The intertemporal current account approach predicts that the current account of a small open economy is independent of global shocks, and that responses of the current account to countryspecific shocks depend on the persistence of the shocks. The author shows that these predictions impose cross-equation restrictions (CERS) on a structural vector autoregression (SVAR). To test the CERs, the auth...

ALK missense mutations are detected in 8% of neuroblastoma (NB) tumors at diagnosis and confer gain-of-function oncogenic effects. The mechanisms by which the expression of wild-type or mutant ALK, which is detectable in the majority of cases, is regulated are not well understood. We have identified a novel ALK transcript characterized by the retention of intron 19 (ALK-I19). ALK-I19 was detect...

This paper provides a critique of the global crusade recently launched by the World Bank and World Health Organization against tobacco, by providing some welfare estimates of the net costs associated from the rise in taxes that is proposed for India, S.Africa, S.Korea, Japan and the European Union. It critically examines conventional studies of the costs-benefits of smoking which besides ignori...

The main purpose of this study is to develop a Fuzzy inference system to predict bank profitability in Iran and help investors in their investment decisions. For this purpose, the main effective variables on bank profitability, including facilities, deposits, manpower costs, and assets were recognized. In the next step, the data of 13 banks were collected from 2001 to 2011. The membership funct...

I explore alternative central bank policies for liquidity provision in a model of payments. I use a mechanism design approach so that agents’ incentives to default are explicit and contingent on the credit policy designed. In the first policy, the central bank invests in costly enforcement and charges an interest rate to recover costs. I show that the second-best solution is not distortionary. ...

While the regulation of tenancy arrangements is widespread in the developing world, evidence on how such regulation influences the long-run allocation of land and labor remains limited. To provide such evidence, this paper exploits quasi-random assignment of linguistically similar areas to different South Indian states and historical variation in landownership across social groups. Roughly thir...

This paper proposes a model in which bank runs are closely related to the state of the business cycle. The benchmark model shows that, in a market economy, there are welfare losses due to the existence of bank runs. Extensions of the model explore the welfare effects of various government policies. The results suggest that an interest-cap deposit insurance scheme is an efficient policy to preve...

This study by adopting rolling regression techniques investigate whether bank and life insurance equity returns sensitivity to long term unanticipated interest rate changes has been changed since the Bank of England was granted operational independence in May 1997. Our results indicate that there may well have been changes in the way banks and life insurance companies manage interest rate risk....

In this paper we study the impact of more transparency in the interbank market on the volume of bank intermediated loans and on the profitability of the banking business. Transparency is modeled by means of the informational content of publicly observable signals correlated to the random interbank interest rate. We find that more transparency may increase or decrease the volume of bank loans. I...

This paper compares the timeliness and accuracy of (confidential) government assessments of bank condition against market evaluations of large U.S. bank holding companies. We find that supervisors and bond rating agencies both acquire some information that would help the other group forecast changes in bank condition. In contrast, supervisory assessments and equity market indicators are not str...