This paper investigates whether firms employing IAS or US GAAP exhibit measurable differences in proxies for information asymmetry and market liquidity. Sample firms are drawn from the "New Market" at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. All firms listed in this market segment are required to provide...

Executive Stock Option Programs (SOPs) have become the dominant compensation instrument for top-management in recent years. The incentive effects of an SOP both with respect to corporate investment and financing decisions critically depend on the design of the SOP. A specific problem in...

A large body of literature has shown that small firms experience difficulties in accessing the credit market due to informational asymmetries. Banks can overcome these asymmetries through relationship lending, or at least mitigate their effects by asking for collateral. Small firms, especially...

We examine the relationship between CEO ownership and stock market performance. Firms in which the CEO voluntarily holds a considerable share of outstanding stocks outperform the market by more than 10% p.a. after controlling for traditional risk factors. The effect is most pronounced in firms...

Extreme adverse selection arises when private information has unboundedsupport, and market breakdown occurs when no trade is the only equilibriumoutcome. We study extreme adverse selection via the limit behavior of afinancial market as the support of private information converges to an...

Performance fees for portfolio managers are designed to align the managers' goals withthose of the investors and to motivate managers to aquire "superior" information and tomake better investment decisions. A part of the literature analyzes performance fees on thebasis of market valuation. In...

By allowing for imperfectly informed markets and the role of private information, we offer newinsights about observed deviations of portfolio concentrations in domestic relative to foreignrisky assets, or “home bias”, from what standard finance models predict. Our model ascribesthe...

Investors need performance measures particularly as a means for funds selection in the process of exanteportfolio optimization. Unfortunately, there are various performance measures recommended for differentdecision situations. Since an investor may be uncertain which kind of decision problem is...

Vor Inkrafttreten des Investmentänderungsgesetzes1 mit Wirkung zum 28. Dezember 2007war die Investmentaktiengesellschaft zwingend als self-managed investment company ausgestaltet.Der Gesetzgeber hatte bis dato nicht von der in Art. 13a ff. der Richtlinie 85/611/EWG(OGAW-Richtlinie)2...

Der Entwurf eines Gesetzes zurUmsetzung der Aktionärsrechterichtlinie (ARUG) enthält vielmehr als nur die Umsetzung der Richtlinie über die Ausübung bestimmter Rechte vonAktionären in börsennotierten Gesellschaften (sog. Aktionärsrechterichtlinie), die bis 3.August 2009 zu erfolgen hat....