This paper examines the determinants and convergence of bank profitability in eight European Union member countries, between 1992 and 2007, using a dynamic panel model. There is evidence of persistence of abnormal bank profit from one year to the next. Average profitability was higher in banks...

This paper examines the determinants of citation success among authors who have published on the economic and business history of Spain. It departs from the dominant cross section approach to the quantitative assessment of citation success by enabling a 15-year time series analysis of...

This paper contributes to the bank efficiency literature through an application of recently developed random parameters models for stochastic frontier analysis. We estimate standard fixed and random effects models, and alternative specifications of random parameters models that accommodate...

This paper examines the strength of competition in 65 national banking industries. Country-level dynamic panel estimates of the persistence of bank profit are reported and compared. The persistence of bank profit appears to be weaker for banks in developing countries than for those in developed...

The"distance effect"measuring the elasticity of trade flows to distance has been rising since the early 1970s in a host of studies based on the gravity model, leading observers to call it the"distance puzzle". This paper reviews the evidence and explanations. Using an extensive data set of 124...

Onchocerciasis is a devastating African parasitical disease that causes severe debilitation and intense itching. By the time its victims are in their late twenties, they experience impaired vision, often blindness. Millions continued to succumb to the disease until the onchocerciasis control...