Do different forms of government ownership matter for bank capital behavior? Evidence from China

This study attempts to reconcile the conflicting theoretical predictions regarding how government ownership affects bank capital behaviour. Using a unique Chinese bank dataset over 2006-2015 we find that government-owned banks have higher target capital ratios and adjust these ratios faster compared to private banks, supporting the ‘development/political’ view of the government’s role in banking. This effect is stronger for local government-owned and state enterprise-owned banks than for central government-owned banks. We also find that undercapitalized government-owned banks increase equity while undercapitalized foreign banks contract assets and liabilities as their respective main strategy to adjust their capital ratios

Public policy and financial stability: the impact of PCA and TARP on U.S. bank non-performing loans

This study explores the implications of Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) on the behavior of non-performing loans (NPLs) and real estate non-performing loans (RELs) in the U.S. over 1984-2015 using a Markov switching framework. We find that NPLs and RELs exhibit pronounced episodic behavior switching between non-stationary and stationary regimes. PCA and TARP have a significant impact on banking sector stability by influencing the probability of switching from non-stationary regimes to stationary regimes and by reducing the level of NPLs and RELs. These results are robust to various model specifications and have important implications for bank regulation as well as for the formulation of macro stress-testing

A Student-Led Campaign to Help Tackle Neglected Tropical Diseases

The authors propose that innovative student-led campaigns to address neglected diseases can and do make a practical difference

Decoding neuronal ensembles in the human hippocampus

BACKGROUND: The hippocampus underpins our ability to navigate, to form and recollect memories, and to imagine future experiences. How activity across millions of hippocampal neurons supports these functions is a fundamental question in neuroscience, wherein the size, sparseness, and organization of the hippocampal neural code are debated. RESULTS: Here, by using multivariate pattern classification and high spatial resolution functional MRI, we decoded activity across the population of neurons in the human medial temporal lobe while participants navigated in a virtual reality environment. Remarkably, we could accurately predict the position of an individual within this environment solely from the pattern of activity in his hippocampus even when visual input and task were held constant. Moreover, we observed a dissociation between responses in the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, suggesting that they play differing roles in navigation. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that highly abstracted representations of space are expressed in the human hippocampus. Furthermore, our findings have implications for understanding the hippocampal population code and suggest that, contrary to current consensus, neuronal ensembles representing place memories must be large and have an anisotropic structure

Developing countries and neglected diseases: challenges and perspectives

It is now commonly admitted that the so-called (most) neglected tropical diseases have been given little attention. According to World Health Organization, neglected diseases are hidden diseases as they affect almost exclusively extremely poor populations living in remote areas beyond the reach of health service. The European Parliament recognised that, to our shame, Neglected Diseases have not received the attention they deserve from EU actions. In the Millennium Development Goals they were given very little attention and mentioned just as other disease. Investing in drugs for these diseases is thought to be not marketable or profitable. However, despite their low mortality, neglected diseases are causing severe and permanent disabilities and deformities affecting approximately 1 billion people in the world, yielding more than 20 millions of Disability Adjusted Life Years (56.6 million according to Lancet's revised estimates) and important socio-economic losses. Urgent pragmatic and efficient measures are needed both at international and national levels

Laboratory and Field Studies on Herpetosoma Trypanosomes From Portugal

Several small mammals were trapped in the Arrabida region (Portugal) and checked for the presence of trypanosomes which were found in 33 of the 197 (11.1 %) Mus spretus and in 9 of the 29 (31 %) Crocidura russula observed. To our knowledge, this was the first time that trypanosomes were isolated from these mammals species. In the liver of one dead C. russula was observed different parasite forms. The studies of infectivity to experimental rodents, analyses of the DNA buoyant density and the isoenzymatic profiles, show that trypanosomes isolates from M. spretus were identical to Trypanosoma musculi isolates from Mus musculus. However the isolates from C. russula, although related to the isolates from murine rodents, were clearly separated from these and close to Trypanosoma microti. These findings may allow further studies on the detection of their vectors and on the study of trypanosome reproduction.publishersversionpublishe

The value of repeat lending

JEL Classification: D40, F30, G21.The unique structure of syndicated lending results in information asymmetries within the lending syndicate between banks of varying degrees of seniority. While previous studies have attempted to use indirect proxy measures to capture the effects of such information asymmetries, in this paper we propose a more direct measure. This offers new insights into how junior and senior banks rely on their own and each other's information sets in lending syndicates. In particular, we look at the previous number of borrowing/lending relationships between individual borrowers and lenders and the duration of these interactions. Using this new, direct and explicit measure on a sample of 5,842 syndicated loan transactions between 1993 and 2006, we find that when participant banks have information inferiority in the syndicate they require higher loan spreads to compensate for this asymmetry. This is amplified when the borrowers are more opaque. We thus show how junior participant banks with repeat relationships with the same borrower graduate from uniformed to informed lenders (the spread goes down as asymmetry diminishes) and how they rely both on the arranger's reputation and their own repeat experience with the borrower

Depositor market discipline: New evidence from selling failed banks

This paper studies depositor behavior following the acquisition of failed banks by healthy banks in FDIC-supervised transactions. Using a US bank branch-based dataset spanning 2007 to 2014 we find that failed bank depositors discipline acquiring banks post-resolution. This appears to be related to features of the acquiring banks' asset quality and loan composition, but it may also be linked to irrational desciplinary behavior or post acquisition integration issues. We also find some evidence that depositor market discipline may have an impact on the competitive fetaures of local banking markets post resolution

Evolving friendships and shifting ethical dilemmas: fieldworkers' experiences in a short term community based study in Kenya

Fieldworkers (FWs) are community members employed by research teams to support access to participants, address language barriers, and advise on culturally appropriate research conduct. The critical role that FWs play in studies, and the range of practical and ethical dilemmas associated with their involvement, is increasingly recognised. In this paper, we draw on qualitative observation and interview data collected alongside a six month basic science study which involved a team of FWs regularly visiting 47 participating households in their homes. The qualitative study documented how relationships between field workers and research participants were initiated, developed and evolved over the course of the study, the shifting dilemmas FWs faced and how they handled them. Even in this one case study, we see how the complex and evolving relationships between fieldworkers and study participants had important implications for consent processes, access to benefits and mutual understanding and trust. While the precise issues that FWs face are likely to depend on the type of research and the context in which that research is being conducted, we argue that appropriate support for field workers is a key requirement to strengthen ethical research practice and for the long term sustainability of research programmes