ESG Scores and Bank Performance During COVID-19

This chapter examines the impact of ESG scores on bank stock returns as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors use a sample of 73 publicly listed banks from 15 developed European countries. They perform the analysis using two different periods that cover the pandemic: the first major wave period of COVID-19 (February-April 2020) and an extended period (February 2020-April 2021). The findings reveal the negative influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on bank stock returns during the first wave of the pandemic. They further find that, during the first wave, stock returns of banks with higher ESG scores were more resilient to the pandemic. However, when they use the extended time period (from February 2020-April 2021), the influence of both COVID-19 and ESG scores becomes insignificant. The chapter's findings have important policy implications during unprecedented crisis times such as COVID-19.

Estimating the Potential Economic Impact of Haiti’s 2021 Earthquake

This paper employs a simple methodology to estimate the potential economic damages of the 2021 earthquake in Haiti. The country registered a magnitude 7.2 earthquake off the South Coast on August 14, 2021, that resulted in 2,248 deaths, 12,763 injured and substantial damages to houses and other infrastructure. An additional 329 persons remain missing. We estimate economic damages using econometric techniques and a dataset on natural disasters across a wide range of countries and over an extended time period. Based on this analysis, damages for the 2021 earthquake in Haiti are estimated to reach US$1.6 billion (9.6 percent of GDP) for a scenario with an impact of 2,500 dead or missing. We also generate confidence intervals on these results. We hope these early estimates will provide a useful input to the ongoing Post-Disaster Risk Assessment (PDNA) and will assist the government and its international partners plan efforts to assist the country in terms of relief and reconstruction.

Global Freshwater Fluxes into the World Oceans

<div> <div> <div></div> </div> <div><!-- COMO-HTML-CONTENT-START --> <p>The Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) deploys the data product Global Freshwater Fluxes into the World Oceans since 1996. The quantification of freshwater fluxes into the ocean is an important link to oceanography and climatology, as the salinity of sea water influences ocean currents and is a driver of evaporation and therefore interconnects to the general circulation of the atmosphere.<br>The first versions of the data product were based on runoff coefficient estimates for ungauged basins. Since 2004, results of the global hydrological model WaterGAP (AG Hydrologie, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt), calibrated with GRDC station data, were used to calculate the freshwater fluxes.<br>On the basis of the latest WaterGAP 2.2d model, we could now derive the freshwater fluxes in a refined temporal resolution and for a considerably extended time period (1901-2016).<br>We present a statistical analysis of monthly and annual freshwater input to the oceans within 5° and 10° latitude zones, from 5° cells along the coastlines and from the Global International Water Assessment regions (GIWA).<br>Beyond that, the GRDC has revised its GIS product Major River Basins of the World, which is now consistent with the WMO Regions and Subregions. The freshwater fluxes have been determined likewise for these catchments.<br>The provision of integrative data products is one of the objectives of the Global Terrestrial Network Hydrology (GTN-H) corresponding with the commitments of the WMO members at the eighteenth session of the World Meteorological Congress.</p></div></div>

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 Antibody Responses in Hospitalized Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Daegu, Korea

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) started to spread in Daegu from the end of February 2020. IgG and IgM antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were measured in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 with moderate to severe symptoms to improve the understanding of antibody responses.Methods: We enrolled 312 patients with COVID-19 admitted to seven hospitals located in Daegu. Using serum (or plasma) samples from patients with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections, both IgG and IgM antibodies were measured using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (R-FIND COVID-19 ELISA, SG medical, Seoul, Korea). Results: The median value from the initial diagnosis by confirming SARS-CoV-2 PCR to the sampling date was 24 days (day -1 to 88). The total positive rate of IgG was 93.9% and the positive IgM rate was 39.4%, without considering the elapsed period after diagnosis. Positive IgG and IgM rates were highest at 100.0% and 59.0% in 3 weeks (15–21 days), respectively. IgG showed a high positive rate of 79.3% even within 7 days after the initial diagnosis of the disease and maintained a positive rate of 97.8% until after 8 weeks. Conclusions: Among hospitalized patients with COVID-19, IgG was detected from the beginning of the diagnosis and persisted for an extended time period.

