Bankruptcy Law and Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs, catalysts for innovation in the economy, are increasingly the object of policymakers’ attention. Recent initiatives both in the UK and at EU level have sought to promote entrepreneurship by reducing the harshness of the consequences of personal bankruptcy law. Whilst there is an intuitive link between the two, little attention has been paid to the question empirically. We investigate the link between bankruptcy and entrepreneurship using data on self employment over 13 years (1990-2002) and 15 countries in Europe and North America. We compile a new index of the level of how ‘forgiving’ personal bankruptcy laws are, reflecting the time to discharge. This measure varies over time and across the countries studied. We show that bankruptcy law has a more statistically and economically significant effect on self employment rates relative to GDP growth, MSCI stock returns, and a variety of other legal and economic factors. The results have clear implications for policymakers.Personal Bankruptcy Law, Entrepreneurship

The Legal Road To Replicating Silicon Valley

Must policymakers seeking to replicate the success of Silicon Valley’s venture capital market first replicate other US institutions, such as deep and liquid stock markets? Or can legal reforms alone make a significant difference? In this paper, we compare the economic and legal determinants of venture capital investment, fundraising and exits. We introduce a cross-sectional and time series empirical analysis across 15 countries and 13 years of data spanning an entire business cycle. We show that the legal environment matters as much as the strength of stock markets; that government programmes more often hinder than help the development of private equity, and that temperate bankruptcy laws stimulate entrepreneurial demand for venture capital. Our results provide generalizable lessons for legal reform.venture capital, law and finance, bankruptcy

Sedimentology and porewater isotope chemistry of Quaternary deposits from the St. Clair delta, Walpole Island, Ontario, Canada

Walpole Island is part of a large freshwater delta complex located at the St. Clair River mouth in southwestern Ontario. Petrographic study of 3 continuously sampled sediment cores taken along a 14 km north-south transect of the island show that the stratigraphy of Walpole Island Quaternary sediments reflects a general retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet northwards from the area. From top to bottom, the stratigraphy is as follows: (a) Nipissing to Modern Great Lakes stage sandy deltaic sediments; (b) an Early Holocene green accretion gley found only in the middle core; (c) Two Creeks Interstade, Greatlakean Stade, and Early Holocene non-rhythmically stratified lacustrine clayey silt; (d) Early Mackinaw Interstade to Early Two Creeks Interstade varved glaciolacustrine clayey silt; (e) Port Bruce Stade Rannoch Till; a waterlain, carbonate-rich clayey silt till containing numerous inclusions of Erie Interstade glaciolacustrine sediments and bedrock clasts; and (f) a coarser, sandy lodgment facies of the Rannoch Till. Porewater \rm\delta\sp{18}O,\ \delta D\ and\ \delta\sp{13}C\sb{DIC} value profiles for cores located in the north and middle of Walpole Island indicate that older ($\u3e$10000 y.b.p.), deeper, glacigenic porewaters have mixed with, and have been displaced by younger ($\u3c$10000 y.b.p.) surficial waters. Porewater \rm\delta\sp{18}O,\ \delta D\ and\ \delta\sp{13}C\sb{DIC} value profiles for the core from the southern portion of Walpole Island indicate that modern St. Clair River water has penetrated the length of the 20 m core via fractures, effectively displacing all glacigenic porewater. Fracturing and faulting or slumping are clearly visible throughout the southern core, which is located on the trend of the Electric Fault. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)Dept. of Earth Sciences. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1995 .C85. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 34-06, page: 2323. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1995

The navy as the ultimate guarantor of freedom in 1940?

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/2211 on 07.20.2017 by CS (TIS)The widely held public view that Britain was saved from invasion during 1940 because the RAF denied the Luftwaffe control of the air is challenged here. Although the heroism of `the few' is not in question, the ability of Fighter Command to act as a serious physical barrier to German plans is refuted with the Luftwaffe holding the initiative between 24 August and 6 September and its ability to bomb Britain by night for months virtually unopposed. Archival and other evidence show that even without adequate fighter cover, the Royal Navy retained considerable potential to resist German air attacks on the Home Fleet and local flotillas. The traditional importance of `seapower' is strongly reasserted with evidence from American newspapers and German admirals revealing preoccupations with the Royal Navy's control of the sea in the summer of 1940. Britain's negotiating position with Germany was therefore stronger than generally assumed. The relative position of Sir Hugh Dowding and Sir Charles Forbes in the British national pantheon is revised with the relatively unknown Admiral Forbes emerging as a forgotten hero. An undue focus on the air campaigns of 1940 only emerged as an Anglo-American media construct after American fears over Axis naval domination began to ease. As Churchill wished to fight-on, he glamorised the exploits of `the few' and allowed the suffering of bombed civilians to be paraded in front of a cautious American public. Churchill's desperation ensured some British technological achievements overwhelmingly connected with the air campaigns were exaggerated in order to `buy' sympathy and vital logistical support. This new narrative of victory distributes the credit more fairly among participants and calls for Battle of Britain monuments to recognise the sailors' contributions, especially those of the Merchant Navy whose human losses far exceeded those of `the few' at this crucial period

CMOS Terahertz Metamaterial Based 64 × 64 Bolometric Detector Arrays

We present two terahertz detectors composed of microbolometer sensors (vanadium oxide and silicon pn diode) and metamaterial absorbers monolithically integrated into a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. The metamaterial absorbers were created using the metal-dielectric-metal layers of a commercial CMOS technology resulting in low-cost terahertz detectors. The scalability of this technology was used to form a 64 × 64 pixel terahertz focal plane array

Polarisation of high-energy emission in a pulsar striped wind

Recent observations of the polarisation of the optical pulses from the Crab pulsar motivated detailed comparative studies of the emission predicted by the polar cap, the outer gap and the two-pole caustics models. In this work, we study the polarisation properties of the synchrotron emission emanating from the striped wind model. We use an explicit asymptotic solution for the large-scale field structure related to the oblique split monopole and valid for the case of an ultra-relativistic plasma. This is combined with a crude model for the emissivity of the striped wind and of the magnetic field within the dissipating stripes themselves. We calculate the polarisation properties of the high-energy pulsed emission and compare our results with optical observations of the Crab pulsar. The resulting radiation is linearly polarised. In the off-pulse region, the electric vector lies in the direction of the projection on the sky of the rotation axis of the pulsar, in good agreement with the data. Other properties such as a reduced degree of polarisation and a characteristic sweep of the polarisation angle within the pulses are also reproduced.Comment: Proceedings of the 363. WE-Heraeus Seminar on: Neutron Stars and Pulsars (Posters and contributed talks) Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, Germany, May.14-19, 2006, eds. W.Becker, H.H.Huang, MPE Report 291, pp.108-11

HOMELESS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN AMERICA: WHO COUNTS?

After interviewing homeless high school students, the research team in a Colorado school district discovered that many students had not revealed their true living conditions (homelessness) to anyone in the school district. This research team developed an anonymous survey written around the homeless categories identified in the McKinney-Vento federal legislation. Results revealed students who identified as homeless for a portion of their high school years in numbers and percentages alarmingly higher than the district had on file. In fact, over 25 times as many homeless students were identified by this process than by the previously-used district system for identifying homelessness. An equally alarming finding is that very few students identified their homeless status to a teacher, counselor, or school administrator. This article identifies statistical patterns to predict homelessness and provides recommendations for administrative practices

Pion nucleon scattering

Abstract Not Provided