Credit constraints and the cyclicality of R&D investment: Evidence from France

We use a French firm-level data set containing 13,000 firms over the period 1993-2004 to analyze the relationship between credit constraints and firms' R&D behavior over the business cycle. Our main results can be summarized as follows: (i) the share of R&D investment over total investment is countercyclical without credit constraints, but it becomes less countercyclical as firms face tighter credit constraints; (ii) this result is magnified for firms in sectors that depend more heavily upon external finance, or that are characterized by a low degree of asset tangibility ; (iii) in more credit constrained firms, R&D investment share plummets during recessions but does not increase proportionally during upturns; (iv) average R&D investment and productivity growth are more negatively correlated with sales volatility in more credit constrained firms.business cycles ; R&D ; credit constraints ; volatility

Distortion of Competition and Effect on Trade Between Member States

peer reviewe

Credit Constraints and the Cyclicality of R&D Investment: Evidence from France

We use a French firm-level data set containing 13,000 firms over the period 1994–2004 to analyze the relationship between credit constraints and firms’ R&D behavior over the business cycle. Our main results can be summarized as follows: (i) R&D investment is countercyclical without credit constraints, but it becomes procyclical as firms face tighter credit constraints; (ii) this result is only observed for firms in sectors that depend more heavily upon external finance, or that are characterized by a low degree of asset tangibility; (iii) in more credit-constrained firms, R&D investment plummets during recessions but does not increase proportionally during upturns.Economic

Credit constraints and the cyclicality of R&D investment: Evidence from France

We use a French firm-level data set containing 13,000 firms over the period 1993-2004 to analyze the relationship between credit constraints and firms' R&D behavior over the business cycle. Our main results can be summarized as follows: (i) the share of R&D investment over total investment is countercyclical without credit constraints, but it becomes less countercyclical as firms face tighter credit constraints; (ii) this result is magnified for firms in sectors that depend more heavily upon external finance, or that are characterized by a low degree of asset tangibility ; (iii) in more credit constrained firms, R&D investment share plummets during recessions but does not increase proportionally during upturns; (iv) average R&D investment and productivity growth are more negatively correlated with sales volatility in more credit constrained firms.Cette note analyse la relation entre les contraintes de crédit et l'investissement en R&D des entreprises le long de leur cycle d'affaire. Elle exploite l'appariement de deux bases de l'observatoire des entreprises de la Banque de France formant un large panel d'entreprises de toutes tailles sur la période 1993-2004. Les principaux résultats sont : (i) la part des investissements en R&D dans l'investissement total est contra-cyclique en l'absence de contraintes de crédit, mais il devient plus pro-cyclique lorsque les entreprises font face à des contraintes de crédit plus strictes ; (ii) le résultat est plus marqué dans les secteurs où les entreprises dépendent fortement definancements externes ; (iii) dans les entreprises les plus contraintes, la part des investissements en R&D plonge en cas de récession, mais ne se rattrape pas proportionnellement lors des reprises ; (iv) les investissements en R&D et la croissance de la productivité moyens sont plus négativement corrélés à la volatilité des ventes dans les entreprises les plus contraintes

Credit Constraints and the Cyclicality of R&D Investment: Evidence from France

We use a French firm-level panel data set over the period 1993-2004 to analyze the relationship between credit constraints and firms' R&D behavior over the business cycle. Our main results can be summarized as follows: (i) the share of R&D investment over total investment is countercyclical without credit constraints, but it becomes more procyclical as firms face tighter credit constraints; (ii) the result is magnified for firms in sectors that depend more heavily upon external finance; (iii) in more credit constrained firms, R&D investment share plummets during recessions but does not increase proportionally during upturns; (iv) average R&D investment and productivity growth are more negatively correlated with sales volatility in more credit constrained firms.Economic

Werte, Koordination und Rationalität: Die Verbindung dreier Themen durch die »Économie des conventions«

Das Forschungsprogramm der »Économie des conventions« (im Folgenden kurz: EC) führt aktuell drei Fragestellungen wieder zusammen, die das wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Denken anderthalb Jahrhunderte lang getrennt behandelt hat: die Charakterisierung der Akteure und ihrer Handlungsmotivationen, die Koordinationsmodalitäten von Handlungen sowie die Stellung von Werten und Gemeingütern. Bei der Erarbeitung der Standardtheorie wurden die Fragen der Rationalität und der Koordination strikt getrennt..

