors rely on analysts' earnings forecasts instead of producing their own, the growth of international investment means forecasts in non-US markets will become increasingly important to investors worldwide. Using a sample of firms with data available on Global Vantage and I/B/E/S International, we find that the analysts on average have a pessimistic bias in Asian-Pacific markets. We examine whether macroeconomic factors explain part of the difference in the size of analyst forecast errors, using the global competitiveness rankings of the World Economic Forum (WEF). We expect that those nations which are more open to foreign trade and investment and are ranked more highly by the WEF in its Global Competitiveness Index will also have more accurate analyst forecasts, as increased global competitiveness demands greater integration into the world economy, and such integration should lead to more transparent financial statements and more accurate earnings forecasts. Our findings are consistent with this prediction. We also find that countries with low book-tax conformity have more accurate earnings forecasts.
Stock Price Informativeness and Corporate Governance: An International Study

This study investigates the cross-country relationship between firm-level corporate governance and stock price informativeness. Using firm-level data from 22 developed countries, we find that stock price informativeness, as measured by firm-specific stock return variation and future earnings response coefficients, increases with the quality of a firm's corporate governance. Further analyses show that all mechanisms except board-related governance relate positively to stock price informativeness. Finally, firm-level corporate governance plays a more significant role in strengthening the stock return–earnings associations for firms in countries with strong institutional environments. This evidence highlights the role of country-level legal investor protections in shaping the relationship between firm-level corporate governance and stock price informativeness.
Migration, Remittances, and Household Welfare: Evidence from Pakistan

This study examines the costs and household-level benefits of overseas migration in Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan. A household survey was conducted to assess the transaction costs associated with the transfer of remittances and the sources used to finance overseas migration. We also carry out a propensity-score matching exercise, which reveals that overseas migration has substantial benefits as measured by migrants’ consumption levels, their expenditures on health, education, and vehicles, and the level of household savings. Policy options to facilitate migration and the transfer of remittances include (i) establishing technical training institutions to help workers upgrade their skills, (ii) information campaigns on the migration process and opportunities available, (iii) setting up institutions to provide loans for potential migrants, (iv) reducing money transfer costs through formal channels, and (v) building awareness of the Pakistan Remittance Initiative.
Investors: The Missing Piece in the Foreclosure Racial Gap Debate

ABSTRACT: Foreclosures have become one of the most important problems facing cities and the U.S. economy. However, not all communities are affected equally. Our goal is to better understand factors that affect variation in neighborhood foreclosures in a typical, mid-sized U.S. city—Louisville, Kentucky. While previous findings indicate that a key explanatory variable leading to rising neighborhood foreclosures is the proportion of racial minorities, our analysis finds that in a fully specified model, race does not predict differences between black and white homeowners. On the other hand, an analysis of investors predicts high foreclosure rates in African-American neighborhoods. The effect of percent nonwhite is caused by several key intervening variables, including the presence of investor foreclosures, the absence of neighborhood walkability, and the prevalence of high-cost loans. In the past, walkability and investor behavior have largely been ignored by social scientists studying neighborhood variation in foreclosures and the role of race in rising foreclosures. In this article, we examine how speculation by investors in majority African-American neighborhoods along with degree of walkability and the concentration of high-priced loans have contributed to recent increases in foreclosures and variation across neighborhoods. Together, the findings demonstrate that these three factors help to better explain the contemporary causes of greater foreclosures in African-American neighborhoods.
Monetary Policy in a Monetary Union: What Role for Regional Information?

Can the central bank of a monetary union, whose objectives are exclusively defined in terms of union-wide variables, improve its performance by reacting to regional variables rather than to union-wide variables only? Our answer is not clear-cut. We find the improvement to be large when we use a backward-looking model of the economy and negligible when we use a hybrid model. The main determinant of this finding seems to be the different degree of inertia (or its opposite, the forward-lookingness) characterizing the two models, rather than other model features.
Maternities and modernities: Frontmatter

