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We investigate the impact of bank market power on the interest rates charged for loans to nonfinancial firms within the context of a developing country. Employing a distinctive amalgamation of data encompassing banks, firms, and loan specifics, alongside panel data fixed-effect models, we elucidate that banks wielding greater market power tend to impose higher interest rates on their loan products. This effect becomes more pronounced for banks positioned at the upper echelons of the market power spectrum (relative market power) and in instances of lengthier credit relationships. However, its severity can be mitigated for firms managing multiple credit connections (subjective market power). Our findings shed light on the presence of practices aimed at extracting economic rents and accentuate the substantial costs associated with changing lending partners in the corporate credit landscape. Various papers have delved into the empirical examination of how competition impacts the accessibility and expenses tied to bank credit for nonfinancial firms, yielding a mosaic of outcomes. Our contribution to this body of the literature manifests as a more incisive empirical analysis, enabling us to disentangle the opposing dynamics at play. This analytical depth is achievable solely due to the exceptional dataset we have curated. Significantly, our study stands out as one of the initial endeavors to interlink dynamic, bank-level gauges of market power with directly observed interest rates at the firm level, all while controlling for bank and loan-specific characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to evaluate the forms of interaction in the main Instagramers from Peru and Colombia, an exploratory analysis of their profiles was carried out on the Instagram audiovisual platform during 2019. For this reason, firstly, the Heepsy tool was used to establish the influencers with greater impact within the platform in both countries and then, through the monitoring tools Fan Page Karma and Social Blade, to determine a set of variables and parameters regarding their interaction. The results show that the audience index is higher for Instagramers from Colombia than for the ones from Peru. In addition, there is a clear trend among digital audiences to value content through likes as a sign of interaction with it, but on the other hand, there is a representative decrease in expressing their impressions with words and comments regarding what they observe; this is also established by the low levels of commitment registered by most Instagramers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income shocks affect violence through the opportunity cost and rapacity effects. Existing studies focus on the impact of transitory shocks, especially commodity price innovations. This paper builds on this literature and studies the causal effect of permanent income shocks on armed conflict in Colombia. Using a rich dataset reporting all guerrilla and other armed groups' attacks by municipality between 2009 and 2014 and information on the provision of banking services, it shows that increasing bancarization leads to reductions in violence. These results have important implications for public policy in countries with a long history of violence. They suggest that promoting financial inclusion is useful for reducing conflict. • Income shocks affect violence through the opportunity cost and rapacity effects. • Existing studies focus on the impact of transitory shocks, especially commodity price innovations. • We study the causal effect of permanent income shocks on armed conflict in Colombia. • We find that increasing bancarization leads to reductions in violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the outbreak of the Global Financial Crisis, on May 6, 2007, the Colombian central bank imposed a cap on the Gross Leverage Position in Foreign Exchange Derivatives of financial intermediaries. It was the only country in the world that implemented this prudential policy. Using synthetic control methods, we construct counterfactual scenarios and show that this policy intervention, while costly in financial stability terms in the pre-GFC period, was effective in reducing Colombia's financial stability risks during the crisis. A trade-off between "calm" and "turbulent" periods emerges from our results, which should be considered when deciding on the right policy tools to use before a crisis break-out. • We evaluate the causal impact of a macroprudential policy, the PBA, on financial stability in an emerging market. • We use synthetic control methods. • We construct counterfactual scenarios and show that this policy intervention was effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the genetic variability in the pig-human tapeworm, Taenia solium, by sequencing the genes for cytochrome oxidase I, internal transcribed spacer 1, and a diagnostic antigen, Ts14, from individual cysts isolated from Peru, Colombia, Mexico, India, China, and the Philippines. For these genes, the rate of nucleotide variation was minimal. Isolates from these countries can be distinguished based on one to eight nucleotide differences in the 396 nucleotide cytochrome oxidase I (COI) sequence. However, all of the 15 isolates from within Peru had identical COI sequences. The Ts14 sequences from India and China were identical and differed from the Peru sequence by three nucleotides in 333. These data indicate that there is minimal genetic variability within the species T. solium. Minimal variability was also seen in the ITS1 sequence, but this variation was observed within the individual. Twenty-two cloned sequences from six isolates sorted into 13 unique sequences. The variability observed within the sequences from individual cysts was as great as the variability between the isolates.

The discordance between extremely high seroprevalence of Taenia solium antibodies in disease-endemic populations, relatively few symptomatic cases of neurocysticercosis, and high background levels of putatively inactive brain lesions (mainly calcifications) in seronegative controls have confused researchers, clinicians, and epidemiologists in the last decade. We reviewed longitudinal serologic data from general population serosurveys in 3 different disease-endemic areas of Peru and Colombia and found that approximately 40% of seropositive people were seronegative when resampled after 1 year (3 surveys) or after 3 years (1 survey). Transient antibodies may have significant implications for the epidemiology of and immunity to this disease.