Consolidation, Concentration, And Valuation In The Banking Industry

We assess whether gains in wealth associated with bank consolidation are the result of reduced competition by examining effects of merger announcements on values of bidders, targets and rivals. The results suggest that gains in wealth are not due to increases in market power at the level of individual banks. Specifically, we find that returns to bidders, targets and rivals are unrelated to the effects of mergers on concentration

Bank Acquisition Announcements And Intra-Industry Effects

In this paper we attempt to assess whether gains in wealth associated with bank consolidation are the result of economic efficiencies by analyzing effects of bank merger announcements on the values of bidders, targets, and rival banks in the target’s geographical area.  We find target banks earn positive returns, while bidding banks sustain negative returns at acquisition announcement. These findings are consistent with previously reported results in the bank consolidation literature.  We also find rival banks earn positive returns that are enhanced when the target bank is in distress. We suggest the results are consistent with the view that investors interpret acquisition announcements as positive, geographically specific signals that may, in turn, reflect event-specific or bank-specific characteristics rather than expectations of increased efficiencies

Evaluating Multiple Arthropod Taxa as Indicators of Invertebrate Diversity in Old Fields

Biodiversity, often quantified by species richness, is commonly used to evaluate and monitor the health of ecosystems and as a tool for conservation planning. The use of one or more focal taxa as surrogates or indicators of larger taxonomic diversity can greatly expedite the process of biodiversity measurement. This is especially true when studying diverse and abundant invertebrate fauna. Before indicator taxa are employed, however, research into their suitability as indicators of greater taxonomic diversity in an area is needed. We sampled invertebrate diversity in old fields in southern Michigan using pitfall trapping and morphospecies designations after identification to order or family. Correlation analysis was used to assess species richness relationships between focal arthropod taxa and general invertebrate diversity. Relationships were assessed at two fine spatial scales: within sampling patches, and locally across four sampling patches. Cumulative richness of all assessed taxa increased proportionately with cumulative invertebrate richness as sampling intensity increased within patches. At the among-patch scale, we tentatively identified Hemiptera and Coleoptera as effective indicator taxa of greater invertebrate richness. Although Hymenoptera, Araneae and Diptera exhibited high species richness, their total richness within patches was not associated with overall invertebrate richness among patches. Increased sampling throughout the active season and across a greater number of habitat patches should be conducted before adopting Hemiptera and Coleoptera as definitive indicators of general invertebrate richness in the Great Lakes region. Multiple sampling techniques, in addition to pitfall trapping, should also be added to overcome capture biases associated with each technique

Partnerships: survey respondents' perceptions of inter-professional collaboration to address alcohol-related harms in England

Tackling alcohol-related harms crosses agency and professional boundaries, requiring collaboration between health, criminal justice, education and social welfare institutions. It is a key component of most multicomponent programmes in the United States, Australia and Europe. Partnership working, already embedded in service delivery structures, is a core mechanism for delivery of the new UK Government Alcohol Strategy. This article reports findings from a study of alcohol partnerships across England. The findings are based on a mix of open discussion interviews with key informants and on semi-structured telephone interviews with 90 professionals with roles in local alcohol partnerships. Interviewees reported the challenges of working within a complex network of interlinked partnerships, often within hierarchies under an umbrella partnership, some of them having a formal duty of partnership. The new alcohol strategy has emerged at a time of extensive reorganisation within health, social care and criminal justice structures. Further development of a partnership model for policy implementation would benefit from consideration of the incompatibility arising from required collaboration and from tensions between institutional and professional cultures. A clearer analysis of which aspects of partnership working provide ‘added value’ is needed

Identifying promising approaches and initiatives to reducing alcohol related harm

This study aimed to identify promising approaches that could be included in multi-component programmes (MCPs) to reduce alcohol related harm at local level in the UK. MCPs involve the identification of alcohol related problems at the local level and implementation of a programme of co-ordinated projects to tackle a problem. They are based on an integrative design where singular interventions run in combination with each other and/or are sequenced together over time; the identification, coordination and mobilisation of local agencies, stakeholders and community are key elements (Thom and Bayley, 2007). This study was underpinned by the recognition that the voices of practitioners are often marginalised in the debates about ‘what works’ and it set out to include their views. So whilst acknowledging the importance of the international research literature, care was taken not to privilege it over other ‘softer’ sources e.g. knowledge and experience of practitioners

Can functional traits account for phylogenetic signal in community composition?

© 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust Phylogenetic and functional trait-based analyses inform our understanding of community composition, yet methods for quantifying the overlap in information derived from functional traits and phylogenies remain underdeveloped. Does adding traits to analyses of community composition reduce the phylogenetic signal in the residual variation? If not, then measured functional traits alone may be insufficient to explain community assembly. We propose a general statistical framework to quantify the proportion of phylogenetic pattern in community composition that remains after including measured functional traits. We then illustrate the framework with applications to two empirical data sets. Both data sets showed strong phylogenetic attraction, with related species likely to co-occur in the same communities. In one data set, including traits eliminated all phylogenetic signals in the residual variation of both abundance and presence/absence patterns. In the second data set, including traits reduced phylogenetic signal in residuals by 25% and 98% for abundance and presence/absence data, respectively. Our framework provides an explicit way to estimate how much phylogenetic community pattern remains in the residual variation after including measured functional traits. Knowing that functional traits account for most of the phylogenetic pattern should provide confidence that important traits for phylogenetic community structure have been identified. Conversely, knowing that there is unexplained residual phylogenetic information should spur the search for additional functional traits or other processes underlying community assembly

Rational Vs Emotional Appeals with Communications to Landholders: A Review of Focus Group Responses

There are many organisations that seek to communicate with landholders for the purposes of engaging them in local environmental or conservation programs and sustainable production. This study examined whether different segments of landholders are likely to respond better to communication based on different appeals (rational or emotional), using different messages and communication channels. Seven hypothetical communication campaigns were designed with specific messages and appeals, each produced in three types of media. Focus groups of three specific landholder groups lifestylers., traditional and absentee landowners were held to obtain their responses to the campaigns. Findings suggest that the effectiveness of communications with landholders can be increased by using preferred messages and appeals, and selecting a combination of media appropriate to the landholder group being targeted

EquiFACS: the Equine Facial Action Coding System

Although previous studies of horses have investigated their facial expressions in specific contexts, e.g. pain, until now there has been no methodology available that documents all the possible facial movements of the horse and provides a way to record all potential facial configurations. This is essential for an objective description of horse facial expressions across a range of contexts that reflect different emotional states. Facial Action Coding Systems (FACS) provide a systematic methodology of identifying and coding facial expressions on the basis of underlying facial musculature and muscle movement. FACS are anatomically based and document all possible facial movements rather than a configuration of movements associated with a particular situation. Consequently, FACS can be applied as a tool for a wide range of research questions. We developed FACS for the domestic horse (Equus caballus) through anatomical investigation of the underlying musculature and subsequent analysis of naturally occurring behaviour captured on high quality video. Discrete facial movements were identified and described in terms of the underlying muscle contractions, in correspondence with previous FACS systems. The reliability of others to be able to learn this system (EquiFACS) and consistently code behavioural sequences was high—and this included people with no previous experience of horses. A wide range of facial movements were identified, including many that are also seen in primates and other domestic animals (dogs and cats). EquiFACS provides a method that can now be used to document the facial movements associated with different social contexts and thus to address questions relevant to understanding social cognition and comparative psychology, as well as informing current veterinary and animal welfare practices