We use Granger-tests to examine the causal relationship between blockholder ownership and value of the largest EU and US companies. Previous studies on US data have found no systematic effect, but we propose that these results may not carry over to continental Europe, where ownership concentration is higher, the level of investor protection is lower, and influential blockholders may have other ...

OBJECTIVES Many European countries regulate the markets for prescription drugs in order to cope with rising health expenditures. On the other hand, regulation distorts incentives to invest in pharmaceutical R&D. This study aims at empirically assessing the impact of regulation on pharmaceutical R&D expenditures. METHODS We analyze a sample of 20 leading pharmaceutical companies between 2000 a...

Usutu virus (USUV) is an African mosquito-borne flavivirus belonging to the Japanese encephalitis virus serocomplex. USUV is closely related to Murray Valley encephalitis virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and West Nile virus. USUV was discovered in South Africa in 1959. In Europe, the first true demonstration of circulation of USUV was reported in Austria in 2001 with a significant die-off of...

Geographical inequalities in mortality across Europe may be influenced by migration between regions. The relationship between age- and sex-standardised death rates, 2008-2010, and population change resulting from migration 2000-2010, was analysed in 250 'Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units' (NUTS) level 2 regions in 26 European countries. Across Europe death rates were significantly h...

In Europe, antimicrobial resistance has been monitored since 1998 by the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS). We examined the relationship between penicillin nonsusceptibility of invasive isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae and antibiotic sales. Information was collected on 1998-99 resistance data for invasive isolates of S. pneumoniae to penicillin, based on surveill...

The purpose of this study is to determine which attributes are important for choosing household personal shampoo. Using our results, we develop two impact measures of customer satisfaction. In the first approach, the relationship between positiveor negative-attribute product performance and overall satisfaction is assumed to be linear and symmetric. In this case, positive or negative product at...

The article proposes a conceptual model for understanding key factors that shape satisfaction with the services offered by South African advertising agencies. In particular, the model draws together two distinct approaches: (1) service quality associated with service output and performance, and (2) relational exchanges between advertisers and advertising agencies. Insight and perspectives from ...

© L p Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between the magnitude of automatic stabilizers in the tax and transfer systems of 19 EU countries and the US, and discretionary fiscal stimulus packages passed by these countries during the recent economic crisis. In particular, we ask whether countries with larger automatic stabilizers have enacted smaller discretionary fiscal stimulus p...

Christianity in late medieval Europe, and a more integrated intellectual view of medieval physicians. Readers are warned against considering the case of Arnau as unique and exhausting every possible relationship between medicine and religion. Nor should this historical exploration be restricted to medicine, for a general change in attitude towards nature involved every intellectual area in late...