We study the impact of the COVID-19 recession on capital structure of publicly listed U.S. firms. Our estimates suggest leverage (Net Debt/Asset) decreased by 5.3 percentage points from the pre-shock mean of 19.6 percent, while debt maturity increased moderately. This de-leveraging effect is stronger for firms exposed to significant rollover risk, while firms whose businesses were most vulnerable to social distancing did not reduce leverage. We rationalize our evidence through a structural model of firm value that shows lower expected growth rate and higher volatility of cash flows following COVID-19 reduced optimal levels of corporate leverage. Model-implied optimal leverage indicates firms which did not de-lever became over-leveraged. We find default probability deteriorates most in large, over-leveraged firms and those that were stressed pre-COVID. Additional stress tests predict value of these firms will be less than one standard deviation away from default if cash flows decline by 20 percent.
ECB President Draghi’s Jackson Hole speech in August 2014 arguably marked a new phase of unconventional monetary policies (UMPs) in the euro area. This paper examines the market impact and tranmission channels of this new wave of UMPs using a modified event study framework. They are found to have a more prominent impact on inflation expectations and exchange rates compared to the earlier UMP announcements. The impact on bank equity, however, is less significant in part due to narrowing profit margin in a low interest rate environment; and the marginal effect on sovereign spread compression has diminished. By extracting components of monetary policy shocks from the yield curve, we find that the traditional signaling channel of the monetary policy transmission continued to play an important role, but the portfolio rebalancing channel became more important in the new phase. Spillovers to non-euro area EU countries (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, and Sweden) are transmitted mainly through the portfolio rebalancing channel, largely affecting sovereign yields and exchange rates.
We explore the early warning properties of a composite indicator which summarizes signals from a range of asset price growth and asset price volatility indicators to capture mispricing of risk in asset markets. Using a quarterly panel of 108 advanced and emerging economies over 1995-2017, we show that the combination of rapid asset price growth and low asset price volatility is a good predictor of future financial crises. Elevated levels of our indicator significantly increase the probability of entering a crisis within the next three years relative to normal times when the indicator is not elevated. The indicator outperforms credit-based early warning metrics, a result robust to prediction horizons, methodological choices, and income groups. Our results are consistent with the idea that measures based on asset prices can offer critical information about systemic risk levels to policymakers.
This paper presents principles that could guide the design of more targeted policy support and facilitate the restructuring of firms adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, the paper takes stock of vulnerabilities and risks in the enterprise sector and assesses countries’ preparedness to handle a large-scale restructuring of businesses. Crisis preparedness of insolvency systems is measured according to a newly designed indicator that includes five dimensions of the insolvency and restructuring regime (out-of-court restructuring, hybrid restructuring, reorganization, liquidation, and the institutional framework). Vulnerabilities tend to be more pronounced in jurisdictions with shortcomings in crisis preparedness, and those countries need to step up efforts to improve their insolvency systems.
The policy response to the COVID-19 shock included regulatory easing across many jurisdictions to facilitate the flow of credit to the economy and mitigate a further ampli-fication of the shock through tighter financial conditions. Using an intraday event study,this paper examines how stock prices—a key driver in financial conditions—reacted to regulatory easing announcements in a sample of 18 advanced economies and 8 emerging markets. The paper finds that overall, regulatory easing announcements contributed to looser financial conditions, but effects varied across sectors and tools. Financial regulatory easing led to lower valuations for financial sector stocks, and higher valuations for non-financial sector stocks, particularly for industries that are more dependent on bank financing. Furthermore, valuations declined and financial conditions tightened following announcements related to easier bank capital regulation while equity valuation rose and financial conditions loosened after those about liquidity regulation. Effects from non-regulatory financial measures appear to be generally more muted.
Understanding the impact of climate mitigation policies is key to designing effective carbon pricing tools. We use institutional features of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and high-frequency data on more than 2,000 publicly listed European firms over 2011-21 to study the impact of carbon policies on stock returns. After extracting the surprise component of regulatory actions, we show that events resulting in higher carbon prices lead to negative abnormal returns which increase with a firm's carbon intensity. This negative relationship is even stronger for firms in sectors which do not participate in the EU ETS suggesting that investors price in transition risk stemming from the shift towards a low-carbon economy. We conclude that policies which increase carbon prices are effective in raising the cost of capital for emission-intensive firms.
