During community assembly, species may accumulate not only by immigration, but also by in situ diversification. Diversification has intrigued biologists because its extent varies even among closely related lineages under similar ecological conditions. Recent research has suggested that some of this puzzling variation may be caused by stochastic differences in the history of immigration (relativ...

BACKGROUND Much evolutionary theory predicts that diversity arises via both adaptive radiation (diversification driven by selection against niche-overlap within communities) and divergence of geographically isolated populations. We focus on tropical fruit flies (Blepharoneura, Tephritidae) that reveal unexpected patterns of niche-overlap within local communities. Throughout the Neotropics, mult...

The relaxation of the Glass-Steagall Act (GSA), the Act which separates commercial and investment banking, is currently under debate. Central to this debate is the potential risk reduction of commercial banks due to diversification. This paper, through a thorough and complete examination of the diversification potential, establishes an upper bound of diversification benefits. The results do sup...

We provide evidence showing that the degree of diversification of import sources of finely disaggregated commodities rises monotonically along the growth path. This result is robust to different measures of import diversification and the inclusion of a large set of additional control variables. In addition, we show the process of rising import diversification takes place as countries gradually ...

The distribution of diversity can vary considerably from clade to clade. Attempts to understand these patterns often employ state-dependent speciation and extinction models to determine whether the evolution of a particular novel trait has increased speciation rates and/or decreased extinction rates. It is still unclear, however, whether these models are uncovering important drivers of diversif...

Purpose Substantial previous researches find that corporate diversification lead to value erosion. Agency theory was an often-cited explanation to rationale decision maker’s motivations toward diversification. With 144 Chinese public companies from the Small and Medium board in Shenzhen Stock Exchange, I explain how agency problems motivate Chinese public firms to diversify. Data and methodolog...