Does CSR engender trust? Evidence from investor reactions to corporate disclosures

We investigate whether a firm’s corporate social responsibility activity (CSR) affects investor trust. Motivated by the observation that trust enhances disclosure credibility which will in turn lead to faster price discovery, we address our question by examining the relation between CSR and stock price discovery at earnings announcements. We find robust evidence that firms with more CSR enjoy faster incorporation of earnings news into stock prices. This faster price discovery exists only for positive earnings news, reinforcing the perspective that CSR leads investors to maintain a positive view of the firm. We strengthen our identification of the effect of CSR on investor trust using regression discontinuity analyses of shareholder CSR proposals and an experiment that provides evidence of the causal effects of a firm’s CSR on investor perceptions of trust. We further show that high CSR firms experience lower investor uncertainty, more trading volume, and stronger earnings response coefficients

Girls’ and women’s education within Unesco and the World Bank, 1945–2000

By 2000, girls’ and women’s education was a priority for international development organisations. While studies have examined the impact of recent campaigns and programmes, there has been less exploration of ideas about girls’ and women’s education within development thought in the immediate post?colonial period, and the political mechanisms through which this came to be a global concern. Through a study of policy documents, this paper investigates how the education of girls and women came to be prioritised within the two principle UN agencies involved with education since 1945, the World Bank and Unesco. A shift in priorities is evident, from ensuring formal rights and improving the status of women, to expanding the productive capacities of women, fertility control and poverty reduction. While the ascendance of human capital theory provided a space for a new perception of the role of women’s education in development, in other policy arenas women’s education was central to exploring more substantive, rights?based notions of gender equality. Ultimately, the goal of improving girls’ and women’s education fitted into diverse development agendas, paving the way for it to become a global development priority

Disruption of Conscious Access in Psychosis Is Associated with Altered Structural Brain Connectivity

According to global neuronal workspace (GNW) theory, conscious access relies on long-distance cerebral connectivity to allow a global neuronal ignition coding for conscious content. In patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, both alterations in cerebral connectivity and an increased threshold for conscious perception have been reported. The implications of abnormal structural connectivity for disrupted conscious access and the relationship between these two deficits and psychopathology remain unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which structural connectivity is correlated with consciousness threshold, particularly in psychosis. We used a visual masking paradigm to measure consciousness threshold, and diffusion MRI tractography to assess structural connectivity in 97 humans of either sex with varying degrees of psychosis: healthy control subjects (n = 46), schizophrenia patients (n = 25), and bipolar disorder patients with (n = 17) and without (n = 9) a history of psychosis. Patients with psychosis (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with psychotic features) had an elevated masking threshold compared with control subjects and bipolar disorder patients without psychotic features. Masking threshold correlated negatively with the mean general fractional anisotropy of white matter tracts exclusively within the GNW network (inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus, cingulum, and corpus callosum). Mediation analysis demonstrated that alterations in long-distance connectivity were associated with an increased masking threshold, which in turn was linked to psychotic symptoms. Our findings support the hypothesis that long-distance structural connectivity within the GNW plays a crucial role in conscious access, and that conscious access may mediate the association between impaired structural connectivity and psychosis

Analogue of the quantum hanle effect and polarization conversion in non-hermitian plasmonic metamaterials

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Nano Letters, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/articlesonrequest/index.htmlThe Hanle effect, one of the first manifestations of quantum theory introducing the concept of coherent superposition between pure states, plays a key role in numerous aspects of science varying from applicative spectroscopy to fundamental astrophysical investigations. Optical analogues of quantum effects help to achieve deeper understanding of quantum phenomena and, in turn, to develop cross-disciplinary approaches to realizations of new applications in photonics. Here we show that metallic nanostructures can be designed to exhibit a plasmonic analogue of the quantum Hanle effect and the associated polarization rotation. In the original Hanle effect, time-reversal symmetry is broken by a static magnetic field. We achieve this by introducing dissipative level crossing of localized surface plasmons due to nonuniform losses, designed using a non-Hermitian formulation of quantum mechanics. Such artificial plasmonic "atoms" have been shown to exhibit strong circular birefringence and circular dichroism which depends on the value of loss or gain in the metal-dielectric nanostructure. © 2012 American Chemical Society.This work has been supported in part by EPSRC (UK). P.G. acknowledges Royal Society for a Newton International Fellowship. F.J.R.-F. acknowledges support from grant FPI of GV and the Spanish MICINN under contracts CONSOLIDER EMET CSD2008-00066 and TEC2011-28664-C02-02.Ginzburg, P.; Rodríguez Fortuño, FJ.; Martínez Abietar, AJ.; Zayats, AV. (2012). Analogue of the quantum hanle effect and polarization conversion in non-hermitian plasmonic metamaterials. Nano Letters. 12(12):6309-6314. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl3034174S63096314121

