Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Bank Market Power on Economic Growth in Africa: The Role of Institution

We provide empirical investigations into the nexus between bank market power economic growth using nationalized bank data from 44 African countries from 2002 to 2015. The paper also explores how institutional quality factors influence the mechanisms through which banks with market power influence economic growth. Finally, the paper analyzed how the level of bank market power interact with sub-regional integration to induce economic growth across six sub-regions in Africa. We employed the first differences GMM model to achieve the above objectives. The results show that less competitive banking systems in Africa induce economic growth. In addition, institutional quality improvement induces positive economic growth and improves the degree at which bank market power affects economic growth. The influence of institutional quality on economic growth however vary depending on specific institutional factors even when we differentiated the effect of the level of bank market power. In West Africa, the competitive nature of the banking environment induces economic growth but the less competitive nature in the banking environment of the other sub-regions discourages economic growth. The results call for policy directions that improve economic and political institutions as well as the competitiveness of sub-regional banking environment.
Land of Addicts? An Empirical Investigation of Habit-Based Asset Pricing Behavior

This paper studies the ability of a general class of habit-based asset pricing models to match the conditional moment restrictions implied by asset pricing theory. We treat the functional form of the habit as unknown, and to estimate it along with the rest of the model's finite dimensional parameters. Using quarterly data on consumption growth, assets returns and instruments, our empirical results indicate that the estimated habit function is nonlinear, the habit formation is better described as internal rather than external, and the estimated time-preference parameter and the power utility parameter are sensible. In addition, the estimated habit function generates a positive stochastic discount factor (SDF) proxy and performs well in explaining cross-sectional stock return data . We find that an internal habit SDF proxy can explain a cross-section of size and book-market sorted portfolio equity returns better than (i) the Fama and French (1993) three-factor model, (ii) Lettau and Ludvigson (2001) scaled consumption CAPM model, (iii) an external habit SDF proxy, (iv) the classic CAPM, and (v) the classic consumption CAPM.
Improving Bargaining Power or Putting Safety First? Ownership Structure and the Effect of Labor Market Regulation on Leverage

While previous work suggests two competing explanations for the effect of labor market regulation on firms’ demand for debt, our results reconcile both the “strategic use of debt” and “financial flexibility” view. Exploiting staggered changes to labor laws in 28 OECD countries, we find that the average causal effect of employment protection on firm financial leverage is close to zero but hides much heterogeneity depending on firm ownership structure. We posit that a regulatory-induced increase in labor power (i) gives a firm a strategic incentive to raise more debt, but also (ii) increases operating leverage and the risk of financial distress that could encourage firms with poorly diversified blockholders to react with a more conservative financial policy compared to widely-held firms. Examining non-financial, non-utility listed firms over a 20-year period, we find that higher ownership concentration mitigates the positive effect of labor power on financial leverage, making the relationship less positive or more negative. This result does not seem to be driven by pretreatment differences among firms and is robust against a wide variety of tests. Our results highlight the importance of considering ownership structure in studying firms’ capital structure decisions.
Prices and Allocations in a Trading Market with Multi-Dimensional Signals

There is a continuum of agents, each of whom trades a divisible asset via demand function competition. Individual valuations are determined by multiple idiosyncratic and common shocks, regarding which the agent observes multi-dimensional signals. The only assumptions are that the signals are normally and symmetrically distributed. We introduce two measures to quantify the distance between an outcome of the demand function competition game and the first-best outcome: the allocative distortion and the price distortion. We say that an equilibrium is “price-quantity efficient” if no outcome of the demand function competition game generates lower allocative and price distortions. We give three results about this economy. First, an equilibrium exists. Second, we give “lax” sufficient conditions (that is, an agent learns about different payoff shocks from different signals) so that every Nash equilibrium is price-quantity efficient. Third, every price-quantity efficient outcome can be implemented by setting an appropriate capital gains tax; because this tax reduces agents’ incentives to speculate on the asset’s price, it decreases the allocative distortion but increases the price distortion.
How Negative Interest Rates Affect the Risk-Taking of Individual Investors: Experimental Evidence

Abstract Since the financial crisis of 2008, risk-free interest rates are at historical lows and even turned negative in some developed countries. We study experimentally how such changes in the interest rate regime affect the risk-taking of individual investors. Keeping the risk premium constant, we find that a reduction in the interest rate does not affect risk-taking in general. Risk-taking only increases significantly if the interest rate falls below zero. These findings are in line with value functions that are highly return sensitive around zero.
Nestbox Use and Reproductive Parameters of Tree Sparrows Passer montanus: Are They Affected by the Presence of Old Nests?

