Political connections and corporate financial decision making

This paper investigates whether and how political connections influence managerial financial decisions. Our study reveals that those firms that have a politician on its board of directors are highly leveraged, use more long-term debt, hold large excess cash and are associated with low quality financial reporting compared to their non-connected counterparts. These effects escalate with the strength of the connected politician and whether he or his party is in power. The winning party effect is observed to be stronger than victory by the politician himself. Overall, our paper provides strong evidence that political connection is a two-edged sword. It is indeed a valuable resource for connected firms, but it comes at a cost of higher agency problems

The Rate of Recurrence of Club Foot Deformity in Patients Using Dennis Brown Splint

Objective: To estimate the rate of recurrence of deformity in patients using Dennis Brown Splint and for the description of the issues related to non-compliance of the Dennis Brown Splint. Material and Methods: It was a prospective descriptive case series study.70 patients with corrected Club Feet were selected from APPNA Rehabilitation Department of Benazir Bhutto Hospital. The patients were given the Dennis Brown Splints for the maintenance of the correction followed by Ponseti method. Clubfeet were graded according to the Pirani scoring system check the recurrence of the deformity. Patients were called for routine follow-up to check the rate of recurrence of the deformity and parents were interviewed for the issues related to non-compliance to the bracing program. Duration of the study was 12 months followed by the bracing. Results: It is founded that the recurrence of the deformity is about 24%. 17/70 reported with recurrence with the deformity after correction during bracing program. While the issues of non-compliance 47% reported with skin problems while 45% reported with residual adduction of the foot part due to loosening of the screw. 30 % reported that their babies withdraw the foot from the shoes by applying force. 70% of the families don’t have even basic education which also adds to the poor outcomes. Conclusion: It was concluded that relapse rate is 24% because of the issues related to the non-compliance from which main issue is skin damage. The second other cause is repeated residual adduction due to the loosening of the screw. Most of the families have very low education so it was founded very difficult to counsel them. Some families also quit from bracing without informing the consultants