What I Ought to Be by Amy Varghese is the first of many children's books written to instill powerful, positive values and principles in the minds of young readers at their most impressionable age. Alongside beautiful illustrations bursting with color by Justina James, this book is easy to read with young children and teaches them the importance of being respectful and loving people. Following the familiar rhythm of school days, young readers will learn about helping, love, celebrating differences. What I Ought to Be is a powerful story that promotes respect, it is sure to leave a lasting impact!
Wages have been rising faster than productivity in many European countries for the past few years, yet signs of underlying consumer price pressures remain limited. To shed light on this puzzle, this paper examines the historical link between wage growth and inflation in Europe and factors that influence the strength of the passthrough from labor costs to prices. Historically, wage growth has led to higher inflation, but the impact has weakened since 2009. Empirical analysis suggests that the passthrough from wage growth to inflation is significantly lower in periods of subdued inflation and inflation expectations, greater competitive pressures, and robust corporate profitability. Thus the recent pickup in wage growth is likely to have a more muted impact on inflation than in the past.
We exploit a survey data set that contains information on how 11,000 workers across advanced and emerging market economies perceive the main forces shaping the future of work. In general, workers feel more positive than negative about automation, especially in emerging markets. We find that negative perceptions about automation are prevalent among workers who are older, poorer, more exposed to job volatility, and from countries with higher levels of robot penetration. Perceptions over automation are positively viewed by workers with higher levels of job satisfaction, higher educational attainment, and from countries with stronger labor protection. Workers with positive perceptions of automation also tend to respond that re-education and retraining will be needed to adapt to rapidly evolving skill demands. These workers expect governments to have a role in shaping the future of work through protection of labor and new forms of social benefits. The demand for protection and benefits is more significant among women and workers that have suffered job volatility.
IF LOVE ALSO HAS AN EXPIRY TERM, WON'T IT BE HAPPIER AFTER FEW YEARS WHEN THE COUPLE MEET. RATHER THAN TURNING BACK YOUR FACE, WHEN YOU MEET THEM AT ANY OCCASION.
Climate change is now recognised as one of the greatest challenges facing the international community and when coupled with energy production and use - the most significant contributor to climate change - and the related security problems the double threat to international security and human development is of the highest order. This wide-ranging book brings together leading thinkers from academia, government and civil society to examine and address the global insecurity and development challenges arising from the twin thrust of climate change and the energy supply crunch. Part one considers energy. It analyses the challenges of meeting future energy demands and the ongoing and future security-related conflicts over energy. Coverage includes security and development concerns related to the oil and gas, nuclear, bio-fuels and hydropower sectors, ensuring energy access for all and addressing sustainable consumption and production in both developed and rapidly industrializing countries such as India, China, Brazil and South Africa. Part two analyses how climate change contributes to global insecurity and presents a consolidated overview of the potential threats and challenges it poses to international peace and development. Coverage includes future water scenarios including a focus on scarcity in the Middle East, food security, biodiversity loss, land degradation, the changing economics of climate change, adaptation and the special case of small island states. The final part lays out the potential avenues and mechanisms available to the international community to address and avert climate and energy instability via the multilateral framework under the United Nations. It also addresses mechanisms for resource and knowledge transfer from industrialized to developing countries to ensure a low-carbon energy transition by focusing on the rapid deployment of clean energy technologies and ways to tackle income and employment insecurity created by the transition away from traditional energy sources. This book offers the most comprehensive international assessment of the challenges and solutions for tackling the global insecurity arising from climate change and energy provision and use. It is essential reading for students, researchers and professionals across international relations, security, climate change and the energy sectors.
Canada must prepare for an isolationist and unpredictable neighbour to the South should a MAGA leader gain the White House in 2025. The American-led global order has been increasingly challenged by Chinese assertiveness and Russian revanchism. As we enter this new era of great-power competition, Canadians tend to assume that the United States will continue to provide global leadership for the West. Canada Alone sketches the more dystopian future that is likely to result if the illiberal, anti-democratic, and authoritarian Make America Great Again movement regains power. Under the twin stresses of a reinvigorated America First policy and the purposeful abandonment of American global leadership, the West will likely fracture, leaving Canadians all alone with an increasingly dysfunctional United States. Canada Alone outlines what Canadians will need to navigate this deeply unfamiliar post-American world.
