... centuries of resistance, science is finally unraveling what romantic love actually is, what triggers it, what kills it, and what makes it last. Just as ancient tribesmen ...
Story - antoq - 09/30/2010 - 06:49 - 0 comments - 0 attachments
The period from 1870-1913 was a period of globalization in both goods and financial markets comparable to the present era of globalization. It was also a period rife with emerging market financial crises with great resonance for the experience that we have observed in the past decade. In both eras many emerging countries faced frequent currency crises, banking crises and twin crises. They also faced a number of debt crises coming on the heels of banking and currency trouble. In both periods many of these countries suffered from what Eichengreen and Hausmann (1999) refer to as original sin. The external debt that they accumulated to finance their development was almost strictly denominated in foreign currency or in terms of gold (or had gold clauses) before 1914, just as emerging market debt today is almost entirely denominated in dollars, euros or yen. When the exchange rate depreciates, debt service in gold or foreign currency becomes very difficult leading to an increased likelihood of default, the consequent drying up of external funding and economic collapse.
The emerging country experience stands in contrast to that of the advanced core countries which are financially mature, have credibility and either issue bonds denominated in terms of their own currency or manage their significant hard currency debt carefully. There were few crises in these countries. This leads us to wonder whether these debt structures might play a role in explaining the difference in crisis incidence. We also investigate whether balance sheet mismatches as discussed in Goldstein and Turner (2004) mattered. Finally we also examine whether poor reputation and accumulated default experience was a problem as hypothesized by Carmen Reinhart, Kenneth Rogoff and Miguel Savastano (2003) in their work on debt intolerance.
While recent studies have been conducted demonstrating the beneficial outcomes of low glycemic index foods on individuals’ health, a tool to assess the number of low glycemic index foods consumed by an individual has not been previously designed for use in public health settings. In order for public health recommendations on low glycemic index foods to be implemented successfully, studies must demonstrate effective methods for promoting dietary behavioral change.
Once these methods have been used to educate patients, it is essential to have adequate tools to measure the impact of the dietary behavioral change. Food frequency questionnaires are often used in epidemiological studies; however this tool usually contains over 100 items, may require up to one hour to complete and demands a high level of literacy. New tools are needed to obtain valuable knowledge regarding one’s intake of low glycemic index foods through dietary assessment.
This paper investigates the current relationship between asset revaluations and debt contracting. Much work in the accounting choice literature is premised on a relation between debt contracts and accounting policies. In particular, prior research provides evidence that asset revaluations are used to reduce the costs of debt contracting (see Whittred and Chan, 1992; Brown, Izan and Loh, 1992; and Cotter and Zimmer, 1995). Asset revaluations have the potential to reduce the cost of debt contracting by (a) allowing firms to avoid the costs associated with technical default on debt covenants, and (b) signalling available borrowing capacity to lenders.