Introduction: colonial and postcolonial plots in histories of maternities and modernities Margaret Jolly 1. Shaping reproduction: maternity in early twentieth-century Malaya Lenore Manderson 2. Modernizing the Malay mother Maila Stivens 3. 'Good wives and mothers' or 'dedicated workers'? Contradictions of domesticity in the 'mission of sisterhood', Travancore, south India Jane Haggis 4. Maternity and the story of enlightenment in the colonies: Tamil coastal women, south India Kalpana Ram 5. The dai and the doctor: discourses on women's reproductive health in rural Bangladesh Santi Rozario 6. Other mothers: maternal 'insouciance' and the depopulation debate in Fiji and Vanuatu, 1890-1930 Margaret Jolly 7. Just add water: remaking women through childbirth, Anganen, Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea Leanne Merrett-Balkos 8. From sisters to wives: changing contexts of maternity on Simbo, Western Solomon Islands Christine Dureau Epilogue: maternal experience and feminist body politics: Asian and Pacific perspectives Kalpana Ram.
Molecular indicators of microbial diversity in oolitic sands of Highborne Cay, Bahamas

Microbialites (stromatolites and thrombolites) are mineralized mat structures formed via the complex interactions of diverse microbial‐mat communities. At Highborne Cay, in the Bahamas, the carbonate component of these features is mostly comprised of ooids. These are small, spherical to ellipsoidal grains characterized by concentric layers of calcium carbonate and organic matter and these sand‐sized particles are incorporated with the aid of extra‐cellular polymeric substances (EPS), into the matrix of laminated stromatolites and clotted thrombolite mats. Here, we present a comparison of the bacterial diversity within oolitic sand samples and bacterial diversity previously reported in thrombolitic and stromatolitic mats of Highborne Cay based on analysis of clone libraries of small subunit ribosomal RNA gene fragments and lipid biomarkers. The 16S‐rRNA data indicate that the overall bacterial diversity within ooids is comparable to that found within thrombolites and stromatolites of Highborne Cay, and this significant overlap in taxonomic groups suggests that ooid sands may be a source for much of the bacterial diversity found in the local microbialites. Cyanobacteria were the most diverse taxonomic group detected, followed by Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Planctomyces, Deltaproteobacteria, and several other groups also found in mat structures. The distributions of intact polar lipids, the fatty acids derived from them, and bacteriohopanepolyols provide broad general support for the bacterial diversity identified through analysis of nucleic acid clone libraries.
Chemical Fingerprint and Anti-Sickling Activity of Rosmarinic Acid and Methanolic Extracts from Three Species of Ocimum from DR Congo

The aim of this study was to characterize the polyphenolic composition by determination of chemical fingerprints of Methanolic extracts of Ocimum canum Sims, Ocimum basilicum L. and Ocimum gratissimum L. from Democratic Republic of Congo and to compare their antisickling activity of that of rosmarinic acid, the major compound to those of methanolic extracts. Phytochemical analysis performed by TLC and HPLC analysis, showed that rosmarinic acid is the most abundant phenolic acid in these Ocimum species according to the following order O. basilicum L. , O. gratissimum L. and O. canum Sims. Methanolic extracts of these three species and pure rosmarinic acid showed significant antisickling activities with minimal concentration of normalization values of 0.18 ± 0.03, 0.23 ± 0.04, 0.26 ± 0.04 and 0.31 ± 0.05 mg/mL for rosmarinic acid, O. basilicum L. , O. gratissimum L. and O. canum Sims methanolic extracts respectively. The antisickling activity order is the same as that of the rosmarinic acid content, indicating that this polyphenolic acid would be among the main active molecules in these extracts.
Decentralisation in Kosovo: A Challenge to Deal With?

The decentralisation process in Kosovo emerged as a pathway to integrate the Serbian community. This article investigates the evolution of this process and by so doing underlines the key characteristics of this process since Kosovo was declared an independent and sovereign state on 17 February 2008. The article also argues that whilst the two largest ethnic groups in Kosovo have tried to take advantage of the decentralisation process, there is no other realistic alternative to decentralisation, except the partition of Kosovo’s territory that might start a domino effect throughout the Balkan region. There are two key documents that are essential to understanding the limits and scope of the decentralisation process in Kosovo ‐ The Kai Eide Report and the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement delivered by the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Future Status Process for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari. In order to prevent the atomization and the fragmentation of the Kosovo society through the decentralisation process, the article concludes that, civil society in Kosovo should be empowered to play the ‘middle ground’ role between Kosovo state authorities and the Serbian community affected by the decentralisation process.
Barriers to Implementing the ACGME Outcome Project: A Systematic Review of Program Director Surveys.

