The effect of crises on firm exit and the moderating effect of firm size

The liability of smallness assumption suggests that smaller firms face higher exit risks. However, does it apply during crises? We show that during downturns size reduces firms‟ exit risk by less; the hazard rate increases more rapidly in size

Desempenho e sobrevivência das empresas estrangeiras e domésticas durante crises

Mestrado em EconomiaA crise económica e financeira global, que atingiu a maior parte dos sistemas económicos regionais e nacionais por todo o mundo no final de 2007, tem alertado para uma maior reflexão sobre o papel desempenhado pelas empresas multinacionais (EMNs) estrangeiras nas economias receptoras. Os governos geralmente encaram o investimento directo estrangeiro (IDE) e a presença das empresas estrangeiras como algo altamente desejável. Contudo, até que ponto é que as actividades das multinacionais estrangeiras contribuem para a gravidade dos efeitos da crise ou, em alternativa, permitem atenuar alguns dos seus piores efeitos, ao reduzirem o volume de despedimentos e as contracções de produção nas economias acolhedoras? Com base em dados ao nível da empresa da base de dados Quadros de Pessoal e num período temporal integrando períodos de estabilidade e de abrandamento económico, a presente dissertação avalia em que medida as subsidiárias estrangeiras apresentaram um comportamento diferenciado face às empresas locais durante os períodos de abrandamento ultrapassados pela economia Portuguesa, com o objectivo de aferir a capacidade potencial das empresas estrangeiras em agirem como elementos estabilizadores ou destabilizadores durante períodos de crise. Em particular, centramos a nossa análise em duas medidas de performance ao nível da empresa (crescimento do emprego e crescimento do volume de negócios), bem como nas perspectivas de sobrevivência e taxas de falência. Depois de controlarmos por diversas características das empresas e das indústrias, não encontramos diferenças significativas entre as empresas estrangeiras e domésticas no que respeita ao crescimento do emprego, embora os resultados sugiram que a propriedade estrangeira pode ter afectado positivamente a taxa de crescimento do volume de vendas durante as recessões. Relativamente às tendências de sobrevivência, as empresas estrangeiras e domésticas não exibiram diferenças significativas nos padrões de sobrevivência e falência ao longo dos períodos de abrandamento económico. De um ponto de vista de política, apesar de os nossos resultados não contestarem a opção por políticas centradas na atracção de IDE, a evidência empírica encontrada para Portugal não justifica a escolha de uma política discriminatória a favor das empresas estrangeiras. Os resultados mostram que as EMNs estrangeiras não exercem um efeito destabilizador nas economias acolhedoras. Porém, não existem razões sólidas para esperar ganhos positivos do IDE, nomeadamente no que respeita ao seu papel potenciador na recuperação económica.The global financial and economic crisis, which struck most of the world’s national and regional economic systems in the late 2007, has led to calls for further reflection on the role played by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in host economies. Governments commonly seem to view inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign firms’ presence as highly desirable. However, in what extent do foreign multinationals’ activities contribute to the severity of crisis’ effects or otherwise allow to mitigating some of the worst effects, by reducing lay-offs and output contractions in the host countries? Using firm-level data from Quadros de Pessoal database and a time span integrating periods of economic stability and economic downturns, this dissertation evaluates in what extent foreign subsidiaries have behaved differently than local firms during the slowdown periods experienced by Portuguese economy, in order to assess the potential ability of foreign firms to act as stabilizer or disturbing elements during crises. In particular, we focus on two performance measures at the firm-level (employment growth and sales turnover growth) and also on firm survival prospects and failure rates. After controlling for several firm-level and industry-level characteristics, we find no significant differences between foreign and domestic firms in what concerns employment growth, though the results suggest that foreign ownership may have positively affected firms’ sales turnover growth during recessions. Regarding survival trends, foreign and domestic firms did not exhibit different chances of survival and exit throughout economic slowdowns. For policy, despite our results do not contest the option for active FDI attraction policies, the empirical evidence found for Portugal is not supportive of a discriminatory policy in favour of foreign firms. The results indicate that foreign MNEs do not exert a disturbing effect on host economy. However, there are no strong reasons to expect positive gains from FDI in what concerns its potential recovery-enhancer role

