The paper investigates the determinants of trade credit and its interactions with borrowing constraints and the input combination of the firm, within an incomplete contract setting in which firms use a two-input technology and collateralised credit contracts. Assuming that the supplier is better...

In this paper, I tackle the question whether "one share - one vote" should become a European law rule. I examine, first of all the economic theory concerning one share - one vote and its optimality, and the law and economics literature on dual class recapitalizations and other deviations from...

This paper discusses whether, in which respects, and to what extent the corporate governancesystems of Germany, the United Kingdom and France have already converged in the course ofEuropean economic integration, or are likely to converge in the foreseeable future. Wepresent, and attempt to...

This paper investigates the financing conditions of non-financial corporations in theeuro area. We develop a new firm classification based on micro data by distinguishingbetween three groups of firms: unconstrained, relatively and absolutely constrainedfirms. We also provide further evidence on...

This paper investigates the determinants of a broad sample of Swiss non-financial firms’cash holdings between 1995 and 2004. The median Swiss firm holds almost twice asmuch cash and cash equivalents as the median U.S. or U.K. firm. Our results indicate thatasset tangibility and firm size are...

We apply cumulative prospect theory and hedonic framing to evaluate discountreverse convertibles (DRCs) and reverse convertible bonds (RCBs) as important examples ofstructured products from a boundedly rational investor’s point of view. While commonexpected utility theory would also conclude...

This paper studies conservative debt policies, focusing on firms with no debt (zeroleverage)or with extremely low debt. Examining an unbalanced panel of U.K. firms,we show that debt conservatism is a common, persistent yet puzzling empiricalregularity: nearly 10% of U.K. firms have zero leverage...

Financial constraints are frictions that prevent firms from funding all desired investments, which might affect firm value and aggregate economic activity. We investigate whether and how bank governance, especially private vs. non-private bank ownership, affects financial constraints of small...

A central role for economic policy involves understanding and reducing the impact of unexpected,extreme events. In this paper, we develop a simple economic framework with latentregime switches. This framework explains why investors and policymakers can decide not tohedge against extreme events,...