Cross-Border Financing by the Industrial Sector Increases Competition in the Domestic Banking Sector

We predict that access to cross-border financing by the industrial sector reduces firms' reliance on domestic banks, thereby leading to lower rents for banks and greater competition in the domestic banking sector. We also predict that banks take on more risk to offset these lost rents and remain competitive. Using mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to identify variation in cross-border financing, we find evidence consistent with our hypotheses. Additional tests verify that the effects emanate from the demand side (i.e., firms not relying on banks) rather than the supply side (i.e., banks not willing to lend to firms). Overall, we document how competition from overseas financial markets influences the domestic banking sector

Earnings Volatility, Cash Flow Volatility and Informed Trading

I examine whether earnings that are smoother or more volatile than cash flows provide or garble information. Consistent with theories that predict more informed trading when public information is less informative, I find that bid-ask spreads and the probability of informed trading are higher both when earnings are smoother than cash flows and also when earnings are more volatile than cash flows. Additional tests suggest that managers’ discretionary choices that lead to smoother or more volatile earnings than cash flows, on average, garble information. However, I find that informed trading is attenuated in settings in which theory suggests that discretionary smoothing or volatizing of earnings is likely to be informative

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Earnings Volatility, Cash Flow Volatility, and Informed Trading

ABSTRACT I examine whether earnings that are smoother or more volatile than cash flows provide or garble information. Consistent with theories that predict more informed trading when public information is less informative, I find that bid-ask spreads and the probability of informed trading are higher both when earnings are smoother than cash flows and also when earnings are more volatile than cash flows. Additional tests suggest that managers' discretionary choices that lead to smoother or more volatile earnings than cash flows garble information, on average. However, I find that informed trading is attenuated in settings in which theory suggests that discretionary smoothing or volatizing of earnings is likely to be informative. Copyright (c), University of Chicago on behalf of the Institute of Professional Accounting, 2008.

Whistle Blowing and CEO Compensation: The Qui Tam Statute

A purported dark side to powerful equity-based incentives is that they may induce a CEO to manipulate stock prices. With this in mind, recent theoretical models predict that firms will grant more equity-based compensation to their CEOs when the detection of any information manipulation is more likely. We provide confirming empirical evidence using three different tests. First, we use the qui tam statute as an experimental setting to test this prediction. This statute gives whistle blowers in the healthcare industry large financial incentives to reveal corporate fraud. Controlling for characteristics that might vary between the healthcare and other industries, we find that the proportion of equity-based compensation to total annual compensation is around 9 % higher in the healthcare industry. Second, as third parties, such as the press, focus their investigative efforts towards large firms, we use an indicator variable to identify the largest firms in our sample and find that these firms are granted more equity-based compensation than others firms. Third, we use the passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) as an exogenous shock that increased the frequency of meritorious lawsuits. We find that equity-based compensation increased significantly after the passage of PSLRA. Using a difference-in-difference specification, we document that the effect of PSLRA on equity-based compensation is more pronounced for the healthcare industry and for the largest firms. The collective evidence appears consistent with theoretical models that predict that the detection likelihood of information manipulation affects the structure of CEO compensation

Exit as Governance: An Empirical Analysis

Recent theory posits a new corporate governance channel available to blockholders: the threat of exit. Threats, however, are distinct from actual exits and thus difficult to measure directly. This paper exploits financial crises as natural experiments that exogenously changed stock liquidity and thus the credibility of blockholder exit threats. During these crises, firms with larger blockholder ownership suffered larger declines in firm value, attesting to the governance role of exit threats. Additional tests distinguish this governance role from traditional blockholder monitoring through intervention. We are especially grateful to the editors and the referee. We also thank Anat Admati, Lauren Cohen

Larvicidal and anti-termite activities of microbial biosurfactant produced by Enterobacter cloacae SJ2 isolated from marine sponge Clathria sp.

Abstract The widespread use of synthetic pesticides has resulted in a number of issues, including a rise in insecticide-resistant organisms, environmental degradation, and a hazard to human health. As a result, new microbial derived insecticides that are safe for human health and the environment are urgently needed. In this study, rhamnolipid biosurfactants produced from Enterobacter cloacae SJ2 was used to evaluate the toxicity towards mosquito larvae (Culex quinquefasciatus) and termites (Odontotermes obesus). Results showed dose dependent mortality rate was observed between the treatments. The 48 h LC50 (median lethal concentration) values of the biosurfactant were determined for termite and mosquito larvae following the non-linear regression curve fit method. Results showed larvicidal activity and anti-termite activity of biosurfactants with 48 h LC50 value (95% confidence interval) of 26.49 mg/L (25.40 to 27.57) and 33.43 mg/L (31.09 to 35.68), respectively. According to a histopathological investigation, the biosurfactant treatment caused substantial tissue damage in cellular organelles of larvae and termites. The findings of this study suggest that the microbial biosurfactant produced by E. cloacae SJ2 is an excellent and potentially effective agent for controlling Cx. quinquefasciatus and O. obesus