Democracy, Diversification, and Growth Reversals

There is much evidence that less democratic countries experience more high-frequency growth volatility. In this paper we report a similar finding about volatility in the medium term: we find evidence that reversals of trend-growth are sharper and more frequent in non-democracies. Motivated by this evidence, we construct a model in which non-democracies have high barriers of entry for new firms. This leads to less sectoral diversification and so, in an uncertain environment, to larger growth swings in less democratic countries. We present empirical evidence that confirms the positive relation between democracy and industrial diversification.medium term growth, growth volatility, democracy, diversification

Financial Development and Wage Inequality: Theory and Evidence

We argue that financial market development contributed to the rise in the skill premium and residual wage inequality in the US since the 1980s. We present an endogenous growth model with imperfect credit markets and establish how improving the efficiency of these markets affects modes of production, innovation and wage dispersion between skilled and unskilled workers. The experience of US states following banking deregulation provides empirical support for our hypothesis. We find that wages of college educated workers increased by between 0.5 - 1.2% following deregulation while those of workers with a high school diploma fell by about 2.2%. Similarly, residual (or within-group) inequality increased. The 90-50 percentile ratio of residuals from a Mincerian wage regression and their standard deviation increased by 4.5% and 1.8%, respectively.Skill Premium, Residual Wage Inequality, Financial Deregulation

On The Need To Examine The Reasonability Of Maintaining A Complete Ban On Financial Assistance In Ukrainian Law In The Context Of Eu And Polish Legislation

As the results of empirical research have shown, to prohibit financial assistance completely is no longer a reasonable choice. To examine the ban on financial assistance in Ukrainian law seems a worthwhile task for Ukrainian legal scholars and the national legislator, as it could contribute to increasing the number of transactions in the Ukrainian capital market. When drafting the new law, it is recommendable that the Ukrainian lawmakers rely on the experiences of the states that have already eased their financial assistance bans (e.g. Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic). As far as the Polish case is concerned, it is useful to consider the following (1) the catalogue of financial assistance forms should not be too broad, to avoid the inclusion of such transactions that cannot comply with financial assistance legality criteria; (2) the drafted regulation should explicitly govern the admissibility of MLBO transactions and prevent mergers of excessively leveraged companies on their basis; and (3) it is particularly important to establish effective mechanisms preventing the conflict of interest in transactions when financial assistance is provided to an affiliate

Acceleration, Stagnation and Crisis: the Role of Policies and Institutions

In this paper we study long run economic growth as a sequence of accelerations, slowdowns and crises, and estimate the role of institutions and macroeconomic policies in determining this sequence. We analyze the joint effect of policies and institutions on the frequency of the four growth regimes: stable growth, stagnation, crisis and miracle-like fast growth. The results confirm the importance of institutions for growth but also show that macro-policies; inflation, trade openness, size of government and real exchange rate overvaluation matter for the growth process, even after controlling for institutional quality. Importantly, some policies affect regimes differentially; for example, trade makes episodes of fast growth more likely but also increases the frequency of crises. Finally, the effects of policies are nonlinear and dependent on the quality of institutions. For example, government spending reduces growth in countries with good institutions but can increase it when institutions are weak.economic growth, growth accelerations, macroeconomic policies, institutions

Phylogeny-Based Systematization of Arabidopsis Proteins with Histone H1 Globular Domain.

