Numerous empirical studies have demonstrated that asset prices react rapidly, if at all, to news published in the mass media. In many cases, the information has been discounted and prices have already moved upon primary publication through news wires, press releases or firm announcements. Any...

We investigate the effect of financial liberalization on the probability of a banking crises in economies with poor transparency We construct a model with imperfect information where banks cannot distinguish between aggregate shocks on the one hand, and government’s policy and firms’...

The study of transparency is increasingly a more topical, broadly relevant, but also more under-researched enterprise. The Asian financial crisis has highlighted not only the welfare consequences of financial sector transparency, sparking a series of yet unresolved debates, but has also linked...

The popular press attaches particular significance to certain numerical values of the Dow-Jones index. These magic numbers are referred to as `resistance levels' or `psychological barriers.' We examine 38 years of closing values of this index to see if it is of any help in predicting future...

A widely held belief in financial economics suggests that stock prices always adequately reflect all available information. Price movements away from fundamentals are assumed to occur only infrequently, if at all. „False“ prices are supposed to be corrected by the counter-actions of...

The commonly adopted definitions of risk and uncertainty generate conceptual problems and inconsistencies, and they are a source of confusion in general. However, alternative and proper definitions are: (1) First there is the distinction between certainty and uncertainty. (2) Uncertainty forks...

One of the most enduring debates in economics is whether financial development causes economic growth or whether it is a consequence of increased economic activity. Little research into this question, however has used a true causality framework. This paper fills this lacuna by using...

Limited liability debt financing of irreversible investments can affect investment timing through an entrepreneur's option value, even after compensating a lender for expected default losses. This non-neutrality of debt arises from an entrepreneur's unique investment opportunity, and it is shown...

The scaling properties encompass in a simple analysis many of the volatility characteristics of financial markets. That is why we use them to probe the different degree of markets development. We empirically study the scaling properties of daily Foreign Exchange rates, Stock Market indices and...

LISTE EINIGER WICHTIGER ABKÜRZUNGEN 4 ZUM GELEIT 6 EINFÜHRUNG UND PROBLEMAUFRISS - INTERNATIONALE SOZIALPOLITIK BEDEUTET FÖRDERUNG DER KONVERGENZ DER LEBENSBEDINGUNGEN 7 TEIL A: SOZIALRECHT UND SOZIALPOLITIK DER EU 14 1) ENTWICKLUNGSLINIEN UND GRUNDPRINZIPIEN DER EUROPÄISCHEN SOZIALPOLITIK...