Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Institutional Drivers of Capital Flows

This paper empirically analyzes the role of institutional factors in shaping the dynamics of gross capital flows. We build an institutional quality index and test its relevance for both gross capital inflows and outflows using a panel of 56 countries, differentiating between high-income and low-income economies, over the period 1996-2012. We find that institutional quality is a significant factor affecting the behavior of both foreign and domestic investors. Countries with better governance and public sector credibility tend to attract more flows. Causality is confirmed through IV estimates for a sub-sample of 25 countries. In addition, we show that some governance features matter more than others. Specifically, the most relevant institutional indicators are Government Effectiveness and Regulatory Quality, which capture the government’s ability to implement adequate, sound and credible policies. Finally, we assess the role of institutional quality during periods of financial stress. The analysis suggests that domestic investors in countries with a sound institutional framework tend to retrench more capital, mitigating the negative effects of declining gross capital inflows. Therefore, sound institutions incentivize the build-up of external assets in high-income countries by promoting larger outflows in normal times. They also facilitate the repatriation of such assets during crises.
Using Hard-part Increment Data to Estimate Age and Environmental Effects

Fish grow in response to the extrinsic effects of their biotic and abiotic environment and in accordance with the intrinsic effects of size or age already attained. In this paper, a family of linear models are proposed that assume that growth, as reflected in increments in scales or other bony structures, can be divided into intrinsic age or size effects and external environmental effects. The models presented are of varying complexity. Some of the models use data from annular rings on bony parts, some use length or size attained, and some use both. Generalization to nonlinear or generalized linear models is indicated. Methodology for comparing subsamples of fish, based on sex, condition, trapping method, or any other identifiable characteristic, is discussed. The models are applied to several samples of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) collected during 1988–90.
Market Crashes

This paper studies cross-sectional determinants of stock returns and order flow around five recent episodes of market crashes in the United States during the period from 1998 to 2008. Stocks with high volatility, turnover and market beta are consistent losers during crashes and winners during recoveries. Trading activity in times of crashes is subject to flight to size. Recoveries are characterized by flights to stocks with large crash-period losses, low crash period volatility and turnover, and small stocks. Overall, the evidence suggests that cross sectional returns in crisis periods are determined by (i) stocks’ “market sensitivity” characteristics and (ii) re-allocation of resources in the market.
CEO Compensation

This paper surveys the recent literature on CEO compensation. The rapid rise in CEO pay over the past 30 years has sparked an intense debate about the nature of the pay-setting process. Many view the high level of CEO compensation as the result of powerful managers setting their own pay. Others interpret high pay as the result of optimal contracting in a competitive market for managerial talent. We describe and discuss the empirical evidence on the evolution of CEO pay and on the relationship between pay and firm performance since the 1930s. Our review suggests that both managerial power and competitive market forces are important determinants of CEO pay, but that neither approach is fully consistent with the available evidence. We briefly discuss promising directions for future research.
Extrato metanólico da amêndoa da semente de nim e a mortalidade de ovos e lagartas da traça-do-tomateiro

A methanolic extract from neem seed kernels, obtained using the Soxhlet apparatus was used to study the mortality of eggs and larvae of Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) and to evaluate of the ovicidal effect. Eggs 24 hours after oviposition were counted and sprayed with the extract at the concentrations of 1000, 500, 250, 125 and 62.5 mg L-1. Controls were sprayed with water and methanol. The experiment was conducted in laboratory conditions at 25±2°C; UR 50±10% and 12 h of photophase. Incubation period for all treatments, including controls, was four days on the average. The extract did not affect the viability of eggs, although the values varied between of 51.7% the 80.6%. Larvae recently hatched from eggs were placed in glass tubes containing a tomato leaflet previously immersed for five seconds into the extract, at concentrations of 2000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 mg L-1 and conditioned on BOD at 27±1°C; 65±10% RH and 12 hours of light. By the fourth day after treatment the extract caused mortalities of 82, 68, 94.7 and 100%, respectively. By the sixth day, all concentrations caused 100% mortality of the larvae. The controls with water and methanol presented mortalities of 4 and 8%, respectively.
“Pattern cladistics” really means paraphyly

