Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Corporate Diversification Retrench the Effects of Firm-Level Political Risk?

This study investigates the effects of firm-level political risk on corporate investments and operating efficiencies for industrially diversified and focused firms. Using firm-level political risk data from Hassan et al.(2019), we document that both political risk and diversification lead to reduced corporate investments and profitability. However, diversified firms are better able than focused firms in mitigating idiosyncratic political risk. We provide extensive evidence that diversified firms accomplish this feat via efficient use of the internal capital market that allows segments to alleviate the adverse effects of political uncertainty. Diversification increases investment relative to focused firms during the period of high economic uncertainties. When exposed to political risk, diversified firms do not spend more on lobbying and political donations than the focused firms in the subsequent period, implying that diversified firms do not manage political risk politically. Our main findings are robust to a battery of endogeneity tests and sensitivity measures.
Who Takes the Ecb's Targeted Funding?

This paper investigates motives of banks to borrow funds from the ECB through its first two series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) allotted between September 2014 and March 2017. We quantify that the top-three parameters that determine banks’ take-up decisions are the price of the operation, the amount of eligible collateral of the bank, and the composition of that collateral. In particular, the opportunity for banks to transform their less liquid assets partly into liquid central bank reserves by pledging these assets as collateral with the central bank is a strong motive for take-up and suggests that accepting a broad set of collateral was important for the monetary easing provided by TLTROs. In addition, we find that the conditions attached to TLTRO participation and take-up played an important role in creating broad-based participation across banks of different financial strength and size.
The Reserve Supply Channel of Unconventional Monetary Policy

We show that bank reserves created by Quantitative Easing crowd out bank lending. We do so by using a structural model of unconventional monetary policy transmission through bank balance sheets. First, we estimate a demand system at the bank branch level that quantifies the degree of competition banks face. Then, we quantify the cost synergies banks face, in which the marginal costs of issuing deposits, mortgages, and corporate loans and of holding liquid securities depend upon the entire composition of banks' balance sheets. We exploit cross-sectional demand-side instruments, the network of bank branch locations, and new econometric techniques when estimating both sides of the model. We find that the demand for bank deposits is considerably less elastic than the demand for mortgages and that holding bank reserves raises banks' cost of providing loans and mortgages. Counterfactual estimates show that a $4.76 trillion supply of bank reserves crowds out bank lending by $555.9 billion, and has a modest impact on deposit and mortgage quantities.
One Money, Many Markets: Monetary Transmission and Housing Financing in the Euro Area

We study the transmission of monetary shocks across euro-area countries using a dynamic factor model and high-frequency identification. We develop a methodology to assess the degree of heterogeneity, which we find to be low in financial variables and output, but significant in consumption, consumer prices, and variables related to local housing and labor markets. Building a small open economy model featuring a housing sector and calibrating it to Spain, we show that varying the share of adjustable-rate mortgages and loan-to-value ratios explains up to one-third of the cross-country heterogeneity in the responses of output and private consumption.
The Implications of Accounting Distortions and Growth for Accruals and Profitability

Following Sloan (1996), numerous studies show that the accrual component of earnings is less persistent than the cash flow component of earnings. Disagreement exists, however, as to the explanation for this result. Xie (2001) attributes the result to managerial discretion. Fairfield et al. (2003a) argue that it is a special case of a more general growth anomaly that is attributable to the widespread use of conservative accounting methods and/or diminishing marginal returns to new investment. Finally, Dechow and Dichev (2002) and Richardson et al. (2004) argue that it is attributable to transitory accrual estimation error. In this paper, we provide theory and evidence to discriminate between these alternative explanations. Our analysis suggests that transitory accrual estimation error provides the most consistent explanation for the lower persistence of the accrual component of earnings. Further, our results suggest the accrual estimation error is at least partially attributable to managerial discretion.
High-Frequency Trading (HFT) in the Stock Market and the Costs of Option Market Making

Based on granular NASDAQ HFT data, we find that HFT activity in the stock market increases market-making costs in the options markets via two channels: the hedging channel and the arbitrage channel. HFTs' liquidity-demanding orders increase the hedging costs due to a higher stock bid-ask spread and a higher price impact for larger hedging demand. The arbitrage channel subjects the option market maker to the risk of trading at stale prices. We show that the hedging (arbitrage) channel is dominant for ATM (ITM) options. Our results highlight the necessity to better understand the costs/risks due to HFT on option markets.
The Core, the Periphery, and the Disaster: Corporate-Sovereign Nexus in COVID-19 Times