H1 (or linker) histones are basic nuclear proteins that possess an evolutionarily conserved nucleosome-binding globular domain, GH1. They perform critical functions in determining the accessibility of chromatin DNA to trans-acting factors. In most metazoan species studied so far, linker histones are highly heterogenous, with numerous nonallelic variants cooccurring in the same cells. The phylogenetic relationships among these variants as well as their structural and functional properties have been relatively well established. This contrasts markedly with the rather limited knowledge concerning the phylogeny and structural and functional roles of an unusually diverse group of GH1-containing proteins in plants. The dearth of information and the lack of a coherent phylogeny-based nomenclature of these proteins can lead to misunderstandings regarding their identity and possible relationships, thereby hampering plant chromatin research. Based on published data and our in silico and high-throughput analyses, we propose a systematization and coherent nomenclature of GH1-containing proteins of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana [L.] Heynh) that will be useful for both the identification and structural and functional characterization of homologous proteins from other plant species

Aggregate Elasticity of Substitution between Skills: Estimates from a Macroeconomic Approach

We estimate the elasticity of substitution between high-skill and low-skill workers using panel data from 32 countries during 1970-2015. Most existing estimates, which are based only on U.S. micro data, find a value close to 1.6. We bring international data together with a theory-informed macro approach to provide new evidence on this important macroeconomic parameter. Using the macro approach we find that the elasticity of substitution between tertiary-educated workers and those with lower education levels falls between 1.8 and 2.6, which is higher than previous estimates but within a plausible range. In some specifications, estimated elasticity is above the value required for strong skill-bias of technology, suggesting strong skill-bias is not implausible

Arabidopsis SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex binds both promoters and terminators to regulate gene expression

ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes are important regulators of gene expression in Eukaryotes. In plants, SWI/SNF-type complexes have been shown critical for transcriptional control of key developmental processes, growth and stress responses. To gain insight into mechanisms underlying these roles, we performed whole genome mapping of the SWI/SNF catalytic subunit BRM in Arabidopsis thaliana, combined with transcript profiling experiments. Our data showthatBRM occupies thousands of sites in Arabidopsis genome, most of which located within or close to genes. Among identified direct BRM transcriptional targets almost equal numbers were up- and downregulated upon BRM depletion, suggesting that BRM can act as both activator and repressor of gene expression. Interestingly, in addition to genes showing canonical pattern of BRM enrichment near transcription start site, many other genes showed a transcription termination sitecentred BRM occupancy profile. We found that BRMbound 3� gene regions have promoter-like features, including presence of TATA boxes and high H3K4me3 levels, and possess high antisense transcriptional activity which is subjected to both activation and repression by SWI/SNF complex. Our data suggest that binding to gene terminators and controlling transcription of non-coding RNAs is another way through which SWI/SNF complex regulates expression of its targets

Acceleration, Stagnation and Crisis: the Role of Policies and Institutions

In this paper we study long run economic growth as a sequence of accelerations, slowdowns and crises, and estimate the role of institutions and macroeconomic policies in determining this sequence. We analyze the joint effect of policies and institutions on the frequency of the four growth regimes: stable growth, stagnation, crisis and miracle-like fast growth. The results confirm the importance of institutions for growth but also show that macro-policies; inflation, trade openness, size of government and real exchange rate overvaluation matter for the growth process, even after controlling for institutional quality. Importantly, some policies affect regimes differentially; for example, trade makes episodes of fast growth more likely but also increases the frequency of crises. Finally, the effects of policies are nonlinear and dependent on the quality of institutions. For example, government spending reduces growth in countries with good institutions but can increase it when institutions are weak

Acceleration, Stagnation and Crisis: the Role of Policies and Institutions

In this paper we study long run economic growth as a sequence of accelerations, slowdowns and crises, and estimate the role of institutions and macroeconomic policies in determining this sequence. We analyze the joint effect of policies and institutions on the frequency of the four growth regimes: stable growth, stagnation, crisis and miracle-like fast growth. The results confirm the importance of institutions for growth but also show that macro-policies; inflation, trade openness, size of government and real exchange rate overvaluation matter for the growth process, even after controlling for institutional quality. Importantly, some policies affect regimes differentially; for example, trade makes episodes of fast growth more likely but also increases the frequency of crises. Finally, the effects of policies are nonlinear and dependent on the quality of institutions. For example, government spending reduces growth in countries with good institutions but can increase it when institutions are weak