Diabetes is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism that requires immediate changes in lifestyle. In its chronic forms, diabetes is associated with long-term vascular complications, including retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy and vascular disease. Approximately 650,000 women give birth in England and Wales each year, and 2–5% of pregnancies involve women with diabetes. Approximately 87.5% of pregnancies complicated by diabetes are estimated to be due to gestational diabetes (which may or may not resolve after pregnancy), with 7.5% being due to type 1 diabetes and the remaining 5% being due to type 2 diabetes. The prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes is increasing. In particular, type 2 diabetes is increasing in certain minority ethnic groups (including people of African, black Caribbean, South Asian, Middle Eastern and Chinese family origin).
Diabetes in pregnancy is associated with risks to the woman and to the developing fetus. Miscarriage, pre-eclampsia and preterm labour are more common in women with pre-existing diabetes. In addition, diabetic retinopathy can worsen rapidly during pregnancy. Stillbirth, congenital malformations, macrosomia, birth injury, perinatal mortality and postnatal adaptation problems (such as hypoglycaemia) are more common in babies born to women with pre-existing diabetes.
A lot of work has been carried out over the last years regarding the diversification effect within a portfolio of credit instruments. Most of this research has considered correlation as a good proxy for dependence. The purpose of this paper is not to question this choice but rather to provide some empirical results on the behaviour of correlation.
Several methodologies have been developed to proxy for transition correlation, but very little has yet been done to benchmark their output with empirical findings. In this paper, we investigate the properties of default correlation using Standard & Poor’s historical database.
How fast do prices adjust to changes in economic conditions? Answering this is crucial in the assessment of the welfare costs of inflation and the real effects of nominal shocks. The literature provides apparently conflicting answers to this question: whereas aggregate price indices were found to be very persistent, more recent work starting with Bils & Klenow (2004) has shown that individual prices adjust frequently.
