Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
More environmental quality or not?: the determinants of individuals' attitudes towards preventing environmental damage

Although there are some studies investigating environmental preferences, it is difficult to find papers related to a country and its regions or its development over time are still largely lacking. This paper therefore aims at reducing such shortcomings, and analyzes the willingness to accept tax increases in order to protect the environment in Spain and its regions for the periods 1990, 1995 and 1999/2000, with data from the World Values Surveys and the European Values Surveys. The results indicate strong regional differences and strong differences between the first and the second half of the 90s. This paper also shows the relevance of strongly neglected variables such as political interest and social capital.
Initiative for Infrastructure Integration in South America: Way Toward Regional Convergence

This paper studies how the public provision of transportation infrastructure impact output convergence and trade integration in a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model in which the transportation cost between countries is endogenously determined by the stock of public infrastructure in both countries. Because of its particular conception, the so-called "Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA)" serves as the case study. Data from Argentina and Brazil is thus used to solve the model. Two main results emerge. First, increasing public investment in infrastructure provides an impetus to commercial integration but does not necessarily generate output convergence. Second, the model shows that the only way for the two countries to achieve output convergence (in a win-win economic growth scenario) is to coordinate their increments on public infrastructure, as proposed by IIRSA.
Trimming and clustering sugarcane ESTs

The original clustering procedure adopted in the Sugarcane Expressed Sequence Tag project (SUCEST) had many problems, for instance too many clusters, the presence of ribosomal sequences, etc. We therefore redesigned the clustering procedure entirely, including a much more careful initial trimming of the reads. In this paper the new trimming and clustering strategies are described in detail and we give the new official figures for the project, 237,954 expressed sequence tags and 43,141 clusters.
Non-bank Loans, Corporate Investment and Firm Performance

In the leveraged loan sector, firms borrowing from non-banks have worse profitability and lower investments following loan origination, compared to observably similar firms borrowing from banks; the negative effects are concentrated in the subset of financially-constrained firms. Our results are consistent with the view that non-banks extract rents from borrowers as the lenders of last resort. The leveraged lending guidance, which resulted in the migration of borrowers from banks to non-banks, led to worse outcomes for the leveraged borrowers, complementing our cross-sectional analysis. Our findings suggest that macroprudential policies which exclusively target the traditional banking sector can have negative consequences.
Director Liability Protection and the Quality of Outside Directors

We investigate how state Universal Demand statutes (UD) that lower director liability in derivative lawsuits affect recruitment and retention of outside directors. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we document improvements in outside director experience following UD adoptions, especially for firms facing greater litigation risk or smaller local supplies of director candidates. UD adoptions also make high-quality director candidates from non-UD states firms more willing to join boards at firms incorporated in UD states. We find some limited evidence that UD adoptions help attract outside director candidates with better educational and professional backgrounds, and reduce voluntary departures of high-quality directors.
O Justice, Where Art Thou? Developing a New Take on Climate Justice

Since the beginning of the political debates in the 1980s, questions of justice have been at the core of the quest to find a political solution to global climate change. The literature has thus far identified a number of key justice dilemmas, central questions and justice principles. However, apart from a few exceptions in the ‘non-ideal theory’ strand, the majority of scholars has focused on the philosophical and theoretical level, making it difficult to transfer their ideas to the actual political struggles on the ground. The aim of this working paper is thus a twofold one. Firstly, it maps and discusses the most influential climate justice positions that the literature has developed so far. Secondly, it introduces three conceptions of justice, namely non-domination, impartiality, and mutual recognition, that are more attuned to the political struggles around climate change. The main objective is to discuss how they relate to the existing climate justice positions and to sketch out new ways of thinking about climate justice that allow us to critically examine the policies and behaviour of key actors in the international negotiations on climate change.
Consumer Behavior Using an Agent Based Model: Analyzing 4 Theories

This paper seeks to find a way to study and compare theories that analyze consumer decision making from different approaches, using data from Mexico, to detect the factors that determine the patterns of consumption found in the data. Four consumer behavior theories are studied separately: Utility function Cobb and Douglas (1928), Hierarchy of human needs Maslow (1943), Priority approach Chavez-Juarez et al. (2018) and Consumption values (Sheth et al., 1991) and then compare them with each other. To interact all approaches, I used computational models (microsimulation), interpreting each theory in programming algorithms in order to analyze all the theories in a single model. The data resulted from simulations of the Agent-Based Model showed that each approach explains different segments of the population differently, which in terms of public policies means understanding which of many factors should be analyzed to study specific segments of the whole population.
How Creditable are Cancer Risk Estimates from the S.W. Taiwan Database for Arsenic in Drinking Water?

