Unraveling the Genetic Component of Multifactorial Diseases: Dream or Reality

The etiology of many human diseases is complex and very likely involves a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors. A popular strategy to detect genetic risk factors is to perform a systematic screening of the genome searching for linkage. The power of such and approach depends very much on the unknown characteristics of the genetic factors and the main difficulty is to establish a good trade-off between false positives and false negatives. Besides, a precise localisation of the risk factor will generally not be obtained. The set up of a candidate gene stratery is necessary to go further in genetic factor identification. It is likely that for multicfactorioal diseases the only genetic risk factors that can be detected are those with fairly strong effect. Even in that case, it is important to design strategies which increase the power of detection and provide for a better evaluation of the associated risks.     

Information and trade sizes: The case of short sales

In this study, we examine short selling of NASDAQ stocks and observe that more information about future returns is contained in small short sales than in medium-sized and large short sales, thus supporting the idea that NASDAQ short sellers stealth trade. These results are robust to different subsamples of stocks with and without tradable options and stocks that are more likely to face binding borrowing constraints. Further, these findings are contrary to the results in Boehmer, Jones, and Zhang (2008) who find that large NYSE short sales contain the most information. Combined, our study supports the idea that NASDAQ's bid test is less restricting than the NYSE's uptick rule and therefore attenuates the likelihood of stealth trading (Diether, Lee, & Werner, 2009a).     

Prudence and Constitutional Rights

ABSTRACT . In The Calculus of Consent, Buchanan and Tullock argue for institutional safeguards to ensure maximal benefit for all members of a community against the potential tyranny of the majority. I extend this idea by introducing prudential concerns and argue that they ought to be factored into the decision making that constructs such safeguards. Specifically, I see the safeguarding of prudential concerns for all members of society as a matter that should be secured from the random fate of the political process by constitutional provisions.     

An interview with FDA Commissioner Frank Young. Interview by Carmella Bocchino

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently been the target of congressional investigations and has seen recent changes in its approval procedures. In this interview, FDA Commissioner Frank Young responds to harsh congressional criticisms and details the FDA approval process.