This title reviews current knowledge of the mechanisms contributing to heart failure. Editor Richard Walsh and an internationally renowned team of contributors discuss key advances in molecular and cell biology, biochemistry, and pharmacology, focusing on advances that have a direct bearing on current clinical studies. It highlights developments across a broad range of disciplines, with in-depth coverage of each topic providing background and perspective on current literature. By setting new advances in a broader context, this text allows readers to compare different ideas and evaluate their importance in their own areas of research or clinical practice.
This book provides a basic understanding and concise overview of the nature of population health, the factors that make a new paradigm necessary, and the attributes associated with this unique approach to community health improvement. Written in a very accessible way, the book describes the definition of population health, the attributes of population health, and what population health is and is not. It emphasizes the extent to which the population health model revolutionizes the approach to community health improvement within a contemporary context, beginning with a redefining of such common concepts as “health”, “healthcare”, “health status”, and “health needs assessment”. As such, this book is a valuable read for practitioners and professionals who need to be familiar with the population health approach but are not likely to try to implement it.
This ethnography of Nadur Village explores the ramifications of Kerala State's policy of wealth redistribution to achieve equality. The author shows a decline in income inequality and an improved quality of life for most villagers despite high unemployment, low incomes and the persistence of inequalities that redistribution has not overcome. This e
Since 1998 when FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) was first published by IFLA, the effort to develop and apply FRBR has been extended in many innovative and experimental directions. Papers in this volume explain and expand upon the extended family of FRBR models including Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD), Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data (FRSAD), and the object-oriented version of FRBR known as FRBRoo. Readers will learn about dialogues between the FRBR Family and other modeling technologies, specific implementations and extensions of FRBR in retrieval systems, catalog codes employing FRBR, a wide variety of research that uses the FRBR model, and approaches to using FRBR for the Semantic Web. Librarians of all stripes as well as library and information science students and researchers can use this volume to bring their knowledge of the FRBR model and its implementation up to date. This book was published as a special issue of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly.
An aid to determine the possible cause of laboratory test abnormalities encountered in clinical practice. Sections include laboratory test index, disease keyword index, laboratory test listings, disease listings by ICD-9CM classification, and references.
Information security is everyone's concern. The way we live is underwritten by information system infrastructures, most notably the Internet. The functioning of our business organizations, the management of our supply chains, and the operation of our governments depend on the secure flow of information. In an organizational environment information security is a never-ending process of protecting information and the systems that produce it.This volume in the "Advances in Management Information Systems" series covers the managerial landscape of information security. It deals with how organizations and nations organize their information security policies and efforts. The book covers how to strategize and implement security with a special focus on emerging technologies. It highlights the wealth of security technologies, and also indicates that the problem is not a lack of technology but rather its intelligent application.
A seminal work for the public sector, Quality Standards for Highly Effective Government (Second Edition) redefines what is expected and what is required for excellence in management. The practices presented here also benefit non-profit organizations, and indeed any organization in which services are not directly rewarded by a purchase transaction. The book introduces three new performance standards that frame the value add of management, for processes, systems, and aligned leadership objectives. Along with defining known best practices, these standards create an imperative for the use of Lean and continuous quality improvement as a foundation for good management, built onto that defined structure. These standards also create a means to recognize and reward those managers who build and regularly use this framework. Measurable quality standards are necessary for government, because there is no free market incentivizing government managers for efficiency, and there is no direct penalty for offices that provide poor service. The oversight of government is left to elected officials, who often only get generalized and high level feedback and then only on failure. Where there is failure, the usual response of leadership is to change leadership or to restructure offices. But these actions never get to the level of the workers on the ground, and cannot change whether they have or are currently using best practice modeling. Richard Mallory both defines and shows the logic behind the process management standard, the system management standard, and the aligned leadership objectives standard, and how these apply to front line managers, program and executive managers, and even to elected leaders. Because these standards are measurable and auditable, they can form the basis of an integrated scorecard for every government agency in the world, and a roadmap on how to obtain maximum value from each of them. The credibility of these standards is underwritten and proven through their adoption by the Government Division of the American Society for Quality, and international best practice standards for governments worldwide.
