Reporting guidelines for meta-analysis in economics

Meta‐analysis has become the conventional approach to synthesizing the results of empirical economics research. To further improve the transparency and replicability of the reported results and to raise the quality of meta‐analyses, the Meta‐Analysis of Economics Research Network has updated the reporting guidelines that were published by this Journal in 2013. Future meta‐analyses in economics will be expected to follow these updated guidelines or give valid reasons why a meta‐analysis should deviate from them

Thermal Adaptation of Dihydrofolate Reductase from the Moderate ThermophileGeobacillus stearothermophilus

The thermal melting temperature of dihydrofolate reductase from Geobacillus stearothermophilus (BsDHFR) is 30 °C higher than that of its homologue from the psychrophile Moritella profunda. Additional proline residues in the loop regions of BsDHFR have been proposed to enhance the thermostability of BsDHFR, but site-directed mutagenesis studies reveal that these proline residues contribute only minimally. Instead, the high thermal stability of BsDHFR is partly due to removal of water-accessible thermolabile residues such as glutamine and methionine, which are prone to hydrolysis or oxidation at high temperatures. The extra thermostability of BsDHFR can be obtained by ligand binding, or in the presence of salts or cosolvents such as glycerol and sucrose. The sum of all these incremental factors allows BsDHFR to function efficiently in the natural habitat of G. stearothermophilus, which is characterized by temperatures that can reach 75 °C

Rather complements than substitutes: firm value effects of capital structure and financial hedging decisions

The aim of this study is to analyze the interaction between capital structure decisions and risk management decisions as well as the channels through which they add value to firms. Competing theories are considered in an integrated path model, which we test by means of meta-analytic structural equation modelling (MASEM). This meta-analysis is based on 6,312 reported results, which are manually collected from 411 empirical studies. We find that capital structure mediates the relation between corporate financial hedging and firm value. In this regard, active risk management positively affects leverage by providing greater debt capacities. Furthermore, leverage has a negative impact on firm value. Hence, capital structure and financial hedging decisions appear rather as complements instead of substitutes. This implies that managers should leave additional debt capacities unused and instead use additional internal funds arising from active risk management to carry out profitable projects and research and development activities. Overall, corporate hedging is found to especially add value to a firm by lowering bankruptcy risks and underinvestment risks

Reporting guidelines for meta-analysis in economics

Meta-analysis has become the conventional approach to synthesizing the results of empirical economics research. To further improve the transparency and replicability of the reported results and to raise the quality of meta-analyses, the Meta-Analysis of Economics Research Network has updated the reporting guidelines that were published by this Journal in 2013. Future meta-analyses in economics will be expected to follow these updated guidelines or give valid reasons why a meta-analysis should deviate from them