We estimate and test several default risk models using new and unique data on corporate defaults in the German stock market. While defaults were extremely rare events in the 1990s, they have been a characteristic feature of the German stock market since the early 2000s. We apply the structural...

1 Introduction -- 2 Literature Review and Methodological Concerns -- 3 The German Corporations Database (GCD) -- 4 Frequency, Causes, and Consequences of Control Transfers -- 5 Determinants of Acquisition and Failure -- 6 Corporate Governance, Market Discipline, and Productivity Growth -- 7...

The financial crisis of 2008 has many causes, with the role of executive compensation in creating excessive risk taking being frequently cited in the press and by policy makers as a leading candidate. The evidence for or against is scarce. This paper assembles panel data on 117 financial firms...

This study investigates the determinants of changes in corporate ownership and firm failure, taking into account different types of sellers and buyers of control blocks. For a large panel of German corporations we find that firms are more likely to fail or to be sold when performance is poor,...