This paper examines the relation between annual report readability and firm performance and earnings persistence. I measure the readability of public company annual reports using the Fog index from the computational linguistics literature and the length of the document. I find that: (1) the annual reports of firms with lower earnings are harder to read (i.e., they have a higher Fog index and ar...

To what extent do bond market reactions to an unexpected deficit shock depend on state-specific politics? To answer this question, we calculate German state bond spreads over government benchmark paper using information from Datastream for the period 2006-2010. We test for a variety of institutional and political factors. We find evidence that investors base risk perceptions on state specific e...

Nucleotide residues in E. coli tRNA(Phe) interacting directly with proteins in pre- and posttranslocated ribosomal complexes have been identified by UV-induced cross-linking. In the tRNA(Phe) molecule located in the Ab-site (pretranslocated complex) residues A9, G18, A26 and U59 are cross-linked with proteins S10, L27, S7 and L2, respectively. In tRNA(Phe) located in the Pt-site (posttranslocat...

The genotype × environment interaction has a direct effect on genotypes stability and adaptability in different environmental conditions . In this sense, plant breeders look for genotypes that have general adaptability, or they look for genotypes that have specific adaptability for specific environments. In this regard, 20 chickpea genotypes were used in a randomized complete block design with ...

We show that sovereign debt impairments can have a significant impact on financial markets and real economies through a credit ratings channel. Specifically, we find that firms reduce their investment and reliance on credit markets due to a rising cost of debt capital following a sovereign rating downgrade. We identify these effects by exploiting exogenous variation on corporate ratings due to ...

I evaluate a bank’s incentives to implement a risk sensitive regulatory capital rule. The decision making is analyzed within a real options framework where optimal policies are derived in terms of threshold levels of risk. The bank’s customers, lenders, and other outsiders may influence the optimal decision. Outsiders may make it optimal for the bank to implement the risk sensitive rule earlier...

We study the effects of structural changes in banking markets on the supply of credit to small businesses. Specifically, we examine whether bank mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and entry have "external" effects on small business loans by other banks in the same local markets. The results suggest modest positive external effects from these dynamic changes in competition, except that large banks ...

This paper extends the stationary-leverage-ratio model to incorporate a time-dependent target leverage ratio. The theoretical hypothesis of the existence of a time-dependent target leverage ratio reflects the movement of a firm’s initial target ratio toward a long-term target ratio over time. Using some simple scenarios about the time-dependence of the target leverage ratio, the numerical resul...

A multiperiod model is developed to measure the costs posed to the guaranty fund in a setting that incorporates risk-based capital regulations, interest rate risk and the possibility of catastrophic losses. The guaranty contract is modeled as a put option on the asset of the insurance company with a stochastic strike price and an uncertain maturity. The impacts of the key factors of this model ...