The Inventory Channel of Trade Credit: Theory and Evidence

We develop a simple theoretical model with a stochastic demand framework that captures the trade-off between inventories and trade credit. The essence is that the firm is in the middle of a credit chain, and produces goods for sale, holding inventories of goods that were produced but unsold at a cost. In the face of uncertain demand for its products the firm extends trade credit to its financially constrained customers to obtain additional sales. Our model provides directly testable predictions to identify the response of accounts payable and accounts receivable to changes in the cost of inventories, profitability, risk and liquidity, and importantly, this influence operates through a production channel. Our results support the model and complement many existing studies focused on explaining the financial terms of trade credit

Grassland Management Practices and the Diversity of Soil Nematode Communities

Nematodes are numerically abundant in northern temperate grassland soils where, through their feeding on plants, soil microbes and each other as well as being a food resource, they contribute to soil functioning and affect plant soil interrelationships. Permanent plant cover and the consequent abundance of root tissue supply a year-round food supply. There are only limited data on the effects of root-feeding by nematodes on the growth and development of pasture plants but under some circumstances above-ground biomass may be reduced. Herbivory by specific nematode parasites may not only directly affect the host plant but also promote soil microbial activity and nutrient fluxes. Nematodes in other feeding groups interact directly with the microbial communities influencing soil processes, including decomposition and mineralisation

Evaluation of a White Clover Variety With Increased Resistance to Stem Nematode (\u3cem\u3eDitylenchus Dipsaci\u3c/em\u3e) Under Sheep Grazing and Cutting

Stem nematode (Ditylenchus dipsaci (Kühn) Filipjev) is a major pest of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) in UK pastures (Cook et al., 1992a) and in other parts of the world. In a previous trial, resistant and susceptible selections yielded the same in three years in the absence of the nematode but, on infested plots, the susceptible yielded the same as the resistant selection in year 1 but only 68 and 58% in years 2 and 3, as the nematode infestation increased (Cook et al., 1992b). We have now developed varieties with enhanced resistance to this pest by screening under controlled conditions (Plowright et al., 2002). We describe an experiment to test the hypothesis that stress imposed on the plant by grazing as opposed to cutting management would exacerbate the effects of nematode infestation and accentuate the advantages of resistance through longer survival of clover plants

Covid reallocation of spending : the effect of remote working on the retail and hospitality sector

A defining economic outcome from the Covid-19 pandemic is the unprecedented shift towards remote working from home. The extent and duration of this shift will have important consequences for local economies and especially the retail and hospitality sectors which depend on business around the workplace. Using a new bespoke, nationally representative survey of UK working age adults we analyse their ability and willingness to work remotely, and the consequences for spending on food, beverages, retail and entertainment around the workplace. We establish five key facts. (i) The post-pandemic change will be large: the fraction of work done from home will increase by 20 percentage points over its pre-pandemic level. (ii) The Dingel-Neiman (2020) assessment of remote working potential by occupation are reasonably predictive of what workers and employers expect to do, with a correlation coefficient of over 0.7. (iii) Relocation will be higher for better paid professional occupations, which will skew spending toward the most socio-economically affluent geographical areas. (iv) The corresponding geographical shift in annual retail and hospitality spending will be £3.0 billion with more remote working shifting demand away from urban areas. (v) On average, a 1% change in neighbourhood workforce changes local spending by 0.25%

Remote work and compensation inequality

This paper examines how the rise of working-from-home (WFH) affects compensation inequality. Using a novel survey, we find that the option to WFH is highly valued by workers (worth 8% of wages) but concentrated among higher earners, suggesting increased inequality. However, using a simple model where WFH and in-person workers are complements, we show that increased WFH leads to lower wages for WFH workers, potentially offsetting the benefits of WFH. Empirically, workers in WFH-capable occupations experienced 2–7% lower wage growth post-pandemic, consistent with the theory. Overall, we find no change in inequality but a substantial increase in compensation

