Economics

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The Capital Structure Puzzle: What Are We Missing?

The Holy Grail of corporate finance is a theory that explains the capital structure behavior of real-world firms. It’s been 63 years since Modigliani and Miller’s (1958, MM) landmark paper and we still do not have a model that explains even the broad-brush features of observed capital structures.

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An interview with JHET Co-Editors Pedro Garcia Duarte and Jimena Hurtado

Firstly, for anyone new to the journal can you briefly explain the journal’s mission and scope? The Journal of the History of Economic Thought (JHET) is the journal of the History of Economics Society and it promotes interest in and inquiry into the history of economics and related parts of intellectual history, facilitate communication and discourse among scholars and disseminate knowledge about the history of economics.…

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Demography and the Economics of Religion

In the last decade or two, the economics of religion has become a full-fledged subfield in economics. Economists (and social scientists of all stripes) who study religion are interested in the many ways religion affects decision-making via politics, education, persecution, technology diffusion, violence, and much more.…

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Is physical distancing worth it, given its tremendous costs to the economy?

The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was declared a pandemic by the WHO in March 2020. Around this time, many states and local governments in the United States declared states of emergencies and adopted policies aimed at reducing the frequency of physical contacts between people—social or physical distancing measures—in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.…

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Health care in a post-growth world

COVID-19 has placed the world on an economic rollercoaster unlike anything seen for generations.  As the reality that COVID-19 and its effects will likely be with us for years to come, people and societies around the world long for a “return to normal”. …

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COVID-19’s Impact on Youth Un/employment and Social Policy in Turkey

The COVID-19 crisis is an unprecedented one in terms of its reach and pervasiveness, and it exposed the vulnerabilities of the global social, political, and economic system. That said, its impact on countries has been uneven and this unevenness depended heavily on the position countries were in immediately prior to the crisis. In Turkey, the key issue of youth un/employment emerged as one of the long-lasting ones since it was a major challenge before the crisis. Policy-making emerged as another key issue as the ability to generate long-term planning escaped Turkey and countries alike for a while. Regardless of when we will get past the pandemic, the post-COVID-19 world will be an extremely difficult one.

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Quebec’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

HEPL blog series: Country Responses to the Covid19 Pandemic   Quebec’s response to the coronavirus pandemic   Greg Marchildon [1] [2] Amélie Quesnel-Vallée [2] [3] Madeline King [2] Antonina Maltsev [2] [1] Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto [2] North American Observatory on Health Systems and Policies [3] McGill Observatory on Health and Social Services Reforms, Department of Sociology and Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University   Background and Scope Quebec has been the hardest hit jurisdiction in Canada yet among the first provinces to begin reopening.…

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Albania’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

HEPL blog series: Country Responses to the Covid19 Pandemic   Albania’s response to the coronavirus pandemic Andi Hoxhaj, University of Warwick   The coronavirus pandemic officially started in Albania on 8th of March when the Ministry of Health announced the country’s first cases – a father and son who had travelled from Italy to Albania.…

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Poland’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

HEPL blog series: Country Responses to the Covid19 Pandemic   Poland’s response to the Coronavirus Pandemic Michał Zabdyr-Jamróz, Iwona Kowalska-Bobko   As of 8th May Poland has reported a total of 15,200 confirmed COVID-19 cases; 5,184 recoveries; 9,260 active cases (2% being serious or critical) and 756 deaths associated with the disease (20 deaths per 1 million inhabitants).…

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Ontario’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

HEPL blog series: Country Responses to the Covid19 Pandemic Ontario’s response to the coronavirus pandemic   Greg Marchildon[1][2] Sara Allin[1][2] Karen Born[1]   [1] Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto [2] North American Observatory on Health Systems and Policies     Background and Scope With 39% of Canada’s population (14.7 million residents), Ontario is home to the country’s largest city, Toronto, and its national capital of Ottawa.…

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Malaysia’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

