Paris West University Nanterre La Défense

About: Paris West University Nanterre La Défense is a education organization based out in Paris, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Politics. The organization has 895 authors who have published 1430 publications receiving 21712 citations.

Are Deep and Comprehensive Regional Trade Agreements Helping to Reduce Air Pollution

Abstract: This paper investigates whether membership in Regional Trade agreements (RTAs) with environmental provisions (EPs) affect relative and absolute levels of environmental quality and whether the inclusion of most comprehensive EPs is associated to higher environmental quality. In order to do so, the determinants of PM2.5 population weighted concentrations are estimated for a sample of OECD countries and OECD BRIICS over the period 1990 to 2011. The usual controls for scale, composition and technique effects are added to the estimated model and the endogeneity of income and trade variables is addressed using instruments. The main results indicate that membership in RTAs with EPs is in general associated with higher environmental quality in absolute terms, whereas no significant results are found for RTAs without EPs. Moreover, the concentration in emissions of the pairs of countries that belong to an RTA with EPs tends to converge for the country sample.

Does the Entry Mode of Foreign Banks Matter for Bank Efficiency? Evidence from the Czech Republic,Hungary, and Poland

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of specific modes of entry of foreign banks, i.e. greenfield investment versus merger and acquisition, on bank performance in three transition economies - the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. We use stochastic frontier analysis to model and measure the cost efficiency of banks. We adopt a maximum likelihood approach to estimation in which the variance of the one-sided error term is modeled jointly with the cost frontier, thus enabling us to retrieve efficiency scores, as well as estimating the various determinants of X-inefficiency. We first find that foreign banks are generally more cost efficient than their domestic counterparts, a result that confirms those of the existing empirical literature. We then turn our focus to comparative performance of greenfield banks versus merger and acquisition banks (M&As), and of M&As versus domestic banks. The results show that on average, M&As are surpassed in terms of efficiency by greenfields banks, but no cost efficiency difference is apparent between M&As and domestic banks. However, we find a strong age effect with respect to M&As which suggests that the evolution of M&As' efficiency follows an inverse U-shape, that means M&As tend to get more inefficient following the acquisition, but approximately 4 years and a haft later, their efficiency starts to improve.

Relation entre la dépendance à l’exercice physique et les cinq dimensions de la personnalité

Abstract: Resume Il a ete mis en evidence que la pratique reguliere d’un exercice physique peut entrainer chez certains individus et dans certaines conditions des effets negatifs tant au niveau psychologique que physiologique. Certains auteurs ont ainsi developpe le concept de dependance a l’exercice physique. Malgre les recherches de plus en plus nombreuses sur ce theme, peu d’etudes se sont interessees aux relations entre la dependance a l’exercice physique et la personnalite. Notre etude, realisee aupres de 806 adherents d’associations sportives et etudiants, permet de mettre en evidence le role des differentes dimensions de la personnalite dans l’explication de la dependance a l’exercice physique. En ce qui concerne les adherents des associations sportives, ce sont les dimensions agreabilite et ouverture qui expliquent le plus la variance de la dependance a l’exercice physique. Les dimensions stabilite emotionnelle et ouverture quant a elles expliquent le plus la variance de la dependance a l’exercice physique pour les etudiants sciences et techniques des activites physiques et sportives (STAPS). Ces resultats et notamment le role de la dimension ouverture sont surprenants au regard de la litterature. En effet, le role de la dimension ouverture n’a jamais ete mis en evidence dans les etudes sur la dependance a l’exercice physique. Au-dela de ces resultats, le debat sur l’existence meme d’une personnalite type versus des personnalites types de personnes ayant des scores eleves dans l’echelle de dependance a l’exercice physique est rediscute.

Central bank communication in the media and investor sentiment

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between central bank communication and investor sentiment. We first use media coverage on Fed chair’s communication to quantify the degree of confidence and optimism expressed by the Fed chair and call this variable the overconfidence indicator. Second, we relate the overconfidence indicator to investor sentiment. Our results show that an overconfident Fed chair is significantly associated with higher investor sentiment. Further extensions suggest that (i) investors are more sensitive to central bank communication during a recession and that (ii) they adjust rapidly their sentiment following central bank communication, thus showing that there is no underreaction bias. These findings provide additional insights on how central bank communication shapes investor sentiment in the context of the Global Financial Crisis and the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates.

Model for heterogeneous random networks using continuous latent variables and an application to a tree-fungus network

Abstract: The mixture model is a method of choice for modeling heterogeneous random graphs, because it contains most of the known structures of heterogeneity: hubs, hierarchical structures, or community structure. One of the weaknesses of mixture models on random graphs is that, at the present time, there is no computationally feasible estimation method that is completely satisfying from a theoretical point of view. Moreover, mixture models assume that each vertex pertains to one group, so there is no place for vertices being at intermediate positions. The model proposed in this article is a grade of membership model for heterogeneous random graphs, which assumes that each vertex is a mixture of extremal hypothetical vertices. The connectivity properties of each vertex are deduced from those of the extreme vertices. In this new model, the vector of weights of each vertex are fixed continuous parameters. A model with a vector of parameters for each vertex is tractable because the number of observations is proportional to the square of the number of vertices of the network. The estimation of the parameters is given by the maximum likelihood procedure. The model is used to elucidate some of the processes shaping the heterogeneous structure of a well-resolved network of host/parasite interactions.