While aggregate earnings should affect aggregate stock returns, standard portfolio theory predicts that the cross-sectional dispersion in firm-level earnings would not affect aggregate stock returns. Nonetheless, this paper demonstrates a surprisingly robust relation between cross-sectional...

This paper studies the effects of capacity utilization on accounting profit margins and stock returns. Since accounting profit margins represent the average profit per unit and not the economists' concept of unit contribution margin, the marginal/variable profit per unit, a firm with idle...

This paper studies the relation between aggregate stock returns and contemporaneous and future cross-sectional earnings dispersion. We hypothesize that increases in expected earnings dispersion signal increases in uncertainty and increases in unemployment, thereby causing expected returns to...

Markus Demary, Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln, plädiert für eine zweigeteilte Einführung der Bankenunion, für ausreichend kapitalisierte und für unterkapitalisierte Banken. Letztere sollten der EZB Restrukturierungspläne vorlegen, die diese genehmigen muss. Eine Abwicklung sollte...

In der Frage der Bankenregulierung wird derzeit über das richtige Konzept diskutiert. Soll der mit Basel II verfolgte Ansatz der am Risiko der jeweiligen Bank orientierten Eigenkapitalunterlegung ausgebaut oder eine nicht-risikoorientierte Kennziffer wie die Leverage Ratio (bilanzielles...

This paper examines capital adequacy regulation in Germany. After a general overview of financial regulation in Germany, the paper focuses on the most important development in the area of capital adequacy regulation from the 1930s up to the financial crisis. Two main trends are identified: a...

The Basel II Accord requires that banks and other Authorized Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) communicate their daily risk forecasts to the appropriate monetary authorities at the beginning of each trading day, using one or more risk models to measure Value-at-Risk (VaR). The risk estimates of...