What determines banks’ market power? Akerlof versus Herfindahl

We introduce a model analyzing how asymmetric information problems in a bank-loan market may evolve over the age of a borrowing firm. The model predicts a life-cycle pattern for banks’interest rate markup. Young firms pay a low or negative markup, thereafter the markup increases until it falls for old firms. Furthermore, the pattern of the life-cycle depends on the informational advantage of the inside bank and when more dispersed borrower information yields fiercer bank competition. By applying a new measure of the informational advantage of inside banks and a large sample of small Nor-wegian firms, we find empirical support for the predicted markup pattern. We disentangle effects of asymmetric information (Akerlof effect)from effects of a concentrated banking market(Herfindahl effect). Our results indicate that the interest rate markups are not influenced by bank market concentration.Banking, risk-pricing, lock-in

Management of Knowledge Workers

Peer reviewedPreprin

Health and safety of the older worker

This is the author's pre-copyedited accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2012 The Authors.Background - In the UK, increasing numbers of paid employees are over 60 years with further increases expected as the state pension age rises. Some concern surrounds possible increased work-related illness and accidents for people working beyond the age of 60. Aims - To identify the available evidence for health and safety risks of workers over age 60 years with respect to factors associated with injuries and accidents. Methods - Databases searched included PUBMED, OSHUpdate, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSHTIC-2), SafetyLit, the UK The Health and Safety Executive (HSELINE) and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety until December 2009. Inclusion criteria were workers aged over 60 years. Findings were grouped into occupational accidents and injuries and individual and workplace factors that may have influenced risk of injury to the over-60s. Results - Very little direct evidence was found concerning safety practices and health risks of workers over age 60. Some safety risks were associated with specific physical declines such as age-related hearing loss. Overall, these workers had fewer accidents and injuries but these were more likely to be serious or fatal when they occurred. There was no strong evidence that work patterns, including shift work or overtime, affected safety. Protective, compensatory strategies or experience may maintain safe working practices. Conclusions - Implications for health and safety risks cannot be assessed without longitudinal research on workforces with substantial numbers of workers over age 60 in order to address the healthy worker effect.Institution of Occupational Health and Safet

Strategic Product Pre-announcements in Markets with Network Effects

It is a widely adopted practice for firms to announce new products well in advance of actual market availability. The incentives for pre-announcements are stronger in markets with network effects because they can be used to induce the delay of consumers' purchases and forestall the build-up of rival products' installed bases. However, such announcements often are not fulfilled, raising antitrust concerns. We analyze the effects of product pre-announcements in the presence of network effects when firms are allowed to strategically make false announcements. We also discuss their implications for consumer welfare and anti-trust policy

Catalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of Tetrahydocarbazoles and Exocyclic Pictet-Spengler-Type Reactions

A synthetic strategy for the synthesis of chiral tetrahydrocarbazoles (THCAs) has been developed. The strategy relies on two types of 6-<i>exo-trig</i> cyclization of 3-substituted indole substrates. Enantioselective domino Friedel–Crafts-type reactions leading to THCAs can be catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid derivatives (with up to >99% ee), and the first examples of exocyclic Pictet–Spengler reactions to form THCAs are reported

Effectiveness of Visual Cues During Transitions in a Third Grade Classroom

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of using visual cues during transition periods vs. verbal cues. The visual cues are a Google Slide with a list of the required materials and an embedded timer. The investigation employed ongoing monitoring of students during their transitions throughout the school day. The ongoing monitoring was documented using the attached data table. The data table tracked the time it takes students to transition, the # of students in attendance, number of students with all required materials, and the number of students in the correct location. Outcome analysis includes a comparison between the classroom that used visual cues and a neighboring third grade classroom that used verbal cues

Health, ethics and environment: A qualitative study of vegetarian motivations

This qualitative study explored the motivations of vegetarians by means of online ethnographic research with participants in an international message board. The researcher participated in discussions on the board, gathered responses to questions from 33 participants, and conducted follow-up e-mail interviews with eighteen of these participants. Respondents were predominantly from the US, Canada and the UK. Seventy per cent were female, and ages ranged from 14 to 53, with a median of 26 years. Data were analysed using a thematic approach. While this research found that health and the ethical treatment of animals were the main motivators for participants’ vegetarianism, participants reported a range of commitments to environmental concerns, although in only one case was environmentalism a primary motivator for becoming a vegetarian. The data indicates that vegetarians may follow a trajectory, in which initial motivations are augmented over time by other reasons for sustaining or further restricting their diet

Strategies for a Cross-Cultural Ecofeminist Literary Criticism

Key words: empirico-philosophical ecocriticism, consilience, E.O. Wilson, biosemiotics, risk theory, philosophy of biology, environmental historicism, consilient ecocritical theory&nbsp;To what extent can ecofeminist literary criticism developed in western countries be applied to other cultures? Several considerations are needed: foremost, the limitation of language as a symbol system contextually inflected make interpretation of literary and critical texts very difficult, a difficulty compounded by the need of translation into another symbol system with its own context. Moreover, differences of power and subject positions of the authors, translators, critics and readers also influence the product and reception of texts. A western critic becomes an outsider in interpreting literature in another language and culture. One possible strategy to effectively bridge the cross-cultural gap is to work together in solidarity with women critics of the other culture in order to both interpret texts and increase understanding and visibility.&nbsp;Palabras clave: ecocr&iacute;tica emp&iacute;rico-filos&oacute;fica, consiliencia, E.O. Wilson, biosemi&oacute;tica, teor&iacute;a del riesgo, filosof&iacute;a de la biolog&iacute;a, historicismo medioambiental, teor&iacute;a ecocr&iacute;tica de la consiliencia.&nbsp;&iquest;Hasta qu&eacute; punto la cr&iacute;tica literaria ecofeminista desarrollada en los pa&iacute;ses occidentales puede aplicarse a otras culturas? Son necesarias varias consideraciones: en primer lugar, la limitaci&oacute;n del lenguaje como sistema de s&iacute;mbolos influido por el contexto hace muy dif&iacute;cil la interpretaci&oacute;n de textos cr&iacute;ticos y literarios, una dificultad que se incrementa por la necesidad de traducci&oacute;n a otro sistema de s&iacute;mbolos con contexto propio. Adem&aacute;s, las diferencias de poder&nbsp; y del posicionamiento del sujeto como autores, traductores, cr&iacute;ticos y lectores, tambi&eacute;n influyen la producci&oacute;n y recepci&oacute;n de los textos. Un cr&iacute;tico occidental se convierte en un for&aacute;neo al interpretar la literatura de otra lengua y cultura. Una posible estrategia para salvar las diferencias culturales es trabajar en solidaridad con mujeres cr&iacute;ticas de la otra cultura con el fin de tanto interpretar textos como de aumentar la comprensi&oacute;n y la visibilidad de textos y labor cr&iacute;tica