By EWT’s account, furthermore, computer programs used in cladistics depart from Hennig’s original method and are necessarily phenetic. In fact, as I will point out here, EWT’s accusations are merely empty slogans. EWT present only a vacuous theoretical foundation for their own “pattern cladistic” approach, while pretending away the theoretical foundation of parsimony, misrepresenting Hennig, and concluding “phenetics” primarily by word play. Their purpose in all this, remarkably, is to rationalize reverting to an archaic system in which paraphyletic groups can be passed off as “monophyletic”. Theoretical foundations, EWT (p. 588) elucidate, involve homology and monophyly:
ACCLIMATION OF EMILIANIA HUXLEYI (PRYMNESIOPHYCEAE) TO PHOTON FLUX DENSITY 1

Growth rate, pigment composition, and noninvasive chl a fluorescence parameters were assessed for a noncalcifying strain of the prymnesiophyte Emiliania huxleyi Lohman grown at 50, 100, 200, and 800 μmol photons·m−2·s−1. Emiliania huxleyi grown at high photon flux density (PFD) was characterized by increased specific growth rates, 0.82 d−1 for high PFD grown cells compared with 0.38 d−1 for low PFD grown cells, and higher in vivo chl a specific attenuation coefficients that were most likely due to a decreased pigment package, consistent with the observed decrease in cellular photosynthetic pigment content. High PFD growth conditions also induced a 2.5‐fold increase in the pool of the xanthophyll cycle pigments diadinoxanthin and diatoxanthin responsible for dissipation of excess energy. Dark‐adapted maximal photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) remained constant at around 0.58 for cells grown over the range of PFDs, and therefore the observed decline, from 0.57 to 0.33, in the PSII maximum efficiency in the light‐adapted state, (Fv′/Fm′), with increasing growth PFD was due to increased dissipation of excess energy, most likely via the xanthophyll cycle and not due to photoinhibition. The PSII operating efficiency (Fq′/Fm′) decreased from 0.48 to 0.21 with increasing growth PFD due to both saturation of photochemistry and an increase in nonphotochemical quenching. The changes in the physiological parameters with growth PFD enable E. huxleyi to maximize rates of photosynthesis under subsaturating conditions and protect the photosynthetic apparatus from excess energy while supporting higher saturating rates of photosynthesis under saturating PFDs.
A Balancing Act? The Implications of Mixed Strategies for Performance Measurement System Design

This paper examines how firms design performance measurement systems (PMSs) to support the pursuit of mixed strategies. In particular, we examine the implications of firms’ joint strategic emphasis on both low cost and differentiation for their use of performance measurement and incentive compensation. Analysis of survey data of 387 firms shows that more than half of the sample to some extent or fully mixes strategic priorities, while strategic priorities resembling strategic archetypes (primarily low cost or differentiation) populate only 36% of the sample. Our analyses support that as compared to archetypal strategies, pursuing mixed strategies elicits design of more comprehensive and complex PMSs that are aimed at balancing effort and decisions toward the multiple strategies pursued.
A Comparative Study on Efficiency of Selected Public Sector Banks in India

The study was conducted to compare the efficiency levels of selected 12 public sector banks (PSBs) in India. Public sector banks are banks with more than 50% shares owned by the government. Data for seven years was compiled from the annual reports of these banks for computation of the efficiency ratios for the analysis. The ratios were grouped into management and employee efficiencies. The management efficiency ratios included net interest margin, non-interest income margin, and operating profit to total assets. The employee efficiency ratios on the other hand includes profit per employee, business per employee, wages to total expenses, and wages to total income. The results from the ANOVA analysis of the management efficiency measures indicated that all the 12 selected PSBs banks have unequal efficiency levels. The results from the ANOVA analysis of the employee efficiency measures also indicated that all banks have unequal level of employee efficiency with the exception of wages to income ratio, which was equal among the banks. It was therefore recommended, that public sector banks in India must improve upon both management and employee efficiencies of their respective banks in order to increase productivity and for that matter profitability.
Go Active or Stay Passive: Investment Trust, Financial Innovation and Diversification in Belgium's early days