We show that the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a surge in the elasticity of non-financial corporate to sovereign credit default swaps in core EU countries, characterized by strong fiscal capacity. For peripheral countries with lower budgetary slackness, the pandemic had essentially no impact on such elasticity. This evidence is consistent with the disaster-induced repricing of government support, which we model through a rare-disaster asset pricing framework with bailout guarantees and defaultable public debt. The model implies that risk-adjusted guarantees in the core were 2.6 times those in the periphery, suggesting that fiscal capacity buffers provide relief to firms’ financing costs.
Efficacy and safety of polyethylene glycol dural sealant system in cranial and spinal neurosurgical procedures: Meta-analysis

Background: We aimed to assess the efficacy of polyethylene glycol (PEG) dura sealant to achieve watertight closure, prevention of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak and to investigate its possible side effects. Methods: We searched Medline (through PubMed), Scopus, and the Cochrane Library through December 2019. We included articles demonstrating cranial or spinal procedures with the use of PEG material as a dural sealant. Data on intraoperative watertight closure, CSF leak, and surgical complications were extracted and pooled in a meta-analysis model using RevMan version 5.3 and OpenMeta (Analyst). Results: Pooling the controlled trials showed that PEG resulted in significantly more intraoperative watertight closures than standard care (risk ratio [RR] = 1.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.24, 1.66]). However, the combined effect estimate did not reveal any significant difference between both groups in terms of CSF leaks, the incidence of surgical site infections, and neurological deficits (P = 0.7, 0.45, and 0.92, respectively). On the other hand, pooling both controlled and noncontrolled trials showed significance in terms of leak and neurological complications (RR = 0.0238, 95% CI [0.0102, 0.0373] and RR = 0.035, 95% CI [0.018, 0.052]). Regarding intraoperative watertight closure, the overall effect estimate showed no significant results (RR=0.994, 95% CI [0.986, 1.002]). Conclusion: Dura seal material is an acceptable adjuvant for dural closure when the integrity of the dura is questionable. However, marketing it as a factor for the prevention of surgical site infection is not scientifically proved. We suggest that, for neurosurgeons, using the dural sealants are highly recommended for duraplasty, skull base approaches, and in keyhole approaches.
Measuring the Cost of Equity of Euro Area Banks

The cost of equity for banks equates to the compensation that market participants demand for investing in and holding banks’ equity, and has important implications for the transmission of monetary policy and for financial stability. Notwithstanding its importance, the cost of equity is unobservable and therefore needs to be estimated. This occasional paper provides estimates of the cost of equity for listed and unlisted euro area banks using a three-step methodology. In the first step, ten different models are estimated. In the second step, the models’ results are combined applying an equal-weighting procedure. In the third step, the combined costs of equity for individual banks are aggregated at the euro area level and according to banks’ business models. The results suggest that, since the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-08, the premia that investors demand to compensate them for the risk they bear when financing banks’ equity has been persistently higher than the return on equity (ROE) generated by banks. We show that our estimates of cost of equity have plausible relationships to banks’ fundamentals. The cost of equity tends to be higher for banks that are riskier (higher non-performing loan ratios), less efficient (higher cost-to-income ratio), and with more unstable funding sources (higher relative reliance on interbank deposits). Finally, we use bank fundamentals to estimate the cost of equity for unlisted banks. In general, unlisted banks are found to have a somewhat lower cost of equity compared to listed banks, with business model characteristics accounting for part of the estimated difference. JEL Classification: G20, G21, E44, G1
Commitment to Debt Repayment: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

This paper documents extensive commitment to mandatory debt repayment. In a natural experiment in which households can apply for free mortgage-payment flexibility for one to twelve months, 43 percent of applicants choose a dominated option of short flexibility. I argue that short flexibility fulfills a desire for partial commitment due to self-control problems because (i) applying for short flexibility correlates with other commitment strategies to increase savings and (ii) consumption drops discontinuously at the predictable end of flexibility. This desire for commitment can reduce the potency of debt-forbearance offers in recessions and contribute to asset illiquidity.
CEO Pay Ratio Estimation under Social Pressure

We show that firms report lower CEO-employee pay ratios when they use complex methods to identify the median employee, whose total pay is the denominator in the ratio. Firms choose complex methods when their headquarter states have stronger prosocial attitudes toward income equality and when CEO compensation is higher. Neither industry nor compensation design differences explain this choice. We find no evidence that firms make pay changes to reduce the pay differential between CEOs and general employees. Together, our results suggest that some firms strategically estimate pay ratios in response to social pressure, which alters the efficacy of compensation disclosure.
Ad Fraud Under the Vertical Contract Structure