Abstract A database of cancer mortality and arsenic concentrations in village wells in an arseniasis-endemic area of southwestern Taiwan has been the predominant source of information for risk assessments of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and two National Research Council reports on arsenic and drinking water. A limitation of the data, however, is that exposure is ecological, that is, cancer mortality cannot be matched with arsenic exposure on an individual basis, just grouped by village. The resultant potential for bias is examined by comparing dose-response analyses of villages divided into two groups, those with well concentrations in a narrow range and the remainder. The narrow range group suggests a flat or downward change in risk in the low dose range, whereas the other group indicates increasing risk. More disturbingly, however, the dose-response data are highly dispersed for both groups and the dose-response curve predicts background bladder/lung cancer levels much higher than a southwestern Taiwan comparison population. This may be due to a large variability between villages of the study area in bladder/lung cancer not directly attributable to arsenic. Including the comparison population in the dose-response analysis artificially anchors the dose-response curve at a background level inconsistent with the study population and likely just biases the slope factor upward.
When are Enhanced Relationship Tax Compliance Programs Mutually Beneficial?

This study investigates the circumstances under which "enhanced relationship" tax compliance programs are mutually beneficial to taxpayers and tax authorities, as well as how these benefits are shared. We develop a model of tax authority and taxpayer behavior inside and outside of an enhanced relationship program. Our model suggests that, despite the adversarial nature of the relationship, an enhanced relationship program is mutually beneficial in many settings. The benefits are due to lower audit costs and the effect of taxpayer disclosures on the tax authority's audit strategy. We also identify settings in which the program is socially beneficial, but these benefits are not achieved because one party is unwilling to enter the program. Finally, we show that an increase in the ability of the tax authority to identify uncertain tax positions makes an enhanced relationship tax compliance program more attractive to both the taxpayer and the tax authority.
Annual Report 2008-09

The Productivity Commission’s latest Annual Report assesses some policy implications of the global financial crisis and associated economic downturn. As a result of the global financial crisis, world production and employment contracted dramatically from late 2008. Australia did not experience as severe a contraction as other countries, in part because Australia’s financial sector remained comparatively resilient. There has been broad international agreement on the need for coordinated macroeconomic policies to help reverse the dramatic declines in world production and output. Measures to stimulate economic activity and support financial markets have been the most immediate policy responses by governments and central banks. While there has been some increase in protection over the past year, there has not been widespread resort to protectionist measures. Some features of the modern trade environment make an outbreak of protection less likely than in previous economic downturns. In particular, existing multilateral trade rules provide a brake against an increase in protection. Further, the highly integrated nature of modern production and trade means that protectionist measures are likely to impose higher domestic costs (particularly on business) and hence face greater domestic resistance. Nonetheless, there remains a risk of such an outbreak, which deserves attention given the significant damage that would result from higher protection.
Has the Structural Break Slowed Down Growth Rates of Stock Markets?

In this paper, we use the common structural break test suggested by Bai et al. (1998) to test for a common structural break in the stock prices of the US, the UK, and Japan. On the basis of the structural break, we divide each country‟s stock price series into sub-samples and investigate whether or not the structural break had slowed down the growth of stock markets. Our main findings are that when stock markets are modeled in a trivariate sense the common structural break turns out to be 1990:02, with the confidence interval including several episodes, such as the asset price bubble when housing prices and stock prices in Japan reached a peak in 1988/1989, the early 1990s recession in the UK, the business cycle peak of July 1990, the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the March 1991 business cycle trough. Annual average growth rates suggest that the structural break has slowed down the growth rate of the US, UK and Japanese stock markets.
Performance and Closed–End Funds Discounts. A Comparative Study of UK Investment Trusts and US Closed-End Funds.