Abstract In 1836, Societe Generale created the world's first closed-end equity fund, Mutualite Industrielle. It promised to be a diversification tool targeted towards less-wealthy investors. We confirm that the trust's returns were indeed better than returns on synthetic portfolios such investors had access to. However, it never became a commercial success. This paper presents a possible rational explanation why this innovation was liquidated in 1873. First, we show that the trust offered a performance similar to randomly-selected portfolios. Second, portfolio strategies to which mostly wealthy and sophisticated investors had access were able to outperform the trust. Mutualite Industrielle's failure to offer a sufficiently attractive alternative to investors is consistent with its difficulty to attract sufficient funds to keep the trust in business.
The Impact of Fiscal Budget Deficit on Consumer Sentiment: News from Perceived News

Does consumer sentiment change upon hearing news about fiscal budget deficit? Using U.S. consumer survey data from 1978 to 2018, we find consumer sentiment increases (decreases) significantly upon hearing favourable (unfavourable) fiscal deficit news. This effect is pervasive across our sample period and is not driven by periods of economic downturns. Our results suggest that news about fiscal budget deficit impacts on sentiment through changing how consumers form expectations on the future path of the economy and their individual conditions.
Did Financialization Reduce Economic Growth?

We explore the economic growth consequences of increased financial investment by non-financial firms, finding consistent evidence that financialization in the non-finance sector reduced total value added. Employing an expanded conceptualization of value added which identifies internal (capital, labor) and external (creditors, government, charities) stakeholders with claims on the value generated in production and exchange, we also find that the declining value added produced by financialization was born most strikingly by labor and the state, while increasing value was channeled to corporate debt and equity holders. Corporate charities also had a net loss.
Biochemical alterations due to Bovine Fascioliasis

The biochemical alterations due to infection of bovine fascioliasis in cattle slaughtered within southeast Nigeria was investigated. Various biochemical parameters such as serum enzyme activities, serum protein levels, serum lipid contents and serum chemical compounds were determined using standard procedures. Statistically significant elevations were observed in the mean values of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), urea and creatinine of Fasciola-infected cattle when compared to those of the control group (p<0.05) while significant decrease was observed in the mean values of total proteins, albumin, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoproteins and low density lipoproteins of Fasciola-infected cattle when compared with the control group (p<0.05). Total proteins, albumin, glucose, triglycerides and LDL parameters had moderate significant negative correlation with worm load (r = -0.555, -0.457, -0.581, -0.550, -0.425), while urea and creatinine had high and moderate significant positive relationships with worm load (r = 0.806 and 0.448 respectively) Biochemical alterations due to Bovine Fascioliasis
Spillovers Through Banking Centers: A Panel Data Analysis

To test the role of bank lending in transmitting currency crisis we examine a panel of BIS data on bank flows to 30 emerging markets disaggregated by 11 banking centers. We find that bank exposures to a crisis country help predict bank flows in third countries after the Mexican and Asian crisis, but not after the Russian crisis. In the latter, there is evidence of a generalized outflow from emerging markets, rather than outflows linked to prior exposure to Russia.
Financial Stability and the Design of Monetary Policy

This paper builds upon the existing empirical literature on the factors behind financial stability, focusing on the role of monetary policy design. In particular, it analyzes a sample of 79 countries in the period 1970 to 1999 to evaluate the effect of the choice of the central bank objectives and the monetary policy strategy on the occurrence of banking crises. We find that focusing the central bank objectives on price stability reduces the likelihood of a banking crisis. This result is robust, in general, to several model specifications and groups of countries. As for the monetary policy strategy, the results are less clear. For a few model specifications, particularly for the group of countries in transition, the choice of an exchange rate-based strategy appears to reduce the likelihood of a banking crisis. Finally, a large degree of independence of the central bank and locating regulatory and supervisory responsibilities at the central bank seem to reduce the likelihood of a banking crisis.
What Drives the Declining Wealth Effect of Subsequent Share Repurchase Announcements?

