Cross-ownership breaks the traditional rule of one-sided corporate control. Using a novel approach based on stochastic voting processes, this paper proposes a general method to determine control stakes in the presence of cross-ownership. It offers a generalization of the Banzhaf index, which...

This paper investigates the influence of firm control structure on firm individual economic performance using a unique firm level data set of ownership and balance sheet information. This study fills a gap in the empirical governance literature by investigating whether or not there is...

In countries with weak institutions board governance becomes more important. This study uses a unique dataset from listed Sub-Saharan African companies to examine the relationship between ownership composition and board compensation. It further analyses the association between board compensation...

Complex structure of ownership like cross-ownership, rings, and pyramids are common in Continental Europe, Eastern Europe, and in Asia. This paper aims at dissecting these complex features by a proper measurement of direct and indirect holdings. Building on Brioschi et al. (1989), we use the...

This paper investigates the common patterns of ownership structure across different corporate governance systems. We test the predictions of Zwiebel (1995) using ownership data of Belgian listed companies in 1995 and in 1999. Results show good applicability of the model. This empirical research...

Starting from the structural model developed by Merton (1974) and the derived notion of distance-to-default, we study the determinants of credit default swap (CDS) spreads for a sample of European banks over a period from January 2006 to December 2011. In particular, we test variables that are...

This research investigates how bankruptcy law influences the design of debt contracts and the investment choice through the sanction of faulty managers. We model a lending relationship between a small firm and a monopolistic bank which decides the loan rate. The firm may perform asset...

Sovereign debts are often subject to payment suspension. Default, i.e. the financial incapacity to fulfil the debt service, and repudiation, i.e. the denial by a sovereign to recognize its legal obligations, are normally used to explain these payment suspensions. Intuitively, for bondholders,...

Currency and interest rate swaps are subject to a complex, two-sided default risk. Several theoretical papers have addressed the problem of pricing swap credit risk. I propose a complete implementation procedure of the structural line of research in theoretical credit risk analysis in order to...

This paper presents an alternative modelling of the term structure of the credit spreads under a structural approach. We rely upon the barrier option pricing frameworkto price a corporate zero-coupon bond with a stochastic present value of the recovery consistent with the evidence on the...