I develop a novel diagnostic procedure to estimate the associations between measurement errors of expected returns proxies and …rm characteristics. Application to GLS, a popular implementation of the implied cost of capital ("ICC"), yields the …rst direct empirical evidence that ICC measurement errors i) are persistent, ii) can be associated with …rms’risk or growth characteristics, and therefo...

An endogenous growth model on finance and growth is formulated, and empirical analyses are conducted. The model exhibits structural shifts and breaks caused by institutional changes, suggesting that a linear approach is inadequate. To address this point empirically, we fit data for 90 countries from 1960–2000 to a standard growth equation with a proxy for financial activity. Firstly, it is show...

Quorum-sensing systems control major virulence determinants in Enterococcusfaecalis, which causes nosocomial infections. The E. faecalis quorum-sensing systems include several virulence factors that are regulated by the cytolysin operon, which encodes the cytolysin toxin. In addition, the E. faecalis Fsr regulator system controls the expression of gelatinase, serine protease, and enterocin O16....

Article history: Received 11 December 2008 Received in revised form 25 August 2009 Accepted 21 September 2009 Available online 15 October 2009 Using data from prewar Japan, this paper investigates the impact of a liquidity shock induced by depositors' behavior on bank portfolio management during financial crises in a system lacking deposit insurance. It is found that banks reacted to the liquid...

We present a model of conflict in which discriminatory government policy or social intolerance is responsive to various forms of ethnic activism, including violence. It is this perceived responsiveness—captured by the probability that the government gives in and accepts a proposed change in ethnic policy—that induces individuals to mobilize, often violently, to support their cause. Yet, mobiliz...

There is substantial interest in development policies related to international migration from developing countries. In the last decade, there has been a wave of rigorous empirical studies (many of which are randomized controlled trials) quantifying the impacts of such policies. This article examines evidence on the impacts of policies in five areas: 1) migration facilitation, 2) migrant educati...

This paper offers the first comprehensive analysis of legal change in the protection of shareholder and creditor rights in transition economies and its impact on the propensity of firms to raise external finance. Following La Porta et al. (1998), the paper constructs an expanded set of legal indices to capture a range of potential conflicts between different stakeholders of the firm. It supplem...

The growth of the population of cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis) in the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha constitutes a threat to public health and biological diversity because of their competition with and predation on native species and the possibility of transmission of pathogens to human beings, livestock and native wildlife. The aim here was to search for, isolate and identify serovars of Sa...

We present a theoretical model of moral hazard and adverse selection in an imperfectly competitive loans market that is suitable for application to Africa. The model allows for variation in both the level of contract enforcement (depending on the quality of governance) and the degree of market segmentation (depending on the level of ethnic fractionalization). The model predicts a specific form ...