Abstract. There is a controversy over the effects of old nest reuse on the breeding biology of hole nesters. Some authors have shown that the presence of old nest material could increase ectoparasite pressure and/or reduce cavity size, whereas others argue that it could facilitate nest-building and serve as an informative cue for breeding birds. However, the possible functions of old nests may not be limited to the reproductive period in burds that perform autumnal courtship or use nest cavities as shelters during the winter season, as is the case with the Tree Sparrow. The importance of the presence of old nest material on nest box choice during the non-breeding period and its implications on the subsequent breeding performance of this multi-brood species are assessed. Occupancy rates and reproductive parameters (such as phenology, clutch size, nestling condition, breeding success) were compared between woodcrete and wooden nest boxes with and without old nest material inside. During the non-breeding period no effect of box type or its content on nest box selection was discovered, but in spring it was found that the strong preference of birds for breeding in woodcrete nest boxes was independent of the presence of old nests. In relation to this latter point, evidence was found that old nest reuse could negatively affect the reproductive output of Tree Sparrows: clutches were laid later, nestlings had longer wings (which presumably fledged earlier) and reproductive success was lower in nest boxes containing old nest material. The results of this study suggest that, taking the non-breeding and breeding seasons as a whole, the accumulation of old nest material seems to be detrimental rather than advantageous to this species.
On the Cyclical Behavior of Fiscal Policy in Egypt

Optimal fiscal policy is expected to behave in a countercyclical manner to stabilize economies during business cycles. In particular, the public expenditure-to-GDP ratio should go up during recessions and down during expansions, while the public revenues-to-GDP ratio should move in the opposite direction. As a result, the budget deficit-to-GDP ratio should rise during recessions and decline during expansions. While this behavior of fiscal policy is common in most developed countries, the situation is different in developing nations where, due to several financial and institutional factors, a procyclical policy is more common. Using a time series dataset for the Egyptian economy during the period (1981/1982-2013/2014), this study provides empirical evidence that Egypt has not been able to conduct a countercyclical fiscal policy. In addition, the analysis provided by this study indicates that while several financial and credit factors might contribute to this behavior of fiscal policy in Egypt, the institutional and political economy factors seem to have the dominant role in this regard.
Large Blockholders and Stock Price Crash Risk

This paper examines the relationship between large blockholders and stock price crash risk for the entire population of non-financial companies listed on the Swiss Exchange for the period 2003-2016. The results show that firms held by a large blockholder have a lower firm-specific crash risk than widely held firms, and the higher the proportion of voting rights, the lower the crash risk. These findings hold after taking into consideration several firm characteristics and potential endogeneity concerns. Further analysis reveals that the mitigating effect of large blockholders on crash risk is stronger in firms held by the founding family, the state or another financial company. Overall, the evidence suggests that large shareholders serve as monitors in the company and help reducing bad news concealment, leading to lower stock price crash risk.
Role of Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1α and 1β in the Transcriptional Regulation of Human Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV during Differentiation of Caco-2 Cells

Abstract Caco-2 cells undergo differentiation to an enterocytic-like cell when maintained in a post-confluent state for 1–2 weeks. During this period Caco-2 cells begin to express high levels brush border membrane associated enzymes such as dipeptidyl peptidase IV. Using the dipeptidyl peptidase IV gene promoter in electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we have shown for the first time that levels of hepatocyte nuclear factor 1α increase three- to fourfold during Caco-2 cell differentiation. Transient cotransfection experiments with 3T3 cells using dipeptidyl peptidase IV promoter constructs and expression vectors containing hepatocyte nuclear factor 1α and β show that the ratio of α and β modulates reporter gene expression. These results suggest that the increase in levels of hepatocyte nuclear factor 1α that occur during intestinal cell differentiation, are important for expression of dipeptidyl peptidase IV and other intestinal proteins.
Determinative development in the polyclad turbellarian, Hoploplana inquilina

Summary Blastomere deletion experiments at the two- and four-cell stages were carried out on the embryo of the polyclad turbellarian Hoploplana inquilina to further examine the relationship between spiral cleavage and early embryonic determination in primitive spiralians. Deletion of one cell at the two-cell stage resulted in “half” larvae that were abnormal in body shape, lobe development, and behavior. Deletion of one cell at the four-cell stage produced less abnormal “three-quarter” larvae which were still underdeveloped in one of the quadrants. A 3:1 ratio of one-eyed to two-eyed larvae implies that deletion of any one of three blastomeres results in loss of an eye, with two constituting the eye lineage and the third controlling the development of two eyes. The results demonstrate that the polyclad embryo is determined early in development, though significant cell interactions occur during cleavage, and suggest that determinative development and quartet spiral cleavage are always associated and probab.
Internal Control Quality and Bank Risk-Taking and Performance

