The “housing bubble” and financial factors: Insights from a structural model of the French and Spanish residential markets.

Over the last decade, France and Spain have experienced property price and residential investment increases which were among the strongest and the lengthiest in the euro area. Although the quality of the underlying data limits the precision of the estimates, the present paper aims at analysing the fundamental factors behind these evolutions. The analysis presented here assesses whether the observed price dynamics may be attributed to a pure expectation bubble phenomenon or to the large changes in financial and demographic factors. This is done by means of a structural model of the demand and supply sides of the housing market with an error-correction process. When taking into account a standard set of macroeconomic variables, our estimates imply that residential property prices in France and Spain were approximately 20% above the level explained by their fundamentals. When demographic and financial factors such as the borrowing capacity are taken on board, the degree of overvaluation is drastically reduced. The adjustment path to equilibrium is slightly faster in France than in Spain, but both countries display significant downward rigidity in prices.House prices , Housing demand, Borrowing capacity , Residential Investment , Error correction model , Instrumental variables.

Determinants of Productivity per Employee: an Empirical Estimation Using Panel Data

Two different approaches are used in this article to study productivity per employee: the determinants of its growth rate in the 1990s are first examined, and then the determinants of its level, using a more structural approach. ICT are shown to have a positive and significant effect on both growth rates and levels of productivity. This result is consistent with that of Gust and Marquez (2002), although the sample of countries is larger and GMM are used. In both sections of the paper, the employment rate and productivity exhibit a significant negative relationship, arising from the concentration of employment on the most productive members of the workforce. Indicators of financial depth and price stability are found to be significant.Productivity ; Panel ; Generalized method of moments ; Information and communication technology (ICT) ; Growth accounting

Parts de marché et spécialisation commerciale de l’Allemagne, de la France et de l’Italie.

parts de marché, spécialisation commerciale.

Évolutions récentes de la productivité : accélération structurelle dans la zone euro et ralentissement structurel aux États-Unis ?

La croissance de la productivité dans la zone euro et aux États-Unis a connu sur la période récente des inflexions significatives, respectivement à la hausse et à la baisse, qui sembleraient relever en partie d’évolutions structurelles.Productivité, technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC), dynamique sectorielle, évolutions structurelles.

Defining Unmet Need Following Lenalidomide Refractoriness: Real-World Evidence of Outcomes in Patients With Multiple Myeloma

Background: The treatment paradigm for multiple myeloma (MM) continues to evolve with the development of novel therapies and the earlier adoption of continuous treatments into the treatment pathway. Lenalidomide-refractory patients now represent a challenge with inferior progression free survival (PFS) reported to subsequent treatments. We therefore sought to describe the natural history of MM patients following lenalidomide in the real world. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort review of patients with relapsed MM who received lenalidomide-based treatments in the U.K. Data were collected for demographics, subsequent therapies, treatment responses, survival outcomes and clinical trial enrollment. Results: 198 patients received lenalidomide-based treatments at a median of 2 prior lines of therapy at a median of 41 months (range 0.5-210) from diagnosis. 114 patients (72% of 158 evaluable) became refractory to lenalidomide. The overall survival (OS) after lenalidomide failure was 14.7 months having received between 0-6 subsequent lines of therapy. Few deep responses were observed with subsequent treatments and the PFS to each further line was < 7 months. There was a steep reduction in numbers of patients able to receive further treatment, with an associated increase in number of deaths. The OS of patients progressing on lenalidomide who did not enter a clinical trial incorporating novel agents was very poor (8.8 months versus 30 months, p 0.0002), although the trials group were a biologically fitter group. Conclusion: These data demonstrate the poor outcomes of patients failing lenalidomidebased treatments in the real world, the highlight need for more effective treatments

Structural activation of the transcriptional repressor EthR from Mycobacterium tuberculosis by single amino acid change mimicking natural and synthetic ligands

Ethionamide is an antituberculous drug for the treatment of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This antibiotic requires activation by the monooxygenase EthA to exert its activity. Production of EthA is controlled by the transcriptional repressor EthR, a member of the TetR family. The sensitivity of M. tuberculosis to ethionamide can be artificially enhanced using synthetic ligands of EthR that allosterically inactivate its DNA-binding activity. Comparison of several structures of EthR co-crystallized with various ligands suggested that the structural reorganization of EthR resulting in its inactivation is controlled by a limited portion of the ligand-binding-pocket. In silico simulation predicted that mutation G106W may mimic ligands. X-ray crystallography of variant G106W indeed revealed a protein structurally similar to ligand-bound EthR. Surface plasmon resonance experiments established that this variant is unable to bind DNA, while thermal shift studies demonstrated that mutation G106W stabilizes EthR as strongly as ligands. Proton NMR of the methyl regions showed a lesser contribution of exchange broadening upon ligand binding, and the same quenched dynamics was observed in apo-variant G106W. Altogether, we here show that the area surrounding Gly106 constitutes the molecular switch involved in the conformational reorganization of EthR. These results also shed light on the mechanistic of ligand-induced allosterism controlling the DNA binding properties of TetR family repressors