Is there an Olympic gold medal rush in the stock market?

Investor sentiment and attention are often linked to the same non-economic events making it difficult to understand why and how asset prices are affected. We disentangle these two potential drivers of investment behaviour by analysing a new dataset of medals for major participating countries and sponsor firms over four Summer Olympic Games. Existing studies focus only on investigating the effect of sports events and sentiment on stock market returns. We consider for the first time also the importance of investor attention and the effect on activity at the market and firm level. Our results show that trading volume and volatility is substantially reduced following Olympic success although returns appear to be largely unaffected. In the U.S., trading volume (realised volatility) during Olympics is over 24% (61%) lower than comparable periods of the year when Games do not take place. Each gold medal leads to a further decrease in volume of nearly 3% on average over the trading day following the award. These findings are in line with theories and evidence related to investor attention but cannot be easily explained on the basis of sentiment. Analysis of data from online search volumes and from surveys measuring investor sentiment, also suggest that the market impact of the Olympics is linked to changes in investor attention

The role of the reactor size for an investment in the nuclear sector: an evaluation of not-financial parameters

The literature presents many studies about the economics of new Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Such studies are based on Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) methods encompassing the accounts related to Construction, Operation & Maintenance, Fuel and Decommissioning. However the investment evaluation of a nuclear reactor should also include not-financial factors such as siting and grid constraints, impact on the national industrial system, etc. The Integrated model for the Competitiveness Assessment of SMRs (INCAS), developed by Politecnico di Milano cooperating with the IAEA, is designed to analyze the choice of the better Nuclear Power Plant size as a multidimensional problem. In particular the INCAS’s module “External Factors” evaluates the impact of the factors that are not considered in the traditional DCF methods. This paper presents a list of these factors, providing, for each one, the rationale and the quantification procedure; then each factor is quantified for the Italian case. The IRIS reactor has been chosen as SMR representative. The approach and the framework of the model can be applied to worldwide countries while the specific results apply to most of the European countries. The results show that SMRs have better performances than LRs with respect to the external factors, in general and in the Italian scenario in particular

Brexit and its possible implications for the UK economy and its regions: A post-Keynesian perspective

This paper discusses the implications of Brexit for both the UK and its regions, as the latter depends on the former. We concentrate on the forecasts by Her Majesty's Treasury (HMT), the Cambridge Centre for Business Research and the Economists for Brexit. It is argued that the estimates of HMT of the loss of GDP are likely to be overstated, but, nevertheless, there will probably be a fall in output. Given this, the effect on the UK regions is analysed using the regional balance-of-payments constrained growth model. This suggests that Brexit will cause regional disparities to widen

Design for occupational safety and health of workers in construction in developing countries: A study of architects in Nigeria

Purpose. Design for safety (DfS) of workers is amongst the prominent ways of tackling poor occupational safety and health performance in construction. However, in developing countries there is extremely limited research on DfS. This study thus makes an important contribution to the subject of DfS in developing countries by specifically examining the awareness and practice of DfS amongst architects within the construction sector of Nigeria. Materials and methods. A survey of architects, yielding 161 valid responses, was conducted. Results. While there is high awareness of the concept of DfS, the actual practice is low. Additionally, although there is high interest in DfS training, the engagement in DfS training is low. Significantly, awareness of DfS, training and education related to DfS, and membership of a design professional body have very limited bearing on the practice of DfS by architects. Conclusions. The findings are thus symptomatic of the prevalence of influential DfS implementation barriers within the construction sector. Industry stakeholders should seek to raise the profile of DfS practice within the sector. Furthermore, similar empirical studies in the construction sector of other developing countries would be useful in shedding light on the status of DfS in these countries

City dweller aspirations for cities of the future: How do environmental and personal wellbeing feature?

This paper explores city dweller aspirations for cities of the future in the context of global commitments to radically reduce carbon emissions by 2050; cities contribute the vast majority of these emissions and a growing bulk of theworld's population lives in cities. The particular challenge of creating a carbon reduced future in democratic countries is that the measures proposed must be acceptable to the electorate. Such acceptability is fostered if carbon reduced ways of living are also felt to bewellbeing maximising. Thus the objective of the paper is to explore what kinds of cities people aspire to live in, to ascertain whether these aspirations align with or undermine carbon reduced ways of living, as well as personal wellbeing. Using a novel free associative technique, city aspirations are found to cluster around seven themes, encompassing physical and social aspects. Physically, people aspire to a city with a range of services and facilities, green and blue spaces, efficient transport, beauty and good design. Socially, people aspire to a sense of community and a safe environment. An exploration of these themes reveals that only a minority of the participants' aspirations for cities relate to lowering carbon or environmental wellbeing. Far more consensual is emphasis on, and a particular vision of, aspirations that will bring personal wellbeing. Furthermore, city dweller aspirations align with evidence concerning factors that maximise personal wellbeing but, far less, with those that produce lowcarbonways of living. In order to shape a lower carbon future that city dwellers accept the potential convergence between environmental and personal wellbeing will need to be capitalised on: primarily aversion to pollution and enjoyment of communal green space

The contribution of musculoskeletal disorders in multimorbidity: Implications for practice and policy

People frequently live for many years with multiple chronic conditions (multimorbidity) that impair health outcomes and are expensive to manage. Multimorbidity has been shown to reduce quality of life and increase mortality. People with multimorbidity also rely more heavily on health and care services and have poorer work outcomes. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are ubiquitous in multimorbidity because of their high prevalence, shared risk factors, and shared pathogenic processes amongst other long-term conditions. Additionally, these conditions significantly contribute to the total impact of multimorbidity, having been shown to reduce quality of life, increase work disability, and increase treatment burden and healthcare costs. For people living with multimorbidity, MSDs could impair the ability to cope and maintain health and independence, leading to precipitous physical and social decline. Recognition, by health professionals, policymakers, non-profit organisations, and research funders, of the impact of musculoskeletal health in multimorbidity is essential when planning support for people living with multimorbidity

Tephra without borders: Far-reaching clues into past explosive eruptions

This review is intended to highlight recent exciting advances in the study of distal (>100 km from the source) tephra and cryptotephra deposits and their potential application for volcanology. Geochemical correlations of tephra between proximal and distal locations have extended the geographical distribution of tephra over tens of millions square kilometers. Such correlations embark on the potential to reappraise volume and magnitude estimates of known eruptions. Cryptotephra investigations in marine, lake and ice-core records also give rise to continuous chronicles of large explosive eruptions many of which were hitherto unknown. Tephra preservation within distal ice sheets and varved lake sediments permit precise dating of parent eruptions and provide new insight into the frequency of eruptions. Recent advances in analytical methods permit an examination of magmatic processes and the evolution of the whole volcanic belts at distances of hundreds and thousands of kilometers from source. Distal tephrochronology has much to offer volcanology and has the potential to significantly contribute to our understanding of sizes, recurrence intervals and geochemical make-up of the large explosive eruptions