__Abstract__ In the past decades, the world has observed a large variety of business scandals, such as those at ENRON, WorldCom, AHOLD, Lehman Brothers, and News of the World. These scandals caused economic damage and undermined the trust that governments, shareholders, and citizens have in the...

We examine the relationship between exchange-rate changes and stock returns for a sample of Dutch firms over 1994-1998. We find that over 50% of the firms are significantly exposed to exchange-rate risk. Furthermore, all firms with significant exchange-rate exposure benefit from a depreciation...

This paper analyzes the cost of capital of firms with foreign equity listings. Our purpose is to shed light on the question whether international and domestic asset pricing models yield a different estimate of the cost of capital for cross-listed stocks. We distinguish between (i) the...

The purpose of the current study is to assess the extent to which auditors’ judgments are affected by client expertise, client gender and auditor gender. Prior audit research suggests that auditors place more weight on evidence received from clients who possess higher, relative to lower,...

We analyze if the value-weighted stock market portfolio is second-order stochastic dominance (SSD) efficient relative to benchmark portfolios formed on market capitalization, book-to-market equity ratio and industry classification. During the period from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, the...

Systemic crises can largely affect asset allocations due to the rapid deterioration of the risk-return trade-off. We investigate the effects of systemic crises, interpreted as global simultaneous shocks to financial markets, by introducing an investor adopting a crisis ignorant or crisis...

In this paper, I present and discuss a theory of management control based on Transaction Cost Economics. This theory specifies the composition of various archetypal control structures, and links these to their respective habitat. These are: (1) arm's length control; (2) machine control; (3)...

We study annual general meetings of shareholders in the Netherlands. The Dutch corporate governance system is characterized by relatively concentrated shareholdings and large stakes owned by pension funds, banks and insurance companies. The legal protection of shareholders is poor due to...

Electricity prices are known to be very volatile and subject to frequent jumps due to system breakdown, demand shocks, and inelastic supply. Appropriate pricing, portfolio, and risk management models should incorporate these spikes. We develop a framework to price European-style options that are...