Ad fraud has serious consequences for brands. However, only limited theoretical works have addressed this topic, and empirical research is scarce. In this paper, we examine ad fraud behavior at different levels of vertical contractual structure. Using two unique data sets separately containing click fraud information for agents and publishers, we examine the difference in ad fraud scale and strategy between upstream agents and downstream publishers. The findings reveal that upstream agents are more sophisticated players than downstream publishers when committing ad fraud. Agents’ ad fraud rate shows decreasing effects on the size of the campaign, while publishers’ fraud rate is uncorrelated with their ability to attract authentic traffic. In terms of strategy, while publishers adopt a relatively uniform strategy and seem to be myopic, agents are more sophisticated and show clear patterns of forward-looking behavior. We speculate that different market environments and incentives drive these differences.
Refugee Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Review of Prior Research and Agenda for Future Research

In recent years, the refugee crisis has emerged as a grand societal challenge with a host of economic, social, and political implications. As of 2020 there were around 26 million people registered with the UNHCR as refugees. While refugees are considered by some to be a burden on their host countries, there is growing evidence that they make significant contributions to the economies of their host countries, with rates of entrepreneurship higher than other migrant groups and host country nationals. To take stock of what we know about refugee entrepreneurship, this article undertakes a systematic review of the literature. The systematic review provides insights on themes regarding facilitators and barriers to refugees’ entry into entrepreneurship, as well as identifying gaps in our extant knowledge. Based on these gaps, a future research agenda is proposed which targets empirical and theoretical advancement of the field of refugee entrepreneurship.
Medical Flossing and the Pilates Method: Their Effectiveness on the Strength, Endurance, and Functionality of Healthy Individuals

The flossing method is an emerging therapeutic intervention based on the use of a floss-band that is circumnavigated at the various points of the body being treated. It is optimally combined with an appropriate exercise program to induce ischemia and release the fascia by applying pressure and movement to functional models. The Pilates method teaches the person to focus on the muscles, especially those responsible for the correct posture. It also helps the individual to become aware of the way he/she breathes. Both methods have positive effects on exercise and rehabilitation. However, medical flossing has not been as well researched as the Pilates method. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of both methods on the strength, endurance, and functionality of healthy individuals. A review of the literature on medical flossing and Pilates was conducted. A systematic research took place from 2014 to 2019. Publications in non-English or non-Greek language were excluded. The articles were retrieved from not only PubMed, Scielo, and Elsevier databases, but also Google Scholar. Both methods are understudied in relation to their effectiveness on the strength, endurance, and functionality of healthy individuals. More studies are required to estimate the effects of both methods on healthy individuals.
Preparation, Thermal Degradation, and Fire Behaviors of Intumescent Flame Retardant Polypropylene with a Charring Agent Containing Pentaerythritol and Triazine

A macromolecular charring agent named as PEPADC was synthesized by using cyanuric chloride, 2,6,7-trioxa-l-phosphabicyclo[2.2. 2]octane-4-methanol (PEPA), and diethylenetriamine and used to prepare intumescent flame retardant polypropylene (IFR-PP) containing ammonium polyphosphate (APP). The effect of flame retardant compound on thermal degradation, flame retardancy, and fire behavior properties of a IFR-PP system has been investigated. The results suggested that the max thermal degradation temperature (Tmax) as well as char residue at 700 °C increased with IFR loading. The highest LOI value of IFR-PP is 35.5, while the IFR loading is 30 wt % and the weight ratio of APP to PEPADC is 4:1. Meanwhile, the IFR-PPs can pass UL-94 V-0 when the weight ratio of APP to PEPADC is between 1:2 and 5:1. Cone calorimetry results indicated that IFR-PPs exhibited much lower heat release rate (HRR), total heat release (THR), specific extinction area (SEA), and total smoke production (TSP) than the neat PP.
Transparency Regulation and Stock Price Informativeness: Evidence From the European Union’s Transparency Directive

We examine changes in stock price informativeness following the European Union’s Transparency Directive (TPD). The TPD, implemented by country between 2007 and 2009, enhanced corporate transparency through mandating regular firm financial disclosures and the dissemination of financial reports. Using stock return synchronicity as a proxy for stock price informativeness, we find that price informativeness improved following implementation of the TPD. This improvement was more pronounced in countries with strong regulatory environments than those with weak regulatory environments. We also examine a later amendment to the TPD that eliminated the requirement of quarterly financial disclosures and document an increase in stock return synchronicity following the amendment, suggesting that it may have been premature from the standpoint of public information flow. Our findings support prior research suggesting that transparency regulations improve financial information. <br><br>https://doi.org/10.2308/jiar-52383
Human Capitalists