This article focuses on the importance of the traditional theories for the existence of the discount in relation to agency costs namely management performance. The argument that discounts reflect the quality of the management has been investigated in the past but the results were inconclusive. However, in these studies managerial performance is defined as the raw return on the fund’s NAV ((Grinlatt and Titman (1992), Elton, Gruber, Das and Hlavka (1993), and Elton, Gruber, and Blake (1996a)), whereas I measure the manager’s quality after adjusting for various anomalies documented in the Finance literature. Three methodologies will be applied. Fama and French (1993), three factor model, Ferson and Schadt (1996), conditional performance model and finally Carhart (1997), performance persistence theory. The results contradict Gruber’s (1996) evidence of managerial performance persistence in the US mutual fund industry. We find no performance persistence in the UK closed-end fund market. We take into account the fact that closed-end fund managers trade on public information and follow dynamic trading strategies. So we will test if conditioning information predicts changes in discounts performance than constant expected returns. The problem of measuring the performance of managed portfolios has been the subject of research for more than 30 years. Traditional measures use unconditional expected returns, estimated by sample averages, as the baseline. However, if expected returns and risks vary over time, this may confuse common time-variation in fund risk and market risk premiums with average performance. In this way, traditional methods can ascribe abnormal performance to an investment strategy that trades mechanically, based only on public information. <br><br>Conditional performance evaluation attempts to control these biases, while delivering potentially more powerful performance measures. In this article, I will review the main models for performance evaluation, and includes a summary of the empirical research.
Robust Portfolio Choice and Consumption with Derivative Trading Under Stochastic Volatility and Jumps

This paper analyzes the optimal consumption and portfolio choice problem for an ambiguity averse investor who has access to the stock and derivatives markets with recursive preferences. The stock process follows a stochastic volatility jump-diffusion model and the investor can have different levels of ambiguity about diffusion risks and the jump risk, respectively. We obtain an analytical solution which is exact when the investor has unit elasticity of intertemporal substitution of consumption, and approximate otherwise. We find that optimal exposures to diffusion risks and to the jump risk are significantly affected by the ambiguity aversion about the corresponding risk factors in the complete market. However, the optimal stock investment is insensitive to the ambiguity aversion about the jump risk in the incomplete market. We also find that considering ambiguity aversion with respect to diffusion risks and participating in the derivatives markets are essential to reduce the potential welfare loss, while the impact of ignoring the jump ambiguity is negligible.
Sapindaceae and the Biogeography of Eastern Australia

The biogeographic relations within eastern Australia and of this region to surrounding areas in New Guinea, West Malesia and the western Pacific are analysed using eight monophyletic groups of Sapindaceae. The results show that areas within eastern Australia are related (Cape York (Atherton Plateau + South East Queensland)), confirming similar results obtained by previous authors. The relationship between eastern Australia and surrounding areas is shown to be complex, involving both vicariance and dispersal events. There are at least two patterns connecting Australia to the West Pacific: an old vicariance (or dispersal) pattern involving the eastern end of the Inner Melanesian Arc and a more recent dispersal pattern via New Guinea involving the Outer Melanesian Are. West Malesia is also probably connected to eastern Australia by numerous dispersal events via New Guinea. At least two patterns relate eastern Australia to New Guinea: an old vicariance pattern and a younger dispersal pattern from New Guinea back to Australia. These results are compared briefly with those obtained in earlier studies.
Change in translucency of squid mantle muscle upon storage.

: Change in the translucency of squid mantle muscle during itsstorage at 0°C was studied by monitoring L* valueand turbidity. Two indicators showed that squid mantle muscle lostits translucency and reached maximal turbidity within 24 hof storage. Thickness of mantle muscle also increased by 15% in12 h, earlier than the loss of translucency. ATP contentdecreased with storage time and was completely lost in almost 24 h,a similar period to translucency loss, but later than rigor contraction.Development of black color on skin surface by chromatophores wasfully achieved in 24 h. It was thus concluded that ATPcontent was well correlated with a loss of translucency or increasein the turbidity of mantle muscle and development of dark coloron the surface skin of mantle.
Effect of seed bed preparation, soil structure and release time on the toxicity of a range of grassland pesticides to the carabid beetle Pterostichus melanarius (Ill.) (Col., Carabidae) using a microplot technique

The effect of seed bed preparation, soil structure and release time on the toxicity of a range of pesticides with a current or possible future use on grassland to the carabid beetle Pterostichus melanarius were investigated using a microplot technique. All pesticides were used at their recommended field rates. When applied to a fine tilth seed bed with a mean soil aggregate size of 2 mm and beetles introduced immediately after spraying, chlorpyrifos applied as a spray was significantly more toxic than fonofos granules, fonofos treated seed or the fungicide drazoxolon, none of which differed from the control. In a similar experiment chlorpyrifos granules were less toxic than a chlorpyrifos spray but more toxic than the other treatments. When beetles were introduced into microplots sprayed with chlorpyrifos on to a fine tilth seed bed 48 h before spraying and immediately or 24 h after spraying, mortality was always significantly greater than the control, ranging from 74 to 98%. However, when chlorpyrifos was sprayed on to seed beds with either a small (2 mm), medium (1.5 cm) or large (4 cm) mean soil aggregate size, mortality after 10 days was 94, 62 and 28% respectively, the latter value not differing from the control. In all experiments there was a high total recovery of beetles at the end of the experiment, there was no evidence of cannibalism among the beetles and mortality was consistently low in control plots. It is concluded that soil surface structure is an important influence on the toxicity of pesticides to carabid beetles in a microplot environment. If seed beds are prepared to represent normal cultivation, the microplot can provide a rapid screen of different chemicals, formulations or dose rates under field conditions and in a limited space.
Did Securitization Lead to Lax Screening? Evidence from Subprime Loans