New Yorkers’ Street Smarts and Survival Smarts During the Pandemic: Preppers, Community Resilience and Local Citizenship

This qualitative study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the philosophy and practices of New York’s urban prepper subculture. My three research goals are to: 1) explore preppers’ approaches to protecting their families against the pandemic, and how their commitment to self-reliance may have changed; 2) describe the different experiences of surviving a pandemic in New York, a global capital that is sharply divided by class and race; and 3) analyze the possible benefits of community resilience rooted in a sense of strong social bonds. For urban preppers, the government’s failure to enact a clear response to the pandemic reaffirmed their core belief: the government was not coming to help them. But while they had a strong foundation for successfully sheltering in place, they did not anticipate the challenges of working from home, remote learning, and staying in one location for such an extended time period.

Spectrums of depositional practice in later prehistoric Britain and beyond. Grave goods, hoards and deposits ‘in between’

This paper critically evaluates how archaeologists define ‘grave goods’ in relation to the full spectrum of depositional contexts available to people in the past, including hoards, rivers and other ‘special’ deposits. Developing the argument that variations in artefact deposition over time and space can only be understood if different ‘types’ of find location are considered together holistically, we contend that it is also vital to look at the points where traditionally defined contexts of deposition become blurred into one another. In this paper, we investigate one particular such category – body-less object deposits at funerary sites – in later prehistoric Britain. This category of evidence has never previously been analysed collectively, let alone over the extended time period considered here. On the basis of a substantial body of evidence collected as part of a nationwide survey, we demonstrate that body-less object deposits were a significant component of funerary sites during later prehistory. Consequently, we go on to question whether human remains were actually always a necessary element of funerary deposits for prehistoric people, suggesting that the absence of human bone could be a positive attribute rather than simply a negative outcome of taphonomic processes. We also argue that modern, fixed depositional categories sometimes serve to mask a full understanding of the complex realities of past practice and ask whether it might be productive in some instances to move beyond interpretively confining terms such as ‘grave’, ‘hoard’ and ‘cenotaph’. Our research demonstrates that is it not only interesting in itself to scrutinize archaeological evidence that does not easily fit into traditional narratives, but that the process of doing so also sheds new light on the validity of our present-day categories, enabling deeper insights into how people in the past ordered their material and conceptual worlds. Whilst our main focus is later prehistoric Britain, the issues we consider are potentially relevant across all periods and regions.

Continuing to Explore the Relation between Economic and Political Factors and Government Survey Refusal Rates: 1960–2015

In the United States, government surveys’ refusal rates have been increasing at an alarming rate, despite traditional measures for mitigating nonresponse. Given this phenomenon, now is a good time to revisit the work of Harris-Kojetin and Tucker (1999). In that study, the authors explored the relation between economic and political conditions on Current Population Survey (CPS) refusal rates over the period 1960–1988.They found evidence that economic and political factors are associated with survey refusals and acknowledged the need to extend this work as more data became available. In this study, our aim was to continue their analysis. First, we replicated their findings. Next, we ran the assumed underlying model on an extended time-period (1960–2015). Last, since we found that the model was not an ideal fit for the extended period, we revised it using available time series and incorporating information about the CPS sample design. In the extended, refined model, presidential approval, census year, number of jobs and not-in-labor-force rate were all significant predictors of survey refusal.