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and long-term risk of immune-related disorders

IntroductionGlucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is an X-linked enzymatic disorder that is particularly prevalent in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. This study aimed to assess the long-term health risks associated with G6PD deficiency.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from a national healthcare provider in Israel (Leumit Health Services). A total of 7,473 G6PD-deficient individuals were matched with 29,892 control subjects in a 1:4 ratio, based on age, gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnic groups. The exposure of interest was recorded G6PD diagnosis or positive G6PD diagnostic test. The main outcomes and measures included rates of infectious diseases, allergic conditions, and autoimmune disorders between 2002 and 2022.ResultsSignificantly increased rates were observed for autoimmune disorders, infectious diseases, and allergic conditions in G6PD-deficient individuals compared to the control group. Specifically, notable increases were observed for rheumatoid arthritis (odds ratio [OR] 2.41, p<0.001), systemic lupus erythematosus (OR 4.56, p<0.001), scleroderma (OR 6.87, p<0.001), pernicious anemia (OR 18.70, p<0.001), fibromyalgia (OR 1.98, p<0.001), Graves’ disease (OR 1.46, p=0.001), and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (OR 1.26, p=0.001). These findings were supported by elevated rates of positive autoimmune serology and higher utilization of medications commonly used to treat autoimmune conditions in the G6PD-deficient group.DiscussionIn conclusion, individuals with G6PD deficiency are at a higher risk of developing autoimmune disorders, infectious diseases, and allergic conditions. This large-scale observational study provides valuable insights into the comprehensive association between G6PD deficiency and infectious and immune-related diseases. The findings emphasize the importance of considering G6PD deficiency as a potential risk factor in clinical practice and further research is warranted to better understand the underlying mechanisms of these associations

Resonances On-Demand for Plasmonic Nano-Particles

A method for designing plasmonic particles with desired resonance spectra is presented. The method is based on repetitive perturbations of an initial particle shape while calculating the eigenvalues of the various quasistatic resonances. The method is rigorously proved, assuring a solution exists for any required spectral resonance location. Resonances spanning the visible and the near-infrared regimes, as designed by our method, are verified using finite-difference time-domain simulations. A novel family of particles with collocated dipole-quadrupole resonances is designed, demonstrating the unique power of the method. Such on-demand engineering enables strict realization of nano-antennas and metamaterials for various applications requiring specific spectral functions

Rewards for Ratification: Payoffs for Participating in the International Human Rights Regime?

Among the explanations for state ratification of human rights treaties, few are more common and widely accepted than the conjecture that states are rewarded for ratification by other states. These rewards are expected to come in the form of tangible benefits - foreign aid, trade, and investment - and intangible benefits such as praise, acceptance, and legitimacy. Surprisingly, these explanations for ratification have never been tested empirically. We summarize and clarify the theoretical underpinnings of "reward-for-ratification" theories and test these propositions empirically by looking for increased international aid, economic agreements and public praise and recognition following ratification of four prominent human rights treaties. We find almost no evidence that states can expect increased tangible or intangible rewards after ratification. Given the lack of empirical support, alternative explanations seem more appealing for understanding human rights treaty ratification.Governmen

Bank insolvencies, priority claims and systemic risk

We review an extensive literature debating the merits of alternative priority structures for banking liabilities put forward by financial economists, legal scholars and policymakers. Up to now, this work has focused exclusively on the relative advantages of each group of creditors to monitor the activities of bankers. We argue that systemic risk is another dimension that this discussion must include. The main message of our work is that when bank failures are contagious then when regulators assign priority rights need also to take into account how the bankruptcy resolution of one institution might affect the survival of other institutions that have acted as its creditors. When the network structure is fixed the solution is straightforward. Other banks should have priority to minimize the risk of their downfall. However, if the choice of policy can affect the structure of the network, policy design becomes more complex.This is a fruitful avenue for future research