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Greater Instability (greater + instability)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	50%

Selected Abstracts

INSTABILITY AND THE INCENTIVES FOR CORRUPTION

ECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 1 2009
FILIPE R. CAMPANTE
We investigate the relationship between corruption and political stability, from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. We propose a model of incumbent behavior that features the interplay of two effects: a horizon effect, whereby greater instability leads the incumbent to embezzle more during his short window of opportunity, and a demand effect, by which the private sector is more willing to bribe stable incumbents. The horizon effect dominates at low levels of stability, because firms are unwilling to pay high bribes and unstable incumbents have strong incentives to embezzle, whereas the demand effect gains salience in more stable regimes. Together, these two effects generate a non-monotonic, U-shaped relationship between total corruption and stability. On the empirical side, we find a robust U-shaped pattern between country indices of corruption perception and various measures of incumbent stability, including historically observed average tenures of chief executives and governing parties: regimes that are very stable or very unstable display higher levels of corruption when compared with those in an intermediate range of stability. These results suggest that minimizing corruption may require an electoral system that features some re-election incentives, but with an eventual term limit. [source]

Diversifying Municipal Government Revenue Structures: Fiscal Illusion or Instability?

PUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 1 2009
DEBORAH A. CARROLL
This paper examines (1) whether revenue diversification leads to greater instability as represented by revenue volatility, and (2) whether revenue complexity produces fiscal illusion as represented by increased public expenditures. These questions are answered by analyzing panel data on municipal governments between 1970 and 2002. The findings suggest that fiscal illusion does not occur among municipal governments, but revenue diversification does influence levels of volatility. However, the way in which municipalities diversify is important for achieving revenue stability. When diversification is considered in isolation, both tax and nontax diversification reduce revenue volatility. When diversification and complexity are considered simultaneously, the statistical effect of nontax diversification disappears. But, when a tax revenue structure is both diversified and complex, the likely outcome is greater revenue volatility rather than stability. [source]

Protein instability during HIC: Hydrogen exchange labeling analysis and a framework for describing mobile and stationary phase effects

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 1 2007
Yunzhi Xiao
Abstract Unfolding of marginally stable proteins is a significant factor in commercial application of hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). In this work, hydrogen-deuterium isotope exchange labeling has been used to monitor protein unfolding on HIC media for different stationary phase hydrophobicities and as a function of ammonium sulfate concentration. Circular dichroism and Raman spectroscopy were also used to characterize the structural perturbations experienced by solution phase protein that had been exposed to media and by protein adsorbed on media. As expected, greater instability is seen on chromatographic media with greater apparent hydrophobicity. However, increased salt concentrations also led to more unfolding, despite the well-known stabilizing effect of ammonium sulfate in solution. A thermodynamic framework is proposed to account for the effects of salt on both adsorption and stability during hydrophobic chromatography. Using appropriate estimates of input quantities, analysis with the framework can explain how salt effects on stability in chromatographic systems may contrast with solution stability. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007;96: 80,93. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

Dynamic wavefront aberrations and visual acuity in normal and dry eyes

CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL OPTOMETRY, Issue 3 2009
Yan Wang MD
Purpose:, The aim was to study the dynamic properties of wavefront aberrations and visual acuity in normal and dry eyes. Methods:, Thirty dry-eye patients and 27 normal subjects participated in this study. Multi-file mode of a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor was used to measure dynamic wavefront aberrations for a period of 45 seconds. Dynamic measurements of visual acuity (VA) were made for 150 seconds using a multi-functional VA tester. Standard deviation of the measurements (RMS or VA) over the testing period was used to estimate instability of the dynamic wavefront aberration and VA. Results:, For most subjects, both wavefront aberration and VA changed over time and the instability varied substantially among individuals. Blink-dependent fluctuation in wavefront aberration or VA was observed for some dry-eye subjects. On average, the dry-eye group had greater instability than the normal group in either the higher order wavefront aberrations (t = 2.09, p = 0.03, for OD; t = 3.76, p = 0.001, for OS) or the VA (t = 2.09, p = 0.02, for OD; t = 204, p = 0.03, for OS). Instability of VA in the dry-eye group was significantly correlated with blink rate (r = 0.28, p = 0.02). Conclusion:, Dynamic changes in wavefront aberrations and VA are highly individual dependent, while the dry eye tends to be less stable than the normal eye. The results suggest that tear-film fluctuation might play a role in determining dynamic wavefront aberration and VA, however, contributions from other factors should not be overlooked. For dry eye, dynamic change in VA depends on blink rate. [source]