HEPL blog series: Country Responses to the Covid19 Pandemic   Malaysia’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic YingYing Yew University of Oviedo, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Unit for Research in Emergency & Disaster, Campus del Cristo, E-33006, Oviedo, Spain     On the 23rd January 2020, the Singapore Immigration Checkpoints Authority alerted its counterpart neighbour regarding foreign visitors that tested positive for COVID-19 and managed to get across to the Malaysian border.…

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Brazil’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

HEPL blog series: Country Responses to the Covid19 Pandemic Brazil’s response to the coronavirus pandemic     Elize Massard da Fonseca, São Paulo School of Business Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) Francisco Inácio Bastos, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz)     Brazil is known for its successful control of communicable infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis (Barreto et al.…

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Austria’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic – a second perspective

HEPL blog series: Country Responses to the Covid19 Pandemic   Austria’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic – a second perspective (read the alternative report here)   Thomas Czypionka, Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna (IHS), Austria and London School of Economics, UK Miriam Reiss, Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna Isabel Pham, Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna   Despite its fragmented healthcare system, strong federalism and relatively poor public health capacity, Austria has so far fared surprisingly well in the current crisis.…

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Greece’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

HEPL blog series: Country Responses to the Covid19 Pandemic   Greece’s response to the coronavirus pandemic   Aris Angelis1, Ilias Kyriopoulos1, Irene Papanicolas1,2, Sotiris Vandoros2,3 1 Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK 2 Harvard T.H.…

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Education is key in fostering trade opportunities for women

Women's empowerment is now an established feature of the debate at the WTO. Over the years, the WTO has worked to further strengthen the role of trade in empowering women; to assess the impact of international trade on women's economic development; to make trade as inclusive as possible and thus to contribute to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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New book highlights key outcomes from WTO Ministerial Conferences

A new book containing all the key results from WTO Ministerial Conferences since the organization was established in 1995 was unveiled at the WTO on 18 July. Spanning 11 Ministerial Conferences held between 1996 and 2017, “WTO Ministerial Conferences: Key Outcomes” includes Ministerial Decisions and Declarations as well as Conference Chairpersons’ statements.

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The Case of the Catalans Consider’d

The title “The Case of the Catalans Consider’d” was the name used by European chancellors early in the 18th century to refer to the debates and arrangements regarding the political destiny of the Principality of Catalonia in the context of the Peace of Utrecht (1712-1714), the agreement that ended the War of the Spanish Succession.…

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What is the cost of police, really?

A recent study by RAND Corporation researchers examined the average amount of police spending on crimes for each state. Averaging the results across all states and considering where people live, the cost to respond to various crimes

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Africa’s future is urban

Africa’s future is urban. By 2050, the majority of Africans will live in cities, transforming its societies and economies. Yet very little is known about the impact this demographic shift will have on residents and political systems.…

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The 2019 Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for the best article in the field of international arbitration

The International Arbitration Club of New York (IACNY) announced today that Simon Batifort and J. Benton Heath are the recipients of the 2019 Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for the best article in the field of international arbitration. The prize is being awarded for the article, “The New Debate on the Interpretation of MFN Clauses in Investment Treaties: Putting the Brakes on Multilateralization”, which was published in the American Journal of International Law (Vol. III No. 4).

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Quantum Field Theory for Economics and Finance

Author Belal Baaquie discusses his new book: Quantum Field Theory for Economics and Finance: "Quantum field theory (QFT) has been my primary domain of research. I was inspired to look beyond its applications in physics by the work of K. G. Wilson, who applied QFT to the classical phenomenon of phase transitions. I was convinced that uncertainty in the social sciences could also be similarly modeled by QFT".

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Origins of the Sicilian Mafia: The Market for Lemons

The Sicilian mafia is arguably one of the most infamous institutions in the Western world. After its first appearance in Sicily in the 1870s it soon infiltrated the economic and political spheres of Italy and of the United States and has, at times, been considered a serious threat to the rule of law in both countries.…

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