13 research outputs found
A caseâcontrol study of childhood leukaemia and paternal occupational contact level in rural Sweden
In a national caseâcontrol study in Sweden, we investigated whether in rural areas (where susceptible individuals are more prevalent than in urban areas) leukaemia risk was higher among the young children of fathers with many work contacts, as the infective hypothesis has predicted. A total of 1935 cases diagnosed in 1958â1998 together with 7736 age-matched (within 1 year) population controls (of whom 970 and 3880 respectively were aged 0â4) were linked to paternal occupational details as recorded in the census closest to the year of birth. Applying the two classifications of occupational contact level used in a study of rural Scotland, the odds ratios for children aged 0â4 years in the highest contact category (which includes teachers) in the most rural Swedish counties were 3.47 (95% CI 1.54, 7.85) and 1.59 (1.07, 2.38) respectively, relative to the medium and low (reference) category; no such excess was found in urban or intermediate counties. There was also a significant positive trend at ages 0â4 in the rural counties across the three levels of increasing occupational contact (P for trend 0.02 and 0.03, respectively), but again not in the urban or intermediate counties. No such effect or trend was found at ages 5â14 in any of the three county groupings. The findings confirm those of a recent study in rural Scotland, and also suggest that unusual population mixing (as occurred in Scotland as a result of the North Sea oil industry) is not a necessary requirement for the effect, since comparable mixing has not been a feature of rural Sweden
Empirical evidence of banking relationships for Spanish SMEs
Theoretical papers on banking relationships have focused on how the strength of a bankâfirm relationship affects the design of credit agreements. In empirical studies, the number of bank relationships has been often used as a proxy for the strength of the bankâfirm relationship. Any analysis of bankâfirm relationships must also include a study of the reasons why a particular
bank is selected. This means identifying the most significant decision-making variables concerned
with such contracting. In this article, we examine the determinants of the number of banking
relationships and the factors that influence the choice of banks in a sample of small and mediumsized firms. The reference to SME firms is very useful, since SMEs are highly dependent on banking finance to undertake their projects. The results provide some evidence in support of the idea that, for SMEs, the size of the firm, age, leverage and financial cost have significant links with the number of banking relationships. On the other hand, the results confirm the tendency for qualitative aspects to become determining factors in the choice of financial institutions