Banking consolidation in Nigeria, 2000-2010

This study examines the Nigerian banking consolidation process using a dynamic panel for the period 2000-2010. The Arellano and Bond (1991) dynamic GMM approach is adopted to estimate a cost function taking into account the possible endogeneity of the covariates. The main finding is that the Nigerian banking sector has benefited from the consolidation process, and specifically that foreign ownership, mergers and acquisitions and bank size decrease costs. Directions for future research are also discussed

Ageing and personal retirement savings plan participation with heterogeneity in preferences: The Portuguese case

This paper analyses the relationship between ageing and personal retirement savings plan participation in the Portuguese population, taking into account heterogeneity and endogeneity in preferences. A mixed logit model is used to analyse the determinants of retirement saving behaviour, allowing for heterogeneity and endogeneity in the responses. We find considerable heterogeneity among individuals (in terms of socio-economic variables such as age, gender and income), which must be taken into account by any policy aimed at changing retirement saving behaviour

Long memory in German energy price indices

This study examines the long-memory properties of German energy price indices (specifically, import and export prices, as well as producer and consumer prices) for hard coal, lignite, mineral oil and natural gas adopting a fractional integration modelling framework. The analysis is undertaken using monthly data from January 2000 to August 2011. The results suggest nonstationary long memory in the series (with orders of integration equal to or higher than 1) when breaks are not allowed for. However, endogenous break tests indicate a single break in all series except for producer prices for lignite for which two breaks are detected. When such breaks are taken into account, and with autocorrelated disturbances, evidence of mean reversion is found in practically all cases.This study is partially funded by the Ministry of Education of Spain (ECO2011-2014 ECON Y FINANZAS, Spain) and from a Jeronimo de Ayanz project of the Government of Navarra

Identification of segments of European banks with a latent class frontier model

This paper analyses technical efficiency of European banks over the period 1996-2003 with unbalanced panel data techniques. A latent class frontier model is used which allows the identification of different segments in the production frontier. We find that there are three statistically significant segments in the sample. Therefore, we conclude that no common banking policy can be effective for all the banks included in the sample, and that banking policies by segments are required instead

Long memory in Angolan macroeconomic series: Mean reversion versus explosive behaviour

This study examines the time series behaviour of several Angolan macroeconomic variables, using monthly data from August 1996 to June 2011. The series are the inflation rate, M1, M2, the exchange rate at the beginning and the end of the period, and the monthly average exchange rate. In the first stage univariate fractional integration models are estimated in order to determine whether shocks to the variables have transitory or permanent effects. In the second stage fractional cointegration techniques are applied to test for the existence of long-run equilibrium relationships between the variables of interest. The results suggest a high degree of persistence in the individual series (that are not mean-reverting) and the existence of bivariate long-run cointegrating relationships between prices and money, and prices and nominal exchange rates.This study is partly funded by the Ministry of Education of Spain (ECO2011-2014 ECON Y FINANZAS, Spain) and from a Jeronimo de Ayanz project of the Government of Navarra

Eta Terrorism: Police Action, Political Measures And The Influence Of Violence On Economic Activity In The Basque Country

In the last 15 years or so, ETA activity has substantially decreased, but also changed. Whilst the type of killings has become more specialised (politicians, reporters, etc.), a new phenomenon based on urban guerrilla tactics, and called in Basque “kale borroka” (street fighting), has emerged, creating an atmosphere of violence in the streets. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, we create a daily measure of the level of violence in the area. Second, we examine if police action and the repressive policy measures adopted by government have been effective in reducing the intensity of violence. Third, we investigate whether the level of violence has had an effect on the stock market index in the Basque Country. The results, based on daily data from July 1st, 2001 to November 15th, 2005 suggest that the only effective measure to reduce violence was the banning of Herri Batasuna (HB), the radical party close to ETA supporters. Moreover, there was a decrease in the stock market index as a consequence of the violence in the area

Inv21p12q22del21q22 and intellectual disability

Chromosomal rearrangements are common in humans. Pericentric inversions are among the most frequent aberrations (1-2%). Most inversions are balanced and do not cause problems in carriers unless one of the breakpoints disrupts important functional genes, has near submicroscopic copy number variants or hosts "cryptic" complex chromosomal rearrangements. Pericentric inversions can lead to imbalance in offspring. Less than 3% of Down syndrome patients have duplication as a result of parental pericentric inversion of chromosome 21. We report a family with an apparently balanced pericentric inversion of chromosome 21. The proband, a 23-year-old female was referred for prenatal diagnosis at 16weeks gestation because of increased nuchal translucency. She has a familial history of Down's syndrome and moderate intellectual disability, a personal history of four spontaneous abortions and learning difficulties. Peripheral blood and amniotic fluid samples were collected to perform proband's and fetus' cytogenetic analyses. Additionally, another six family members were evaluated and cytogenetic analysis was performed. Complementary FISH and MLPA studies were carried out. An apparent balanced chromosome 21 pericentric inversion was observed in four family members, two revealed a recombinant chromosome 21 with partial trisomy, and one a full trisomy 21 with an inverted chromosome 21. Array CGH analysis was performed in the mother and the brother's proband. MLPA and aCGH studies identified a deletion of about 1.7Mb on the long arm of inverted chromosome 21q22.11. We believe the cause of the intellectual disability/learning difficulties observed in the members with the inversion is related to this deletion. The recombinant chromosome 21 has a partial trisomy including the DSCR with no deletion. The risk for carriers of having a child with multiple malformations/intellectual disability is about 30% depending on whether and how this rearrangement interferes with meiosis

Data envelopment analysis in financial services: a citations network analysis of banks, insurance companies and money market funds

Development and application of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method, have been the subject of numerous reviews. In this paper, we consider the papers that apply DEA methods specifically to financial services, or which use financial services data to experiment with a newly introduced DEA model. We examine 620 papers published in journals indexed in the Web of Science database, from 1985 to April 2016. We analyse the sample applying citations network analysis. This paper investigates the DEA method and its applications in financial services. We analyse the diffusion of DEA in three sub-samples: (1) banking groups, (2) money market funds, and (3) insurance groups by identifying the main paths, that is, the main flows of the ideas underlying each area of research. This allows us to highlight the main approaches, models and efficiency types used in each research areas. No unique methodological preference emerges within these areas. Innovations in the DEA methodologies (network models, slacks based models, directional distance models and Nash bargaining game) clearly dominate recent research. For each subsample, we describe the geographical distribution of these studies, and provide some basic statistics related to the most active journals and scholars