Financial systems, innovation and economic performance

There is growing evidence of international divergence in the performance of newindustries. While the United States is at the forefront of the recent revolution ininformation technologies, European economists and policy makers are concerned thatEurope is falling behind with negative implications for long-term economicperformance. This paper investigates the role of financial systems as a crucialdeterminant of apparent differences in national abilities to promote innovativeactivities in specific sectors. Firstly, a short overview of the relevant finance andinnovation literature is provided, and a synthetic view of the finance-innovation linkis sketched. It is argued that national financial systems have an impact on thestructure of growth through their differing abilities to promote innovation in sector-specifictechnology regimes. Secondly, I apply a simple econometric model to a dataset consisting of 17 OECD countries and 20 manufacturing industries to identifyempirical patterns. The evidence suggests that sectors characterized by hightechnological opportunity and a focus on product innovation perform relatively betterin financial systems with large stock markets, competitive banking sectors and goodaccounting standards. In contrast, the performance of sectors geared towardsinnovation in processes benefits from a more bank-oriented financial system andconcentrated ownership structures.economics of technology ;

Demonstration of an E-mailed Worksite Nutrition Intervention Program

INTRODUCTION: Dietary fat and low fruit and vegetable intake are linked to many chronic diseases, and U.S. population intake does not meet recommendations. Interventions are needed that incorporate effective behavior-change principles and that can be delivered inexpensively to large segments of the population. METHODS: Employees at a corporate worksite were invited to participate in a program, delivered entirely by e-mail, to reduce dietary fat and increase fruit and vegetable intake. Behavior-change principles underlying the intervention included tailoring to the participant's dietary lifestyle, baseline assessment and feedback about dietary intake, family participation, and goal setting. Assessment, tailoring, and delivery was fully automated. The program was delivered weekly to participants' e-mail inboxes for 12 weeks. Each e-mail included information on nutrition or on the relationship between diet and health, dietary tips tailored to the individual, and small goals to try for the next week. In this nonrandomized pilot study, we assessed technical feasibility, acceptability to employees, improvement in Stage of Change, increase in fruit and vegetable consumption, and decrease in fat intake. RESULTS: Approximately one third (n = 84) of employees who were offered the 12-week program signed up for it, and satisfaction was high. There was significant improvement in Stage of Change: 74% of those not already at the top had forward movement (P <.001). In addition, results suggest significant increase in fruit and vegetable consumption (0.73 times/day, P <.001) and significant decrease in intake of fat sources (-0.39 times/day, P < .001). CONCLUSION: This inexpensive program is feasible and appears to be effective. A randomized controlled trial is needed

Are Education and Entrepreneurial Income Endogenous and Do Family Background Variables Make Sense as Instruments?: A Bayesian Analysis

Education is a well-known driver of (entrepreneurial) income. The measurement of its influence, however, suffers from endogeneity suspicion. For instance, ability and occupational choice are mentioned as driving both the level of (entrepreneurial) income and of education. Using instrumental variables can provide a way out. However, three questions remain: whether endogeneity is really present, whether it matters and whether the selected instruments make sense. Using Bayesian methods, we find that the relationship between education and entrepreneurial income is indeed endogenous and that the impact of endogeneity on the estimated relationship between education and income is sizeable. We do so using family background variables and show that relaxing the strict validity assumption of these instruments does not lead to strongly different results. This is an important finding because family background variables are generally strongly correlated with education and are available in most datasets. Our approach is applicable beyond the field of returns to education for income. It applies wherever endogeneity suspicion arises and the three questions become relevant.Education, income, entrepreneurship, self-employment, endogeneity, instrumental variables, Bayesian analysis, family background variables

Spin Bose-Metal and Valence Bond Solid phases in a spin-1/2 model with ring exchanges on a four-leg triangular ladder

We study a spin-1/2 system with Heisenberg plus ring exchanges on a four-leg triangular ladder using the density matrix renormalization group and Gutzwiller variational wave functions. Near an isotropic lattice regime, for moderate to large ring exchanges we find a spin Bose-metal phase with a spinon Fermi sea consisting of three partially filled bands. Going away from the triangular towards the square lattice regime, we find a staggered dimer phase with dimers in the transverse direction, while for small ring exchanges the system is in a featureless rung phase. We also discuss parent states and a possible phase diagram in two dimensions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, v3 is the print versio