The widespread and growing use of equity-based compensation has transformed high-skilled labor from a pure labor input to a class of ``human capitalists. '' We show that high-skilled labor earns substantial income in the form of equity claims to firms' future dividends and capital gains. Equity-based compensation has increased substantially since the 1980s, representing thirty-six percent of total compensation to high-skilled labor in US manufacturing in recent years. Ignoring equity income causes incorrect measurement of the returns to high-skilled labor, with substantial effects on macroeconomic trends. In manufacturing, the inclusion of equity-based compensation almost eliminates the decline in the high-skilled labor share, and reduces the total decline in the labor share by about one-third. Only by including equity pay does our structural estimation support complementarity between high-skilled labor and physical capital greater than that of Cobb-Douglas (1928). We also provide additional regression evidence of such complementarity.
Effectiveness of the game-based learning over traditional teaching–learning strategy to instruct pharmacology for Phase II medical students

BACKGROUND: Game-based education is fast becoming an innovative teaching approach in the field of medical education. Traditional review sessions (tutorials) are mainly focused on instructor-based learning and they help to review concepts previously taught in the lecture class. The primary objective was to evaluate the cognitive learning of students in game based learning (GBL) as compared to the conventional review sessions. The secondary objectives were to assess the perception and feedback of students regarding GBL and conventional review sessions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An interventional GBL study was designed for 2nd year MBBS students. The enrolled students were randomly assigned to either tutorial (Group A) or GBL (Group B), and informed consent was obtained. Group B students were further divided into smaller groups, and for Group A, the traditional tutorial method was followed. For both the groups, a multiple choice question (MCQ) pre-test and post-test was conducted on the selected topics. A total of 15 MCQs with gradually increasing difficulty were used in the GBL. For each group of students, one student would be on hot seat by answering the questions and then continued the game. Lifelines were provided. RESULTS: From the pretest and posttest scores, students performed better in Group B (39.53%) than Group A (18.43%) with respect to the knowledge score, and the difference was statistically significant. Students’ perception and feedback regarding GBL were very enthusiastic and promising than the tutorial group. Largely, students commented that GBL was unique, active participation, fun, and novel learning style. CONCLUSIONS: GBL is a student-centered learning and showed more effective than the traditional tutorials in understanding the topic and was more enjoyable by students.
Clinical Variants, Characteristics, and Outcomes Among COVID-19 Patients: A Case Series Analysis at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global threat to public health. The current study investigates alterations in the biological estimates concerning the severity, recovery, mortality, and assessment of treatment-based outcomes. Methods A case series of 165 COVID-19 patients admitted to OMI Institute (a tertiary care hospital) was conducted between May and August 2020. The data regarding demographic characteristics, comorbid conditions, radiographic abnormalities, biological estimations, symptoms, treatment, disease progression, complications, and outcomes were recorded using a structured questionnaire. Laboratory estimations included complete blood count (CBC), renal and electrolyte profile, liver function tests (LFTs), hematological indices, and inflammatory markers. Chest X-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG), and a high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scan were also performed, and data were extracted from the medical records. Analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Results Out of the 165 COVID-19 patients, 79.4% recovered and were successfully discharged, while 20.6% of inpatient died. The patients' mean age was 56.03 ± 15.96 years, with a male majority (55.1%). The most common comorbid conditions were diabetes and hypertension; fever and dry cough were among the most frequently reported symptoms. The chest imaging findings among the severe/critical COVID-19 patients showed extensive bilateral patchy opacities. The median laboratory investigations, including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (14.83), C-reactive protein (CRP) (7.4 mg/dl), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (786 IU/L), ferritin (1401.15 mcg/ml), and mean oxygen saturation (88.25%), were significantly altered among cases with increased disease severity and those who expired (p<0.05). The proportion of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and sepsis development was significantly high among severe/critical COVID-19 patients (p<0.05). Treatment with tocilizumab, remdesivir, doxycycline, ivermectin, enoxaparin sodium, and steroids was deemed to be potentially effective treatment options in terms of reducing COVID-19 severity and chances of recovery. Furthermore, age (OR 1.05; p=0.047), presence of comorbidity (OR 8.471; p=0.004), high NLR, LDH (final outcome) (OR 1.361 and 1.018; p<0.05), and CRP levels (midpoint) (OR 1.631; p=0.05) were identified as the strong predictors of death among COVID-19 patients. Conclusion The study identified several alterations in the clinical profile of the COVID-19 patients concerning severity during the hospital stay, affecting prognosis. Clinically, tocilizumab, remdesivir, doxycycline, ivermectin, enoxaparin sodium, and steroids were identified as potential therapeutic options for COVID-19 due to their ability to alter disease-associated severity and recovery rate.