A central question surrounding the current subprime crisis is whether the securitization process reduced the incentives of financial intermediaries to carefully screen borrowers. We empirically examine this issue using a unique dataset on securitized subprime mortgage loan contracts in the United States. We exploit a specific rule of thumb in the lending market to generate exogenous variation in the ease of securitization and compare the composition and performance of lenders' portfolios around the ad-hoc threshold. Conditional on being securitized, the portfolio that is more likely to be securitized defaults by around 10-25% more than a similar risk profile group with a lower probability of securitization. We conduct additional analyses to rule out selection on the part of borrowers, lenders, or investors as alternative explanations. The results are confined to loans where intermediaries' screening effort may be relevant and soft information about borrowers determines their creditworthiness. Our findings suggest that existing securitization practices did adversely affect the screening incentives of lenders.
Ross Recovery in Pricing Semigroups

Ross recovery specifies conditions under which it is possible to recover the real-world probability measure as well as the pricing kernel from a family of pricing operators. In this paper, we study Ross recovery theoretically within a semigroup framework using Perron-Frobenius operator theory. Thereby, we derive sufficient conditions guaranteeing existence and uniqueness of a transition independent pricing kernel consistent with the pricing semigroup. Building on our theoretical results, we propose two empirical models --- on a discrete state space as well as on a continuous state space --- to estimate a pricing semigroup and the corresponding (Markov) transition semigroup from a sample of option prices.
Veblen Effects and Counter-Effects

This study quantifies heterogeneous wealth-signaling effects of prices with a quasiexperimental approach that addresses identification threats inherent to social interactions and supply factors while controlling for alternative social processes, unobserved consumption utility, and alternative effects of prices. The analysis capitalizes on a rich four-dimensional panel data on automobile rentals and reveals that the average product-specific elasticity of choice probability with respect to the relative wealth signaled by prices is negative and about a third as large as the elasticity with respect to rental fees. Wealth countersignaling is more common than signaling among travelers.
Corporate Governance and Firm Value: Evidence from Quoted Nonfinancial Firms in Nigeria

The crisis of confidence and credibility that marked the investment scene following the collapse of many companies around the world has increased public criticism of corporate governance practices. This paper used ex post facto research design to examine whether corporate governance mechanism accelerate firm market value. Data was extracted through content analysis from annual report of 93 non-financial firms listed on the Nigerian stock exchange from 2006 to 2015 base on availability of data. Data were analysed with pooled ordinary least square regression conducting diagnostic test to confirm the assumptions of the regression. Analysis revealed that: board size, board value. Board independence and board remuneration has insignificant negative effect on market value while auditors’ credibility has positive but insignificant effect on the threshold specified in the code of Corporate Governance for the private sector or code of governance for non-for-profit entities as the case may be so that monitoring cost associated with corporate with corporate governance will not exceed the overall benefit.
What You Don't Know Won't Hurt Me: Costly (But Quiet) Exit in a Dictator Game

We used simple economic games to examine pro-social behavior and the lengths that people will take in order to avoid engaging in it. Over two studies, we found that about one third of participants were willing to exit a $10 dictator game and take $9 instead. The exit option left the receiver nothing, but also ensured that the receiver never knew that a dictator game was to be played. Because most social utility models are defined over monetary outcomes, they cannot explain choosing the ($9, $0) exit outcome over the dominating $10 dictator game, since the game includes outcomes of ($10, $0) and ($9, $1). We also studied exiting using a private dictator game. In the private game, the receiver never knew about the game or from where any money was received. Gifts in this game were added innocuously to a payment for a separate task. Almost no dictators exited from the private game, indicating that receivers' beliefs are the key factor in the decision to exit. When, as in the private game, the receivers' beliefs and expectations cannot be manipulated by exit, exit is seldom taken. We conclude that giving often reflects a desire not to violate others' expectations rather than a concern for others' welfare per se. We discuss the implications of our results for understanding ethical decisions and for testing and modeling social preferences. An adequate specification of social preferences should include "psychological" payoffs that directly incorporate beliefs about actions into the utility function.