Analyzing the Role of Government Efficiency on Financial Development for OECD Countries

This paper fulfills a gap in the existing literature by analyzing the impact of government efficiency and corruption on the financial development of 31 OECD countries for the period 2002 to 2015 inclusively. To ensure robustness in our estimations, we employed several econometrics techniques, included control variables in our models, used several proxies for the variables under investigation, split the data into subgroups based on the degree of democracy, and repeated the analysis for these groups. Obtained findings provide strong evidence that government efficiency has a significant effect on financial development, and the sign of all the control variables are compatible with the a-priory theoretical expectations. The results of this study propose several policy recommendations to enhance financial development such as enhancing social cohesion through education on the use of tax contributions, revising budget procedures to ensure efficient spending of resources and to improve institutional quality, and reducing corruptive pursuits by targeting the informal economy activities and modifying the rule of law

(HfTiZrMnCr)B2 high entropy diboride ceramics: Synthesis mechanism, microstructural, mechanical and thermal characterization

This study explains the synthesis mechanism of (HfTiZrMnCr)B2 high entropy diboride ceramics prepared via a combined route consisting of ball milling and spark plasma sintering. Firstly, metal borides were in-house synthesized using mechanochemical synthesis and leaching processes under optimum conditions from metal oxides, B2O3 and Mg precursors. The (HfTiZr)B2 composition, chosen as the main composition, was hybridized with two different methods: planetary and vibratory ball milling. As a result of milling experiments, 6 h vibratory milling was determined as the optimum duration, and all compositions were produced by spark plasma sintering method (2000 °C, 30 MPa) following this optimum condition. Different compositions were used to see which one of the HfB2, TiB2, ZrB2 compounds acted as a host material. Based on the phase analyses, single-phase HEB structures, Ti-rich phases and Hf, Ti, Zr-oxides were observed in the microstructure. Detailed physical, microstructural, mechanical and termal characterizations were performed: the highest hardness values were observed in the (HfTiMnCr)B2 and (HfTiZrMnCr)B2 samples as ∼ 27 GPa, the lowest wear rate was recorded for the (HfTiZrMnCr)B2 sample as ∼2 × 10−6 Nm/mm3, and the highest oxidation resistance was achieved at the (HfZrMnCr)B2 and (HfTiMnCr)B2 samples as weight gains ∼ 1.90%