Using a sample of bank-years from 2005 to 2017, we examine the effect of internal control quality on future risk-taking and performance. We find that banks that disclose a material weakness in internal controls have higher risk-taking and worse performance in the future, including having a higher (lower) likelihood of experiencing large losses (gains). These findings suggest that weak controls increase (reduce) downside (upside) risk-taking or conversely that strong controls increase (reduce) upside (downside) risk-taking. Path analyses suggest that 22.3 to 43.7 percent of the effect of internal control quality on future performance is through risk-taking. Additionally, material weaknesses are negatively associated with total asset, loan, interest income, and non-interest income growth, suggesting that internal control quality affects both core and non-core activities of banks. Overall, results suggest that strong internal controls improve bank risk-taking, in part through asymmetrically reducing downside risk-taking while facilitating upside risk-taking, ultimately improving bank performance. JEL Classification: G01; G21; G28; M41; M48.
Do Institutional Investors Demand Public Disclosure?

We examine the effect of institutional ownership on corporate disclosure policy using a regression discontinuity design. Using novel data that encompasses every 8-K ﬁling between 1996 and 2006, we ﬁnd that positive shocks to institutional ownership around Russell index reconstitutions increase the quantity, form, and quality of disclosure. Compared to those at the bottom of the Russell 1000 index, ﬁrms at the top of the Russell 2000 index increase institutional ownership by 9.8%, and disclose 4.7% longer 8-K ﬁlings with 21.3% more embedded graphics. This incremental disclosure signiﬁcantly increases the information content of 8-K ﬁlings for the market and for analysts.
Germinação de sementes de alface e de duas ervas invasoras com a aplicação de um novo análogo do estrigol, sintetizado a partir do safrol

O estrigol e um sesquiterpeno natural que possui elevada atividade como estimulante da germinacao, principalmente de sementes de especies invasoras, pertencentes aos generos Striga e Orobanche. Solucoes contendo 0,01; 0,1; 10 e 1000 mg/L de um novo analogo de estrigol, sintetizado a partir de um alilbenzeno natural, o safrol (isolado do oleo de sassafraz), foram aplicadas em sementes de alface e de Ipomoea grandifolia e Bidens pilosa. Observou-se que houve efeito estimulador na germinacao das sementes das ervas invasoras, sem afetar a germinacao da alface. Os resultados indicam que essa substância apresenta potencial de uso para estimular a germinacao de sementes de ervas invasoras, que poderiam ser eliminadas do solo, antes do plantio de hortalicas como a alface.
What Can Volatility Smiles Tell Us about the Too Big to Fail Problem?

This paper exploits the information content of option markets to offer fresh insight into the Too-Big-to-Fail (TBTF) problem for banks. I employ option prices to construct a forward-looking measure of bank exposure to significant price drops (i.e. tail-risk) and explore cross-sectional differences between large banks with at least $50B in assets identified as systemically important and smaller banks. I document a permanent increase in the average tail-risk of the U.S. banking industry as a whole following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), except for banks above the $50B size threshold. I argue that the stark post-crisis difference in tail-risk for banks above and below the $50B threshold is consistent with the notion that the TBTF status of above 50B banks was reinforced by the series of bailouts targeted at them during the crisis and their subsequent designation as systemically important by the Dodd-Frank Act. This in turn raised investor expectations of future bailouts for above 50B banks and reduced their perceived exposure to downside risk as captured by the tail-risk measure.
Models for microbiological colony counts

Concentrations of microorganisms can be estimated from colony counts at different dilutions. However, complications can occur because of colony overlap or inhibition of colony growth. We develop a model of inhibition in which colonies fail to develop if spores are close to spores of other inhibitory species. The model has three parameters, but a limiting case of the model with only two parameters is shown to be more useful in practice. This latter model, which is a generalized linear model, is fitted to colony counts of the fungus Verticillium dahliae and contrasted with a model suggested in an earlier article.
Leaves or fruit? The potential for damage to tomato fruits by the omnivorous predator, Dicyphus hesperus

R. R. McGregor1, D. R. Gillespie, C. G. Park2, D. M. J. Quiring & M. R. J. Foisy Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, P.O. Box 1000, Agassiz, BC, V0M 1A0, Canada (Phone: (604)-796-2221 ext. 210; E mail: GillespieD@em.agr. ca); Present addresses: 1Department of Biology, Douglas College, PO Box 2503, New Westminster, BC, Canada, V3L 5B2; 2Division of Entomology, Department of Plant Protection, NIAST, RDA, Suwon 441-100 Korea
Nuclear and genomic changes in floating and submerged buds and leaves of heterophyllous waterchestnut (Trapa natans)