Recent academic studies document that open market share repurchase announcements in the United States generate significantly lower returns than those reported in earlier studies. We find that the lower announcement return is associated with an increasing number of subsequent announcements in the more recent periods. Although the announcement period return from the initial announcement is positive, subsequent announcement returns are significantly decreasing. Further, we find that the decreasing returns of subsequent announcements are attributed to firms with negative past repurchase announcement returns. Our multivariate regression test results are consistent with the notion that the decreasing subsequent repurchase announcement returns are driven by hubris-endowed managers.
Barley Performance under Heavy Applications of Cattle Feedlot Manure

Approximately 4800 cattle feedlots currently operate in Alberta, Canada. The large amount of manure produced annually creates disposal problems for feedlot operators. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of long-term annual manure application on barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) performance grown on clay loam soil (Dark Brown Chernozemic, Typic Haploboroll) near Leth-bridge, AB. Feedlot cattle manure was applied annually from 1973 to 1989 to irrigated plots at 0, 60, 120, and 180 Mg ha −1 (wet wt. basis) and to nonirrigated plots at 0, 30, 60, and 90 Mg ha −1 . Manure was incorporated with a cultivator plus disk, rototiller, or plow [. ]
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES WHAT DO EMPLOYEE REFERRAL PROGRAMS DO? A FIRM-LEVEL RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

We received helpful comments from numerous people and seminar audiences, especially Tore Ellingsen, Matt Gentzkow, Rosario Macera, Kathryn Shaw, Lowell Taylor, and Russell Weinstein. We thank the study firm’s management and employees for their collaboration. We thank Muhammad Azim, Daphne Baldassari, Julija Mozurevičiute, Monika Mozurevičiute, and Sonja Settele for excellent research assistance. We are grateful to the World Management Survey (WMS) and especially Daniela Scur for sharing their data with us, which we use to report on the prevalence of employee referral programs. Financial support from the Institutional Strategy of the University of Cologne within the German Excellence Initiative (Hans Kelsen Prize 2018), Michael Lee-Chin Family Institute, and SSHRC is gratefully acknowledged. The experiment was pre-registered on 11/23/2015 with the AEA RCT registry under ID AEARCTR-0000964. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Are Some Negotiators Better than Others? Individual Differences in Bargaining Outcomes

The authors address the long-standing mystery of stable individual differences in negotiation performance, for which intuition and conventional wisdom have clashed with inconsistent empirical findings. The present study used the Social Relations Model to examine individual differences directly via consistency in performance across multiple negotiations, and to disentangle the roles of both parties within these inherently dyadic interactions. Individual differences explained a substantial 25% and 46% of objective performance in distributive and integrative bargaining, respectively, and 19% of subjective performance. Previous work may have understated the influence of individual differences because conventional research designs require specific traits to be identified and measured. Exploratory analyses of a battery of specific existing traits revealed few reliable associations with consistent individual differences in performance. Limitations, areas for future research, and practical implications are discussed.
Noise Bubbles

We introduce imperfect information in stock prices determination. Agents receive a noisy signal about the structural shock driving future dividend variations. Equilibrium stock prices include a transitory "noise bubble" which can be responsible for boom and bust episodes unrelated to economic fundamentals. We propose a non-standard VAR procedure to estimate impulse response functions to noise shock and the bubble component of stock prices. Noise explains a large fraction of US stock prices. The dot-com bubble is explained by noise. The 2007 stock price boom is not a bubble, whereas the following stock market crisis is due to negative noise shocks.
A preliminary study of 16S rRNA sequence variation in Australian Macrobrachium shrimps (Palaemonidae : Decapoda) reveals inconsistencies in their current classification

