Financial Regulation in a Pandemic The Consequences of Short-Selling Bans on Different Market Capitalizations in Europe

This thesis examines the impact of the short-selling bans implemented across six European countries during the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, with a focus on their effects on firms of different market capitalizations. Utilizing a difference-in-difference methodology, this study assesses the effects of these bans on market liquidity and returns, exploring whether these interventions served as protective measures or merely reactive strategies. The results indicate that the short-selling bans led to increased bid-ask spreads and higher levels of Amihud illiquidity measure. The bans disproportionately impacted smaller market-cap stocks, both in terms of returns and market quality. Additionally, the bans are associated with a statistically significant positive announcement effect on stock prices; however, this effect diminishes over the entire ban period, with abnormal returns becoming negative for stocks affected by the ban. Lastly, the study explores the determinant factors of these regulatory decisions, revealing that economic vulnerability and systemic financial risks were significant determinants in the enactment of short-selling bans. This research contributes to the ongoing debate about the efficacy of short-selling bans, suggesting that such interventions might have unintended adverse effects on market dynamics

Армагеддон: Сравнительное изображение ядерного конфликта между США и СССР в американском кино

Introduction. Film offers a valuable mirror to reflect on how we assess our present and past. The Cold War was one of the most troubled periods in history. Two huge, wealthy, energetic, and creative societies competed in all areas. During those decades of electric change and development they faced each other with weapons of ever increasing lethality. The film industry in both countries looked at how the nuclear exchange would impact in both lands. Over the decades as the weaponry changed, as the patterns of leadership changed, as the economy of the world evolved, both nations’ film industry painted different images of what Armageddon could look like. If we compare comparable films, across similar decades, what do we learn of that era and those people? Methods and Materials. The methods used in the article are comparative, analytical and functional systematic ones. The materials used are the following: 1) five films of both cultures from different decades; 2) secondary accounts of contemporary events; 3) secondary reviews of the selected films, and 4) secondary accounts of parallel incidents. Analysis. With the complex weapons of the Cold War era we certainly need to worry about the technological imperative and the potential role of accident and unintended consequences. However, we are blessed that the doom day scenario has not yet erupted. We are most fortunate that the dire warning of many US filmmakers have not been realized. Indeed with the coming advent of AI technology and 5G communications, we may have more to fear than ever before. Results. After fifty some years of the Cold War, films continue to project the worst fears of people. As we review these films across the several decades we see constancy, the films again and again distrust technology

An Evaluation of Ecolabels, Standards & Certifications in the Chemical Industry

In recent years, ecolabels, standards and certifications (ESCs) have been increasingly utilized to signal a product’s environmental and socially responsible profile, both in the business-to-business and business-to-consumer spheres. The growing demand for this sustainability information from consumers, retailers, and governments has put pressure on the suppliers to provide qualitative and quantitative data on products’ environmental footprint. A multi-national chemical company and the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources team have collaborated to conduct this master’s project, An Evaluation of Ecolabels, Standards & Certifications in the Chemical Industry. The purpose of this project is to provide a strategy for multinational chemical companies to better engage their customers in the marketplace in a way that supports the transfer of sustainability information throughout the value chain. The student team engaged with stakeholders in sustainability reporting, studied a number of ecolabel schemes, and developed a survey addressing members of the home and personal care industry to learn from their experience and priorities. Results of the survey indicate that home and personal care manufacturers expect to double the percentage of their products labeled with an ESC in the next five years. Manufacturers use ESCs on finished products to differentiate, and to increase market penetration and perception of product quality. The main barriers to this use of ESCs are the lack of accredited raw materials and supplier information. The R&D department is most often the agent pursuing ingredients labeled with an ESC and the most important decision-making factors influencing procurement are unsurprisingly, performance and price. Suppliers of ingredients to home and personal care manufacturers can use valuable ESCs as a short-term measure to communicate the ingredient sustainability information, but given the ongoing development of the ESC marketplace, businesses throughout the value chain should continue to collaborate with stakeholders and watch for trends.Master of ScienceNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90877/1/An_Evaluation_of_Ecolabels,_Standards_and_Certifications_in_the_Chemical_Industry[1].pd