The heterophyllous macrophyte waterchestnut (Trapa natans L.) produces floating and submerged leaves which are strikingly different in morphology. In the present work, we compared, through cytological, cytochemical and immunocytochemical analyses, the nuclear features of the shoot meristem in floating and submerged buds that produce the different leaves. The occurrence of DNA polymorphism in the two types of leaves was studied by using the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) approach. The light microscope study of chromatin organization revealed an articulate structure of the nuclei, with prominent chromocentres in both floating and submerged buds. However, the meristematic nuclei of floating buds, as compared to those of submerged buds, displayed peculiar features which seem to be related to a higher proportion of A-T-rich sequences and a higher level of DNA methylation of the nuclear genome. Moreover, RAPD analysis showed polymorphism between the genomic DNAs of floating and submerged leaves. These results show that organs of an individual plant living in different environmental conditions undergo changes in genome organization which may predispose those organs to function more effectively in different environments.
Short Interest, Macroeconomic Variables and Aggregate Stock Returns

Rapach, Ringgenberg and Zhou (2016) claim that for the sample period 1973 to 2014 "short interest is arguably the strongest known predictor of aggregate stock returns", that it "outperforms a host of popular predictors", and that it represents "informed traders who are able to anticipate changes in future aggregate cashflows". We show that the entire evidence regarding these claims disappears if we exclude data on short interest for the calendar year of 2008 when the financial crisis had its largest impact on stock markets. In contrast, we show that macroeconomic variables can predict aggregate returns and combining forecasts based on macroeconomic variables provides consistent and stable forecasts in periods that include and exclude the financial crisis.
The Influence of Institutional Shareholdings on Corporate Governance: Empirical Evidences of the Listed Companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in the SET100

Institutional investors have high influence on capital market so that this research aims to examine the influence of institutional shareholdings on corporate governance (CG) of the listed companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in the SET 100. Institutional shareholdings were categorized into four types as follows: 1. commercial banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, and securities public companies in Thailand (FIBTMF), 2. government agencies and state enterprises of Thailand (FIGV), 3. Foreign banks (FIBF), and 4. International investors (FIIN). The CG was measured by the CG scoring of Thai Institute of Directors Association (IOD). The study period covered 2013 to 2017. In addition, the data were analyzed by logistic regression analysis, separated into two models: the first model investigated overall institutional investors toward CG; whilst, the second model examined the four categories of institutional investors as earlier mentioned. As a result, the study revealed that the overall institutional investors had statistically positive influence on the CG at 0.05 level of significance. The second model exposed that government agencies and state enterprises of Thailand as well as international investors had statistically positive impact on the CG at 0.05 and 0.10 level of significance, respectively. Therefore, this research implied the important role of institutional investors toward the CG.
How Bank Competition Affects Firms’ Access to Finance

Combining multi-year, firm-level surveys with country-level panel data for 53 countries, this paper explores the impact of bank competition on firms’ access to finance. We find that low competition, as measured by high values of the Lerner index, diminishes firms’ access to finance, while commonly-used bank concentration measures are not robust predictors of firms’ access to finance. In addition, the impact of competition on access to finance depends on the environment that banks operate in: greater financial development and better credit information can mitigate the damaging impact of low competition, while high government bank ownership exacerbates the negative effect.
Which Top Managements are Paid More? Commercial Banks vs. Security Brokers & Dealers

We empirically test the relationship between top management compensation and performance in terms of pay-performance sensitivity (PPS). We have mixed results for fixed compensation where PPS is significantly associated with both past-year and contract-year performance for commercial banks industry, whereas security brokers & dealers industry exhibits no significant PPS relationship. However, flexible and total compensations have PPS strongly related to the contract-year performance for both commercial banks and security brokers & dealers industries. Further, there is significant difference in PPS between commercial banks and security brokers & dealers industries. Moreover, firm size and level of leverage show significant negative and positive relationship with PPS, respectively. These imply that top managements in security brokers & dealers industry, which is relatively small in size and high in level of leverage, are compensated more than those in the commercial banks industry for the same amount of increase in the shareholders’ wealth.
The Impact of Industrial Sites on Residential Property Values: A Hedonic Pricing Analysis for the Netherlands

Industrial sites cause several negative externalities, such as traffic noise disturbance, congestion, and obstruction of view. In order to quantify the negative effects stemming from industrial sites, we estimate - using a hedonic pricing model - the impact of distance to industrial sites on residential property values. We use data on houses sold in the Randstad region and the province of Noord-Brabant (both located in the Netherlands) in the year 2005, together with data on characteristics of a substantial number of industrial sites in the same regions and period. The results reveal that the distance to an industrial site has a statistically significant negative effect on the value of residential properties. However, the effect is largely localized within a relatively short distance from the nearest industrial site. Furthermore, we obtain statistical evidence for substantial localized price differentials, which vary according to the size of an industrial site.