INTRODUCTION The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) introduced the Outcome Project in July 2001 to improve the quality of resident education through competency-based learning. The purpose of this systematic review is to determine and explore the perceptions of program directors regarding challenges to implementing the ACGME Outcome Project. METHODS We used the PubMed and Web of Science databases and bibliographies for English-language articles published between January 1, 2001, and February 17, 2012. Studies were included if they described program directors' opinions on (1) barriers encountered when attempting to implement ACGME competency-based education, and (2) assessment methods that each residency program was using to implement competency-based education. Articles meeting the inclusion criteria were screened by 2 researchers. The grading criterion was created by the authors and used to assess the quality of each study. RESULTS The survey-based data reported the opinions of 1076 program directors. Barriers that were encountered include: (1) lack of time; (2) lack of faculty support; (3) resistance of residents to the Outcome Project; (4) insufficient funding; (5) perceived low priority for the Outcome Project; (6) inadequate salary incentive; and (7) inadequate knowledge of the competencies. Of the 6 competencies, those pertaining to patient care and medical knowledge received the most responses from program directors and were given highest priority. CONCLUSIONS The reviewed literature revealed that time and financial constraints were the most important barriers encountered when implementing the ACGME Outcome Project.
The Current Financial Crisis: Causes and Policy

The driver of the current crisis is the collapse in domestic aggregate demand, originating from international factors. It is important, therefore, to consider potential areas where aggregate demand can be expected to increase in order to understand the possibility of recovery. The current crisis was preceded by an unprecedented increase in the level of household debt, which will hinder the recovery of consumer expenditure. Consumption is also being affected by uncertainty with respect to both income and employment. Similarly, the outlooks for investment and net exports suggest that they are unlikely to contribute to the initial phase of recovery. This leaves the important area of government expenditure. It is argued that government expenditure, particularly in infrastructure and capital, is particularly important as in the short run it contributes directly to demand, while, in the longer run it boosts growth and productivity. Finally, approaches to financing the implications of increased government expenditure are examined.
Rational speculative bubbles and commodities markets: application of duration dependence test

The presence of rational speculative bubbles in 28 commodities is investigated using the duration dependence test on the stochastic interest-adjusted basis. Eleven of 28 commodities experienced some episodes of rational speculative bubble. These commodities are West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, coffee, corn, soya bean No. 2, soya bean meal and oil, wheat No. 2 soft red and hard winter wheat, lean hogs, gold and platinum. Additionally, natural gas, propane, live cattle, and pork bellies exhibit mean-reversion in the interest-adjusted basis.
Social Polarisation, Economic Restructuring and Welfare State Regimes

The central argument of this paper is that it is misconceived to view social polarisation of occupational structure and incomes in global cities as either inevitable or as a direct product of economic restructuring. It is argued that this neglects the key role of different welfare state structures which can and do influence both occupational and income structures independently of the processes of economic restructuring. The form and extent of polarisation in different cities are likely to reflect the nature and form of welfare state regimes in different countries as well as the form of economic restructuring and other factors such as the scale of immigration. Evidence from London suggests that growing income polarisation is accompanied by a professionalisation of the occupational structure.
Modulation of tissue ingrowth into porous high-density polyethylene implants with basic fibroblast growth factor and autologous blood clot.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of direct application of biologic materials normally present in wounds (basic fibroblast growth factor [bFGF] and autologous blood clot [ABC]) to accelerate the bony and soft tissue ingrowth into porous high-density polyethylene implants. METHODS We conducted a prospective, blinded animal histological study. Disks made of porous high-density polyethylene impregnated with bFGF or ABC were implanted into adult Sprague-Dawley rats in both subcutaneous and subperiosteal locations. Animals were killed and implants were harvested at 2, 4, and 10 weeks postimplantation and examined histologically for fibroblast invasion, collagen deposition, and inflammatory reaction.The results were compared with control (untreated) implants. RESULTS As a group, the histological results showed significantly more fibroblasts within the ABC-treated implants than control implants or bFGF-treated implants. This difference in the number of fibroblasts between ABC-treated implants and bFGF-treated and control implants was also statistically significant 2 weeks after implantation. CONCLUSIONS At the concentration of bFGF of 1 microg/10 microL, no acceleration of tissue ingrowth into porous high-density polyethylene implants was noted. However, when porous high-density polyethylene implants were treated with ABC, the implants were invaded to a greater degree by soft tissue, particularly in the early postoperative period (first 2 weeks). Bioactive substances associated with the coagulation and platelet cascades present in the ABC may be responsible for this accelerated incorporation of the porous implant and may have clinical implications. Arch Facial Plast Surg. 2000;2:27-33