This book presents a simple framework and guidelines for implementing visible and uniform auditable standards of quality in government that can fundamentally and permanently reshape its efficiency, effectiveness, and value. It opens the possibility of a day in the not-too-distant future when a quality audit can provide a uniform and valid report card on every government agency that is a companion to an annual audit of the financial books. Its easy-to-use quality standards are objective, measurable, and transformational. The standards provide the missing link for the implementation of quality in government both because they align with fundamental good management technique and support any other quality disciplines already in place in any given jurisdiction. The standards are designed to mirror the three fundamental levels of leadership in government: (1) Work unit supervisors and managers at the "front line" of government service, (2) chief executives, department directors and their deputies as "executive management" of government agencies, and (3) elected leadership at the top, who provide "public management" and must define the priorities, outcomes, programs, and budgets. No book has had a bigger potential to positively transform government since Reinventing Government. It is a "must read" for elected leaders, public sector managers, and citizens who wonder why government is so often unable to achieve excellence.
The cucurbits (Cucurbitaceae, or gourd family), which include squash, pumpkin, melon, cucumber, and watermelon, have long been of economic significance. As sources of vegetables, fruit, and seeds rich in oils and protein, they have the potential of making an even larger contribution toward meeting the needs of humankind. This book, consisting of 37 papers by 50 cucurbit specialists, emphasizes the practical importance of cucurbit investigation, and also provides a broad overview of the family.
Master the basics of sleep medicine with this easy to read, award-winning text! Fundamentals of Sleep Medicine, 2nd Edition, by Drs. Richard B. Berry, Mary H. Wagner, and Scott M. Ryals, is an ideal resource for sleep medicine fellows and trainees, sleep technicians, and sleep medicine practitioners as a concise, clinically focused alternative to larger references. Beginning with core content, it then proceeds to information useful for everyday practice—all written in a clear, direct style designed for quick and easy access. Features video content that demonstrates common sleep disorders. Includes more than 350 updated multiple-choice questions and answers for self-assessment and board preparation. New! Offers concise Key Points at the end of each chapter, expanding on information from Drs. Berry and Wagner’s popular book Sleep Medicine Pearls to enhance your understanding. Provides updated references to AASM scoring guidelines and diagnostic criteria for sleep disorders. Illustrated with numerous diagrams, charts, and polysomnograms (sleep studies) to clarify complex concepts. Any additional digital ancillary content may publish up to 6 weeks following the publication date.
Although computer technology has dramatically improved the analysis of complex transport phenomena, the methodology has yet to be effectively integrated into engineering curricula. The huge volume of literature associated with the wide variety of transport processes cannot be appreciated or mastered without using innovative tools to allow comprehen
Covering both surgical and anesthetic considerations, Anesthesiologist’s Manual of Surgical Procedures, Sixth Edition, is an essential resource for formulation of an anesthetic plan and perioperative management of patients. All chapters are written by both surgeons and anesthesiologists, giving you a detailed, real-world perspective on the many variables that accompany today’s surgical procedures.
Offering a unique, multidisciplinary approach to the complexities of CPB, the 4th Edition of Cardiopulmonary Bypass and Mechanical Support: Principles & Practice remains the gold standard in the field. This edition brings you fully up to date with every aspect of cardiopulmonary bypass, including new information on management of pediatric patients, CPB’s role with minimally invasive and robotic cardiac surgery, mechanical circulatory support, miniaturized circuits and CPB, sickle cell disease and CPB management, and much more. A newly expanded title reflects the rapidly evolving nature of extracorporeal technology, encompassing both short-term and long-term forms of cardiac and pulmonary support.
This book dissects the effects of ethanol on the major neurotransmitter systems affected by ethanol and correlates these actions with the behavioral consequences. The subject is approached first from the perspective of the neurochemical system and the behaviors resulting from ethanol's effects on that system. The behaviors themselves are discussed in later chapters. Some older theories of the effects of ethanol such as the membrane fluidization hypothesis are evaluated in light of new and updated information. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) as well as the structural damage in the brain by long term ethanol exposure are also discussed.
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