Indeed, inflation declined by about the same fraction of the initial inflation rate across episodes.
More than a quarter of the patients said they had grown up in a household in which there was an alcoholic or a drug user; about the same fraction had been beaten as children.
Both its budget deficit and its national debt are about the same fraction of G.D.P. as those of the U.S. eight years ago, and compared with Japan the country is a paragon of fiscal prudence.
And loans were about the same fraction of the house's value.Stephan Meier, one of the study's authors, reckons that the innumerate may be worse at managing their daily finances, leaving them with little room for manoeuvre when things get difficult.
About one-third of companies planned to give holiday bonuses this year anyway -- about the same fraction as in 2002 -- but fewer companies were giving them in cash, according to a study of 435 American companies conducted in November by Hewitt Associates, another human resources consulting firm.
About the same fraction reported that it hindered the training of students and postdocs.