Visual Target Selection and Motor Planning Define Attentional Enhancement at Perceptual Processing Stages

Extracting information from the visual field can be achieved by covertly orienting attention to different regions, or by making saccades to bring areas of interest onto the fovea. While much research has shown a link between covert attention and saccade preparation, the nature of that link remains a matter of dispute. Covert presaccadic orienting could result from target selection or from planning a motor act toward an object. We examined the contribution of visual target selection and motor preparation to attentional orienting in humans by dissociating these two habitually aligned processes with saccadic adaptation. Adaptation introduces a discrepancy between the visual target evoking a saccade and the motor metrics of that saccade, which, unbeknownst to the participant, brings the eyes to a different spatial location. We examined attentional orienting by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) to task-irrelevant visual probes flashed during saccade preparation at four equidistant locations including the visual target location and the upcoming motor endpoint. ERPs as early as 130–170 ms post-probe were modulated by attention at both the visual target and motor endpoint locations. These results indicate that both target selection and motor preparation determine the focus of spatial attention, resulting in enhanced processing of stimuli at early visual-perceptual stages

För sig själva tillsammans

Vilket ansvar tillskrivs människor som bor på landsbygden att lösa de problem som finns där? Det är den frågeställning som står i fokus i denna kandidatuppsats i landsbygdsutveckling. Syftet är att undersöka hur detta ansvar beskrivs och motiveras politiskt snarare än att studera frågan ur ett moraliskt perspektiv. För att besvara frågeställningen görs en kritisk diskursanalys av texten Sveriges Landsbygdsprogram för 2007-2013. Analysen görs med fokus på hur programmet diskursivt skapar en politisk rationalitet för den förda politiken genom att undvika att sätta in den nuvarande situationen på landsbygden i ett ekonomiskt och politiskt historiskt perspektiv. Detta gör det möjligt för programmet att hänvisa människor på landsbygden till specifika subjektspositioner där de ges ett visst handlingsutrymme att påverka sin situation. Den kritiska diskursanalysen görs med utgångspunkt i hur grammatik och ordföljd säger något om vilken bild av verkligheten programmet utgår från och vilken verklighet det föreslår. Tyngdpunkten i diskussionen ligger på såväl implikationerna av programmets sätt att uttala sig om landsbygden som på hur det kan ses som ett specifikt uttryck för ett mer omfattande diskursivt sammanhang.Do people who live in rural areas have a certain responsibility to manage the problems that occur in the rural context? This is the focus of this bachelor thesis in rural development. The scope of the thesis is to study how the political view of people’s responsibility is acted out rather than to study the issue from a moral perspective. The study is carried out through a critical discourse analysis of The Rural Development Programme for Sweden the period of 2007-2013. The aim of the analysis is to study how the programme discursively creates a political rationality for the policies by avoiding bringing the situation of today’s rural areas into a politicaleconomic historic context. This gives the programme opportunity to allot people certain subject positionings where their agency to affect the situation is defined. The critical discourse analysis is made with focus on how the grammatics and semantics of the text show what view of reality the programme is based on and which reality it suggests. Focus is on the implications of the programmes way of speaking about the rural areas and also on how this way of speaking can be seen as a display of an extensive discursive context

Komiska inslag i Ibsens samtidsdramer: Den postmoderne Ibsen

Sven Åke Heed diskuterer de seneste års tendens til at tilpasse Ibsens dramatik til en postmoderne æstetik gennem strategier som parodi og recycling. Heed viser, at de postmoderne opsætninger åbner for komiske elementer, som allerede er indskrevet i Ibsens tekster, men som ikke tidligere er blevet tillagt stor vægt.&nbsp

Reach Trajectories Characterize Tactile Localization for Sensorimotor Decision Making

Brandes J, Heed T. Reach Trajectories Characterize Tactile Localization for Sensorimotor Decision Making. Journal of Neuroscience. 2015;35(40):13648-13658