The paper studies the problem of maximizing the expected utility of terminal wealth in the framework of a general incomplete semimartingale model of a financial market. We show that the necessary and sufficient condition on a utility function for the validity of several key assertions of the...

This paper analyzes the investment timing of firms facing two dimensions of financingconstraints: Liquidity constraints and capital market frictions inducing financing costs. We showthat liquidity constraints are not sufficient to explain voluntary investment delay. However, whenadditionally...

In Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, theprotagonist tames his beloved one. Lately, Germanpolitics has presented The Taming of the Heuschrecken(grasshoppers). Heuschrecken is the politically incorrectdescription for private equity companies, so named byFranz Müntefering, the leader...

Die private Versicherungswirtschaft ist sowohl für jeden Einzelnen als auch für eineGesellschaft insgesamt sehr wichtig. Die Übernahme von privaten, unternehmerischenund gesellschaftlichen Risiken durch die private Versicherungswirtschaft dientder Stabilisierung der einzel- und...

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of capital and risk transfer instruments on diversification and insolvency risk in a parent-subsidiary relationship. To better assess the effects, we compare this setting to the case of a holding company and an integrated financial group. In the...

The aim of this paper is to develop an alternative approach for assessing an insurer’s solvency as a proposal for a standard model for Solvency II. Instead ofderiving minimum capital requirements—as it is done in solvency regulation—our model provides company-specific minimum standards for...

Recent empirical work shows that a better legal environment leads to lowerexpected rates of return in an international cross-section of countries. Thispaper investigates whether differences in firm-specific corporate governancealso help to explain expected returns in a cross-section of firms...

The goal of this chapter is twofold: First, we present an overview of the current researchon hedge fund performance. Second, we provide new evidence for the Europeanhedge fund industry. The empirical analysis scrutinizes the return patterns in thepast and alerts investors to the potential...

We are considering for examination an Irreversible Investment under Uncertainty, subsidizedby the government. If the government announces the termination of a form of subsidization,investors may decide to realize their investment in order to obtain the subsidy. These investors mighthave...

Capital market imperfections cause a relevance of a project's contribution to the firm's total risk, e.g. because of costs of financial distress. Based on this observation Stulz (1999) argues that modern capital budgeting leads to an inappropriate assentment of the value of a project since only...