The systematic relationships among Australian palaemonid shrimps have been the subject of speculation for some time. A preliminary phylogenetic study was undertaken to clarify the relationships of five species, Macrobrachium intermedium (Stimpson), M. australiense (Holthuis), M. atactum (Riek), M. rosenbergii (de Man) and Palaemon serenus (Heller), using 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene sequences. Phylogenetic analyses indicated inconsistencies with the current classification in two respects. First, M. intermedium formed a very well-supported clade with P. serenus distinct from M. australiense, M. atactum and M. rosenbergii. Second, the two species from inland Australia, M. australiense and M. atactum, showed a high level of genetic similarity over a substantial geographic range, suggesting that they may represent conspecific populations. The taxonomic and biogeographic implications of these findings for Macrobrachium in Australia are discussed.
Return Seasonalities

A strategy that selects stocks based on their historical same-calendar-month returns earns an average return of 13% per year. We document similar return seasonalities in anomalies, commodities, international stock market indices, and at the daily frequency. The seasonalities overwhelm unconditional differences in expected returns. The correlations between different seasonality strategies are modest, suggesting that they emanate from different systematic factors. Our results suggest that seasonalities are not a distinct class of anomalies that requires an explanation of its own – rather, they are intertwined with other return anomalies through shared systematic factors. A theory that is able to explain the risks behind any systematic factor is thus likely able to explain a part of the seasonalities.
Evaluation of “Indigenous Vaccine” Developed Using “Indian Bison Type” Genotype of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis Strain “S5” of Goat Origin in a Sheep Flock Endemic for Johne’s Disease: A Three Years Trial in India

“Indigenous vaccine” developed from native “Indian Bison Type” strain (“S5”) of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) of “goat origin” was first time evaluated in a sheep flock of Bharat Merino breed located in Mannavanur town of Tamil Nadu in South India. Therapeutic efficacy of the vaccine was evaluated for 3 years between 2008 and 2010, on the basis of improvements in productivity (body weights, reproductive efficiency and survivability), physical condition, clinical symptoms (weakness, diarrhea, wool quality), immune response (sero-conversion) and infection load in feces (shedding). After immunization of the flock in 2008, the successive progenies of 112 and 53 lambs born in 2009 and 2010, respectively were vaccinated. Whereas, 40 lambs born to control animals were kept as unvaccinated controls. Though gain in body weights in vaccinated versus controls were not significant in 2008, growth rates were distinctly superior in Ist and IInd generations of vaccinated lambs. Reproductive performance (tupping percent) and survivability of lambs and adult sheep improved significantly. There was overall reduction in yearly morbidity (diarrhea) and mortality rates of the flock in post vaccination years. Shedding of MAP in feces was reduced in vaccinated sheep by 6.2%, 14.3% and 27.3% in 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively, whereas shedding increased in the control sheep. Seromonitoring of the animals by “indigenous ELISA kit” showed enhanced “flock immunity” in successive generations. “Indigenous vaccine” reduced clinical disease and shedding and improved immunity and productivity of Bharat Merino flock, endemic for Johne’s disease.
Populism

In their pursuit of being elected, politicians might not provide their constituents with independent viewpoints, but just try to outguess popular opinion. Although such behaviour compromises the quality of policy proposals, a candidate can not resist resorting to it when the spoils of office are too large. Importantly, the public's trust or distrust in politicians may be self-fulfilling prophecies. The reason is that when voters evaluate policy proposals, they put more faith in their prior opinion the lower is the supposed quality of a proposal. Hence, if voters think that a politician is a populist, any discrepancy between her proposal and their own prior becomes more damaging for the politician's election chances. Ironically however, this only increases the politician's incentive