Management stock ownership and corporate debt: evidence from an emerging market

Purpose The purpose of the present paper is to examine the trade-off relationship between managerial ownership and corporate debts and whether this relationship is moderated by ownership structure and corporate tax rates, particularly in a transition and emerging market whose unique institutional characteristics considerably differ from those prevailing both in the West and East markets. Design/methodology/approach This research is semi-empirical in terms of method and practical in terms of purpose. The authors test their hypotheses by using simultaneous equations system methodology with two- and three-stages least squares regression (2SLS and 3SLS) and panel data technics on a sample of 952 listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2011-2018. Findings The findings indicate that, contrary to the current line of research, there is no trade-off relationship between managerial ownership and debt concerning the reduction of agency costs. Likewise, the study finds no convincing evidence that either the controlling shareholder or the corporate tax rate could influence or moderate this interrelationship. The conjecture lies in the fact that the fundamental environmental variations between the Tehran Stock Exchange and the institutional assumptions underpinning the Western models have led to the formation of such unexpected results. Research limitations/implications The implications drawn from this study are constrained by two primary limitations. First, the present study is conducted in an Iranian setting; therefore, the data used for the study only contain companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The utilization of listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange is likely to affect the generalizability of the study in an international context. Second, in this study, we were unable to extend the sample time period because of some major deficiencies in the Tehran Stock Exchange library and its supplementary software. The usage of an extended time period could have provided more generalizable results. However, extended time period, per se, may impair the validity of the results as well. Originality/value Because the fundamental institutional assumptions underpinning the Western and even East Asia capital structure models are not valid in the institutional environment of Iran, the findings of this study could provide substantial implications for the understanding of agency costs and capital structure literature. These significant institutional and ownership differences are the factors affecting firms’ leverage and capital choice decisions. Indeed, this study has laid some groundwork upon which a more detailed evaluation of the Iranian firms’ capital structure could be based. In addition, the examination of such relations may provide the ground for sound decision-making by various interested users of financial and accounting information.

Nestling Phenology of Anseriformes in the Baikal Siberia Region, Russia

Aim. The goal was to aggregate data on the nesting phenology of the range of Anseriformes in the Baikal Siberia region – using the example of Lake Baikal itself.Material and methods. In preparing the materials we used data from our own observations based on foot and car‐based survey assessments and that of other authors for the entire known period of bird research on Lake Baikal, including data from the literature. Standard ornithological visual methods of accounting, registration and description are used.Results. The ecology of Anseriformes nesting has been sufficiently studied, but information on the oviposition phenology is not generalized. During the nesting periods of Anseriformes on Lake Baikal (in particular) the laying of eggs occurs over an extended time period. This prolongation egg‐laying time is normal and is a response to the death of clutches from inundations as well as being a characteristic of some ducks which re‐nest repeatedly. These subsequently lead to a later taking to flight of young birds. Conclusion. The earliest clutches are found among mallard and ruddy shelduck from the end of April, when ponds are still ice‐bound, while the latest are laid up to midJuly by the European widgeon, the white‐winged scoter and the red‐breasted merganser. Mass oviposition of all species occurs in the period from mid‐May to mid‐June. Overall, the egg‐laying period of Lake Baikal Anseriformes lasts from 20 days to 3.1 months. The timing and period of egg‐laying depends on regional environmental conditions and the specifics of individual species’ ecology and biology. Although the general ovipositional time‐frame of Anseriformes regionally is prolonged, the period of mass egg‐laying is quite concentrated and occurs within a period of 20‐30 days.

Nostoc oromo sp. nov. (Nostocales, Cyanophyceae) from Ethiopia: a new species based on morphological and molecular evidence

In the course of study of the cyanobacterial flora of Ethiopian soil crusts, we isolated a distinctive strain most closely resembling Chroococcidiopsis kashayi, and at first considered it to be a new Chroococcidiopsis species. However, when placed in nitrogen-free medium for an extended time period this strain developed heterocytes, and consequently was placed in the genus Nostoc. It is morphologically distinct from all other Nostoc species due to its consistent formation of microscopic few-celled colonies lacking clear filamentous organization, which release smaller colonies from the mother colony, leaving behind a persistent thin firm sheath that resembles cell wall material in the light microscope. Analysis of 16S rRNA and 16S-23S ITS sequence data confirmed its uniqueness among numerous strains of soil Nostoc. We are describing it as Nostoc oromo, named for the nationality of the people from the region of its origin.