We employ both the Panzar and Rosse (1987) and the Bresnahan (1982) models to test for competition in the South African banking sector.We find evidence consistent with monopolistic competition in the South African banking sector. While this may be considered relatively good news for consumers that South African banks are not acting as a cartel, there is need for policies and other intervention…

Clonostachys rosea is a mycoparasitic fungus that can control several important plant diseases. Here, we report on the genome sequencing ofC. rosea and acomparative genome analysis, in order to resolve the phylogenetic placement of C.rosea and to studythe evolution of mycoparasitism as a fungal lifestyle. The genome of C. rosea is estimated to 58.3Mb, and contains 14,268 predicted genes. A phyl…

Transposable elements(TEs) are major components of vertebrate genomes, with major roles in genome architecture and evolution. In order to characterize both common pattern sand lineage-specific differences in TE content and TE evolution, we have compared the mobilomes of 23 vertebrate genomes, including 10 act in optery gian fish, 11 sarcoptery gians, and 2 nonbony vertebrates. We fo…

Nucleotide sequence differences on the whole-genome scale have been computed for 1,092 people from 14 populations publicly available by the 1000 Genomes Project. Total number of differences in genetic variants between 96,464 human pairs has been calculated. The distributions of these differences for individuals within European, Asian, or African origin were characterized by narrowunimodalpeaksw…

Cactophilic Drosophila species provide a valuable model to study gene–environment interactions and ecological adaptation. Drosophila buzzatii and Drosophila mojavensis are two cactophilic species that belong to the repleta group, but have very different geographical distributions and primary host plants. To investigate the genomic basis of ecological adaptation, we sequenced the genome and de…

In this paper we argue for a new approach to monetary and fiscal policy. During the Great Moderation, the inflation targeting regime worked well. Central banks used the interest rate to stabilize inflation, and�subject to inflation being controlled�stabilized the level of demand. Fiscal policy exerted discipline over the public-sector deficits, thereby�indirectly�managing th…

The definition of Official Development Assistance (ODA), stewarded by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), just experienced its largest crisis since the early 1970s. Historically, ODA assessed the subsidy element of aid loans using a discount rate of 10 per cent. Low borrowing interest rates for donor governments enabled them to lend at rates low enough to qualify as ODA, yet high enou…

At the election of the Constituent Assembly of 1848 and the Legislative Assembly of 1849, rumours developed about electoral fraud. Each time, the urn was a central element in the narrative. The press, the main vehicle of this fraudulent discourse, related that the urns that were used for the first mass voting in the Seine must have been carried off or overturned. Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, Ministe…

Towards the end of the seventeenth century, two disputed elections, which were contested by Jansenists and Jesuits, shook the religious establishment at Louvain. Somewhat banal at first sight, these elections actually brought to light the principles and issues at stake in operating the electoral process under the ancien régime. This did not involve choosing the best candidates among those comp…

Among the millions of casualties of World War I, there were hundreds of poets, some of them quitewell known when theyenlisted, while others only found – and tragically lost – their literary voices during the war. It is the latter group of poets who are often regarded as‘War Poets’ proper – War Poets, moreover, whose poems appear to express distinctly anti-war attitudes. Two of the mos…