Sodium butyrate is a sodium salt of a volatile short-chain fatty acid (butyric acid) used to prevent Salmonella Enteritidis infection in birds. Three

Ecuador is the third largest cacao exporter in the world. Up to 10 % of Ecuador's cacao production is grown in the Amazon region, mostly under conventional (CA) and organic (OA) agroforestry systems. Despite the importance of cacao in this area, no previous studies on its environmental impact and economic viability have yet been carried out. The main objective of this research is to fill this gap and, more specifically, perform a comparative analysis between CA and OA systems. For this purpose, primary information was gathered from 90 farms (44 conventional and 46 organic ones) that implement land management practices. The environmental performance of cacao production was assessed using a life cycle analysis methodology, with a cradle-to-farm gate approach. Up to twelve impact categories and five environmental and monetary efficiency indicators were estimated based on three functional units (1 kg of cacao, 1 kg of output sold, and 1 ha). Additionally, an economic viability analysis was performed, focused on profitability. The results show that organic management allows to reduce the environmental impact in all the analyzed categories, except for the land footprint, and improved the environmental and economic efficiency of agroforestry systems. The economic analysis shows no statistically significant differences between CA and OA profitability (net margin), which can be improved by selling co-products. Despite the low environmental impact of both types of system, economic profitability is certainly one of the weaknesses of cacao production in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. This study contributes to develop technical, production-related and political actions that could improve the economic cacao production situation without jeopardizing the environmental benefit obtained by these systems.

Given the central role of banks in financial stability and the recent impact of their insufficient capitalization, this article focuses on finding determinants of their solvency through financial variables. The study considers the European Banking Union framework and the results of the latter stress test exercises, using a panel of the 45 banks based in 15 European countries that were stress tested in 2014, 2016 and 2018. This paper models bank soundness proxied by the stressed tier capital 1 ratio by means of financial indicators representing a CAMELS (Capital, Assets quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to market risk) approach as well as global systemically important financial institutions (G-SIFIs) additional requirements. The model also specifies a dummy covariate referred to the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, adopting a comprehensive sustainability scheme. The research period starts with the European Banking Union and includes the three exercises conducted since then. We find that financial sustainability is positively correlated with higher capitalization, earnings and liquid assets, while poor quality assets (high non-performing loans) and inefficiency impact negatively on bank soundness. Moreover, it considers the year-scenario interaction either as a fixed or a random effect. The results support capital and liquidity regulation and highlight factors that reinforce banking soundness. They also reveal a positive connection between CSR and banking solvency.

ResumenLas entidades de crédito españolas afrontan un escenario caracterizado por la crisis financiera y las crecientes exigencias de capital. Sumidas en un proceso de recapitalización y reestructuración, recientemente han sido sometidas a tests de estrés para analizar su nivel de solvencia y su capacidad de resistencia ante un mayor deterioro económico.El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar si los resultados de dichas pruebas, medidos en términos de exceso o déficit de capital, pueden predecirse a partir de indicadores extraídos de los estados contables públicos o de la información con relevancia prudencial. Para ello, se aplican tanto un análisis de regresión logística estándar como su versión exacta, que resulta más adecuada dado el bajo tamaño muestral.Los principales resultados indican que tanto la ratio de autonomía (fondos propios/fondos ajenos) como la calidad de los recursos propios son variables con una gran capacidad predictiva.La principal aportación de este trabajo es revisar y contrastar los resultados de las pruebas de resistencia aplicadas a la banca española, identificando ratios contables que prácticamente permiten llegar a sus mismas conclusiones.AbstractThe Spanish financial system faces a new situation defined by a financial crisis and higher capital requirements. These institutions are involved in a restructuring and refinancing process, and have recently been submitted to a stress test in order to check their solvency and resilience against increasingly worse economic conditions.This study aims to predict the stress test results–capital excess or shortfall–by means of indicators obtained from the financial statements and from the Prudential Relevance report. Both standard and exact logistic regressions are used due to the small sample size considered.The results show that both autonomy ratio (equity vs. debt) and best quality capital have a strong predictive capability.The main contribution of this paper is to contrast the Spanish banking stress test results by identifying accounting ratios that allow almost the same conclusions to be reached