We study the implications of uncertainty for inflation targeting in a dynamic set-up. Using Svensson's inflation forecast targeting model, we compare the Brainard conservative principle to a more active monetary policy rule, derived from a two-step optimisation procedure. Our analysis points to...

We use focused interviews with bank managers to analyse how multinational banks use internal capital markets to control their subsidiaries. It is found that foreign bank affiliates are strongly influenced by the capital allocation and credit steering mechanisms of the parent bank. Parent banks...

The empirical application of the financing constraints paradigm supports the joint hypothesis that con-strained firms can be identified and display a stronger sensitivity of investment to cash flow. This paradigm is increasingly criticized, because some proxy variables used to identify...

When firms find that external finance is costly or rationed, they face financing constraints in their investment decisions. The financing constraints paradigm applies this idea empirically and supports the joint hypothesis that constrained firms can be identified and should display a stronger...

This paper investigates the determinants of commercial banks' own internal capital targets and potential sensitivity of these levels to the business cycle . World-wide results make clear that banks' own risk is only slightly dependent on the business cycle. Banks tend to hold substantial capital...

In this paper we investigate how expected liquidation costs affect a firm's investment and financing decisions. We hypothesise that comovement of firm and industry sales measures such costs, which create a premium on external finance and make investment more sensitive to the availability of...

In the first part of this article we present a brief description of Dutch retail payment systems in terms of market structure and performance, usage of payment instruments, and corresponding tariff structures. Although it is con-cluded that the Dutch retail payment market as a whole showed...

Despite various payment innovations, today, cash is still heavily used to pay for low-value purchases. This paper develops a simulation model to test whether standard implications of the theory on cash management and payment choices can explain the use of payment instruments by transaction size....

This report addresses the question whether economic theory can explain the choice of payment media for over-the-counter payments. A survey of the literature reveals that most of the existing microeconomic models are limited to the explanation of the size of cash balance. Only two models describe...

Did ICT firms behave very differently from non-ICT firms during the global ICT boom-bust cycle on the stock markets? To answer this question we analyze the financial behavior of a sample of North-American and Western European firms during 1991-2002. We document that ICT firms are indeed what...