International financial linkages, particularly through global bank flows, generate important questions about the consequences for economic and financial stability, including the ability of countries to conduct autonomous monetary policy. I address the monetary autonomy issue in the context of...

In this contribution, at first, we introduce a basic network framework to study pyramidal structures and wedges between ownership and control of companies. Then, we apply it to a dataset of 53.5 million of companies operating in 208 countries. Among others, we detect a strong concentration of...

Being able to separate temporary global macroeconomic influences – caused by fluctuations in exchange rates, interest rates and inflation – from intrinsic performance – related to a superior product, production process or management – is crucial to assessing the development of a firm's...

Recent research has shown that global quadratic hedging, also known as variance-optimal hedging and mean-variance hedging, can significantly reduce the risk of hedging call and put options with long-term maturities (one year or more), such as Long-Term Equity AnticiPation Securities (LEAPS). We...

This paper examines contracts and the costs of accessing private markets globally. Contract terms vary by fund region and type. European funds charge lower fees than US funds, but evidence linking regulation to fee compression is weak. Investors’ costs are estimated to be 5% to 26% of...

The paper examines the politics of infrastructure in the post-privatisation era. It shows the tensions between the interests of private investors and the expectations of the citizenry for the assembly of a raft of capital assets that collectively underpin the operation of liveable sustainable...

How should loan contracts to finance projects in countries with high political risk be designed? We develop a double moral hazard model in which the bank's incentive to mitigate political risk is highest with a non-recourse project finance loan, while for the firm's incentive to manage...

This paper demonstrates that the current literature on cross-ownership among firms underestimates the true degree of separation between cash flow rights and voting rights. We use accounting identities to define coefficients of control, such that any (direct or indirect) control of a firm may be...

In this paper we 'update' the option implied probability of default (option iPoD) approach recently suggested in the literature. First, a numerically more stable objective function for the estimation of the risk neutral density is derived whose integrals can be solved analytically. Second, it is...

In this paper, we directly test the Modigliani-Miller theorem in the lab. Applying a general equilibrium approach and not allowing for arbitrage among firms with different capital structures, we are able to address this issue without making any assumptions about individuals' risk attitudes and...