Werte, Koordination und Rationalität: Die Verbindung dreier Themen durch die »Économie des conventions«

Das Forschungsprogramm der »Économie des conventions« (im Folgenden kurz: EC) führt aktuell drei Fragestellungen wieder zusammen, die das wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Denken anderthalb Jahrhunderte lang getrennt behandelt hat: die Charakterisierung der Akteure und ihrer Handlungsmotivationen, die Koordinationsmodalitäten von Handlungen sowie die Stellung von Werten und Gemeingütern. Bei der Erarbeitung der Standardtheorie wurden die Fragen der Rationalität und der Koordination strikt getrennt..

Mutation update and genotype-phenotype correlations of novel and previously described mutations in TPM2 and TPM3 causing congenital myopathies

Mutations affecting skeletal muscle isoforms of the tropomyosin genes may cause nemaline myopathy, cap myopathy, core-rod myopathy, congenital fiber-type disproportion, distal arthrogryposes, and Escobar syndrome. We correlate the clinical picture of these diseases with novel (19) and previously reported (31) mutations of the TPM2 and TPM3 genes. Included are altogether 93 families: 53 with TPM2 mutations and 40 with TPM3 mutations. Thirty distinct pathogenic variants of TPM2 and 20 of TPM3 have been published or listed in the Leiden Open Variant Database (http://www.dmd.nl/). Most are heterozygous changes associated with autosomal-dominant disease. Patients with TPM2 mutations tended to present with milder symptoms than those with TPM3 mutations, DA being present only in the TPM2 group. Previous studies have shown that five of the mutations in TPM2 and one in TPM3 cause increased Ca2+ sensitivity resulting in a hypercontractile molecular phenotype. Patients with hypercontractile phenotype more often had contractures of the limb joints (18/19) and jaw (6/19) than those with nonhypercontractile ones (2/22 and 1/22), whereas patients with the non-hypercontractile molecular phenotype more often (19/22) had axial contractures than the hypercontractile group (7/19). Our in silico predictions show that most mutations affect tropomyosin–actin association or tropomyosin head-to-tail binding

Reduced Quantitative Ultrasound Bone Mineral Density in HIV-Infected Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy in Senegal

Background: Bone status in HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral treatment (ART) is poorly documented in resource-limited settings. We compared bone mineral density between HIV-infected patients and control subjects from Dakar, Senegal. Methods: A total of 207 (134 women and 73 men) HIV-infected patients from an observational cohort in Dakar (ANRS 1215) and 207 age-and sex-matched controls from the general population were enrolled. Bone mineral density was assessed by quantitative ultrasound (QUS) at the calcaneus, an alternative to the reference method (i.e. dual X-absorptiometry), often not available in resource-limited countries. Results: Mean age was 47.0 (+/- 8.5) years. Patients had received ART for a median duration of 8.8 years; 45% received a protease inhibitor and 27% tenofovir; 84% had undetectable viral load. Patients had lower body mass index (BMI) than controls (23 versus 26 kg/m(2), P<0.001). In unadjusted analysis, QUS bone mineral density was lower in HIV-infected patients than in controls (difference: -0.36 standard deviation, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.59;-0.12, P = 0.003). Adjusting for BMI, physical activity, smoking and calcium intake attenuated the difference (-0.27, CI: -0.53; -0.002, P = 0.05). Differences in BMI between patients and controls explained a third of the difference in QUS bone mineral density. Among patients, BMI was independently associated with QUS bone mineral density (P<0.001). An association between undetectable viral load and QUS bone density was also suggested (beta = 0.48, CI: 0.02; 0.93; P = 0.04). No association between protease inhibitor or tenofovir use and QUS bone mineral density was found. Conclusion: Senegalese HIV-infected patients had reduced QUS bone mineral density in comparison with control subjects, in part related to their lower BMI. Further investigation is needed to clarify the clinical significance of these observations