Stigma narratives: LGBT transitions and identities in Malta

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2011 A B Academic Publishers.This article considers narratives of transition experiences of a group of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) young people in Malta. The article draws on Goffman's concept of stigma and uses this to explore transitions in a society that retains some traditional characteristics, particularly the code of honour and shame, although mediated by aspects of modernity. Interviews were undertaken with 15 young people with the goal of producing narratives. The article analyses the experience of stigma, its effects and how young people manage its consequences. It concludes by drawing attention to the pervasive nature of stigma and the importance of structure, agency and reflexivity in youth transitions. In particular stigma remains an important feature of societies in which hetero-normative sexuality remains dominant

Catalyst‐mediated enhancement of carbon nanotube textiles by laser irradiation: Nanoparticle sweating and bundle alignment

The photonic post-processing of suspended carbon nanotube (CNT) ribbons made by floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FC-CVD) results in selective sorting of the carbon nanotubes present. Defective, thermally non-conductive or unconnected CNTs are burned away, in some cases leaving behind a highly crystalline (as indicated by the Raman G:D ratio), highly conductive network. However, the improvement in crystallinity does not always occur but is dependent on sample composition. Here, we report on fundamental features, which are observed for all samples. Pulse irradiation (not only by laser but also white light camera flashes, as well as thermal processes such as Joule heating) lead to (1) the sweating-out of catalyst nanoparticles resulting in molten catalyst beads of up to several hundreds of nanometres in diameter on the textile surface and (2) a significant improvement in CNT bundle alignment. The behavior of the catalyst beads is material dependent. Here, we show the underlying mechanisms of the photonic post-treatment by modelling the macro- and microstructural changes of the CNT network and show that it is mainly the amount of residual catalyst which determines how much energy these materials can withstand before their complete decomposition

Firms' investment under financial constraints: a Euro area investigation

In this paper we describe a model of optimal investment of various types of financially constrained firms. We show that the resulting relationship between internal funds and investment is non-monotonic. In particular, the magnitude of the cash flow sensitivity of the investment is lower for firms with credit rationing compared to firms that are able to obtained short-term external financing. The inverse relationship is driven by the leverage multiplier effect. A positive cash flow shock increases the short-term borrowing capacity of the firm, which in turn has a positive effect on investment and firm's growth. Moreover, the leverage multiplier effect is the highest for firms relying on short-term credits and it is lower for firms that are able to obtain long-term financing. Analysing a large euro area data set we find strong empirical support for our theoretical predictions. The results also help to explain some contrasting findings in the financial constraints literature

Bringing the Street Back In:Considering Strategy, Contingency and Relative Good Fortune in Street Children’s Access to Paid Work in Accra

A sociology of street children has emerged defined by its rejection of the dominant narratives of child welfare organisations that identify the street as the root cause of children’s immiseration and improper socialisation. In its place, sociological analysis has undermined the value of conceptualising street children as a coherent group on the street and in a parallel move has looked to conceptually reposition street children away from assumptions of passivity and neglect, towards a foundational insistence that the starting place for analysis is the positioning of street children as active and strategic social agents. It is the adequacy of this latter concern that is the focus of this article. By reintroducing the location of children within the social relations of the informal street economy, this article draws upon extensive and long-term qualitative research examining the lives of street children in Accra, Ghana. The argument here is that sociological notions of strategic action and efficacious agency seem ill-suited to accounting for the dilemmas and difficulties that street children’s quests for paid work inevitably involve. Rather, it is relative good fortune within the radical uncertainty of the social relations of the informal street economy that seems much more appropriate to accounting for how these children are integrated into wor

Is the internet the right medium for a 'don't quit campaign'?

This paper examines the effectiveness of promoting post-16 education and training via Internet. It examines the differences between those who intend to continue the post-16 schooling and those who do not. The implication of the findings challenges the effectiveness of a 'don't quit campaign' which was to offer support and guidance on the choice of post 16 options. This study found that the campaign has done very little for those who decided not to continue post-16 education. Consequently, disadvantaged young people need constant support and resources to eliminate the disparities between different groups