Sub-national income differentials, 1986-1996

This paper deals with regional personal and family incomes, and particularly interregional income inequality. It is primarily a descriptive work. The explanatory framework of why incomes of regions are unequal and changing in the ways observed is not the focus. Regional economic development will be briefly referred to as an explanatory setting, but a discussion of the connections between income patterns and trends, and economic development, is a topic which requires research and data somewhat beyond the scope of this initial, exploratory paper

The causes and effects of depreciation in office buildings: a ten year update

This paper publishes the results of the 1996 study, which repeats a cross-section analysis of around 125 City of London office buildings, and examines the longitudinal data contributed by a sample of 56 unrefurbished properties common to the 1986 and 1996 City of London datasets. An estimate of the average rate of rental and capital value depreciation is made; the effect of age is shown not to be straight-line; and the causes if depreciation are measured. The results are compared with the 1986 City of London findings

Marked improvement in survival among adult Croatian AIDS patients after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral treatment

We compared the survival of patients following the first AIDS event in Croatia from the period 1986-1996 to the period 1997-2000. A total of 72 (81.8%) out of 88 patients from 1986-1996 and 18 (32.1%) out of 56 from 1997-2000 died. Survival following the first AIDS-defining illness markedly improved in the period 1997-2000 compared to the period 1986-1996 (adjusted Hazard Ratio (HR) for patients surviving more than 6 months: 0.11, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.04-0.29). A CD4+ cell count of < 100 x 10(6)/L was an independent risk factor for patients surviving up to 2 years (adjusted HR = 1.96, 95% CI = 1.1-3.43, p = 0.02). Patients with tuberculosis or fungal infections had a longer survival when compared to other diagnosis (adjusted HR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.32-0.90, p = 0.01). However, despite dramatic survival benefit of combination antiretroviral therapy, mortality at six months following the first AIDS event was similar in the two study periods and the one-year probability of death was still substantial (27.2%) in the period 1997-2000

Shifts in Social Development and Fertility Decline in Iran: A Cluster Analysis of Provinces, 1986-1996

Iran is experiencing the third phase of demographic transition (low levels of birth and death), following a sharp fertility decline experienced during 1986-1996 period and is still underway. Using the analytic framework of Davis and Black, we examined the impact of social development and contraceptive prevalence, respectively as the structural and proximate determinants, on rapid fertility decline in Iran. We found that the social development level of provinces had a great impact on fertility decline through contraceptive prevalence indirectly. The cluster analysis of social development indices in 1986 and 1996 revealed that 15 out of 24 provinces of Iran moved from a lower developed status in 1986 to a moderate or a higher developed status in 1996 (twelve provinces moved from a “less developed” state in 1986 to a “moderate developed” state in 1996, and three provinces moved from a “moderate developed” state in 1986 to a “developed” state in 1996). In addition, regarding to the social development levels and fertility rates, the gap between provinces decreased during 1986-1996. That is, a shift from heterogeneous to more homogeneous patterns of social development and fertility occurred across Iran’s provinces during 1986-1996

ACRIM-gap and total solar irradiance revisited: Is there a secular trend between 1986 and 1996?

A gap in the total solar irradiance (TSI) measurements between ACRIM-1 and ACRIM-2 led to the ongoing debate on the presence or not of a secular trend between the minima preceding cycles 22 (in 1986) and 23 (1996). It was recently proposed to use the SATIRE model of solar irradiance variations to bridge this gap. When doing this, it is important to use the appropriate SATIRE-based reconstruction, which we do here, employing a reconstruction based on magnetograms. The accuracy of this model on months to years timescales is significantly higher than that of a model developed for long-term reconstructions used by the ACRIM team for such an analysis. The constructed `mixed' ACRIM - SATIRE composite shows no increase in the TSI from 1986 to 1996, in contrast to the ACRIM TSI composite.Comment: 4 figure

Is the biology of breast cancer changing? A study of hormone receptor status 1984-1986 and 1996-1997

Using archived tumours, those from 1984-1986 and 1996-1997 underwent immunohistochemistry for hormone receptors and grade analysis. A significant shift towards more ER-positive and low-grade disease was found; this appears to reflect screening practices, but could still influence survival

The Post-Entry Performance of Irish Plants: Does a plant's Technological Activity Matter?

Is Research and Development activity an important determinant of the probability that a plant will survive? We model the survival of a cohort of Indigenous plants over the period 1986 to 1996 as a function of sectoral and firm characteristics. We use a firm-level dataset provided by Forfás, the policy and advisory board for industrial development in Ireland. We conclude that R&D activity is an important factor which increases the probability of survival for that plant. Specifically, R&D active indigenous plants had a higher probability of surviving the entire period 1986-1996 than non-R&D active plants. We show that this result is robust to alternative measures of technological activity in indigenous plants.

Corporate Finance in Europe from 1986 to 1996

After publishing its first report in September 1997, the Own Funds Working Group, in agreement with the European Committee of Central Balance Sheet Offices, decided to continue its work in order to gain a better understanding of the differences in financing structures between countries. To this end, the Group decided firstly to broaden the review period from 1986 to 1996. The compilation of figures and ratios over a longer period is advantageous in a number of ways. It not only enables an assessment of trends in financing structures in each country, but also of any changes in the ranking of the different countries involved. Furthermore, it gives an insight into the influence of cyclical and structural factors on this ranking. The Group also set itself the objective of not only taking a closer look at the influence of institutional factors The study was based, as the previous study, on incorporated companies (partnerships and sole proprietorships are therefore excluded) of the manufacturing industry, which is uniformly defined across all the countries. Once again, five size brackets according to turnover expressed in euros are analyzed. The size-based approach is essential because the aggregate values conceal the diversity of the situations in the various countries, especially in Germany where the results are strongly influenced by large firms. The two statistical parameters used are the weighted mean and the median. Moreover, to gain a better understanding of the influence of financing needs, assets have been broken down into their main items. As previously, efforts have been made to align methodologies so that the analyses cover variables that are as homogenous as possible from country to country.corporate finance, capital structure, europe, financial systme, credit, bankrutcy

R&D activities and technical information flow in Japanese electronic corporations

The paper analyzes R&D-activities of Japanese electronic corporations in the context of the firm’s performance for the period 1986 to 1996. Compared to the R&Dexpenditures- to-sales ratio the profit-on-sales ratio is remarkably low for the whole industry. This stresses the problems which the electrical machinery is facing in a time of growing diversification, extremely high costs for new developments and stiff competition with non-patent-protected products. -- Die Studie untersucht die FuE-Aktivitäten von japanischen Elektrounternehmen in Zusammenhang mit dem Erfolg der Unternehmen im Zeitraum von 1986 bis 1996. Auffällig ist, daß die Umsatzrendite verglichen mit den FuE-Ausgaben in Prozent vom Umsatz bei allen Unternehmen erstaunlich niedrig ist. Das verdeutlicht die Probleme, mit denen diese Branche in einer Zeit zunehmender Diversifikation, extrem hoher Kosten für neue Produktentwicklungen und hartem Wettbewerb im Bereich von nicht patentierten Produkten zu kämpfen hat.