Unveiling Sympathetic Activation and Genetic Therapeutic Perspectives

Introduction: Hypertension, a leading cause of death, was investigated in this study to understand the role of specific brain regions in regulating blood pressure. The lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPBN), Kolliker-fuse nucleus (KF), and periductal grey matter (PAG) were examined for their involvement in hypertension. Methods: Lentiviral vectors were used to alter the activity of these brain regions in hypertensive rats. Over a 75-day period, blood pressure, heart rate, reflex responses, and heart rate variability were measured. Results: Decreasing the activity in the LPBN resulted in a reduced sympathetic outflow, lowering the blood pressure and heart rate. In the KF, the sympathetic activity decreased and chemoreflex variation was attenuated, without affecting the blood pressure. Silencing the PAG had no significant impact on blood pressure or sympathetic tone, but decreased cardiac baroreflex gain. Discussion: These findings highlight the significant role of the LPBN in hypertension-related sympathetic activation. Additionally, LPBN and KF neurons appear to activate mechanisms that control respiration and sympathetic outflow during chemoreceptor activation. Conclusions: The study provided insights into the contribution of the midbrain and pontine regions to neurogenic hypertension and offers potential avenues for future genetic interventions and developing novel treatment approaches.publishersversionpublishe

A study towards drug discovery for the management of type 2 diabetes: Mellitus through inhibition of the carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes α-amylase and α-glucosidase by chalcone derivatives

The inhibition of carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes, α-amylase and α-glucosidase, is one of the major therapeutic strategies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Chalcones have been recognized for their multiple biological activities, including antidiabetic properties, through unclear mechanisms. In the present work, a panel of chalcones bearing hydroxy, methoxy, methyl, nitro, chloro, fluoro and bromo substituents were evaluated against α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities, most of them for the first time. The results showed that the substitution patterns and the type of substituents of chalcones influence their inhibitory activity. The presence of hydroxy groups at C-2’- and C-4’ of the A ring and at C-3 and C-4 of the B ring favors the intended effect. Chalcones holding nitro groups and chloro substituents, together with a hydroxy group in the chalcone scaffold, showed strong inhibition of the α-glucosidase activity. The present study provides related scaffolds that may serve as the basis for the design and synthesis of new structures in order to obtain the ideal antidiabetic chalcone.This work received financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007265) and National Funds (FCT/MEC, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Ministério da Educação e Ciência) under the Partnership Agreement PT2020 UID/QUI/50006/2013, and “Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização” (COMPETE) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029241). Thanks are due to University of Aveiro, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, FCT/ MEC for the financial support to the QOPNA (FCT UID/QUI/ 00062/2013) and CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2013) research Units through national funds and where applicable co-financed by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement, and also to the Portuguese NMR Network. Sónia Rocha acknowledges FCT the financial support for the PhD grant (PD/BD/ 145169/2019), in the ambit of “QREN – POPH – Tipologia 4.1 – Formação Avançada”, co-sponsored by Fundo Social Europeu (FSE) and by national funds of Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (MCTES).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Employment and SMEs during crises

The persistent increasing duration of unemployment has become an issue during economic crises. Although lay-offs at large firms normally make headlines during crises, we still know little about the potential impact of firm size on adjustment behavior in a crisis. We studied effects of firm size on employment growth during economic slowdowns using a rich microeconomic database for the 1988-2007 period in Portuguese manufacturing industry. The results show that economic downturns affect firm growth negatively. This negative effect is found to be higher for larger firms, both during and immediately following crisis periods. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) emerge as potential stabilizers in downturn periods. However, larger firms seem to be able to quickly recover from downturn periods. Our results contribute to the scarce literature and to the understanding of the Portuguese case, where many SMEs secure most jobs. These first results may be useful, because SMEs play a determinant role in other European Union economies

Burden of disease attributable to risk factors in European countries: a scoping literature review

Objectives: Within the framework of the burden of disease (BoD) approach, disease, and injury burden estimates attributable to risk factors are a useful guide for policy formulation and priority setting in disease prevention. Considering the important differences in methods, and their impact on burden estimates, we conducted a scoping literature review to: (1) map the BoD assessments including risk factors performed across Europe, and (2) identify the methodological choices in comparative risk assessment (CRA) and risk assessment methods. Methods: We searched multiple literature databases, including grey literature websites, and targeted public health agencies' websites. Results: A total of 113 studies were included in the synthesis and further divided into independent BoD assessments (54 studies) and studies linked to the Global Burden of Disease (59 papers). Our results showed that the methods used to perform CRA varied substantially across independent European BoD studies. While there were some methodological choices that were more common than others, we did not observe patterns in terms of country, year, or risk factor. Each methodological choice can affect the comparability of estimates between and within countries and/or risk factors since they might significantly influence the quantification of the attributable burden. From our analysis, we observed that the use of CRA was less common for some types of risk factors and outcomes. These included environmental and occupational risk factors, which are more likely to use bottom-up approaches for health outcomes where disease envelopes may not be available. Conclusions: Our review also highlighted misreporting, the lack of uncertainty analysis, and the under-investigation of causal relationships in BoD studies. Development and use of guidelines for performing and reporting BoD studies will help understand differences, and avoid misinterpretations thus improving comparability among estimates.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio