This article explains the roots of financial crises in one of the oldest and most fundamental problems of commercial law: hidden leverage. Common law courts wrestled with this problem for centuries and developed a time – tested solution: the doctrine of secret liens. If the debtor becomes...

This paper discusses empirical evidence on the economic consequences of mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the European Union (EU) and provides suggestions on how future research can add to our understanding of these effects. Based on the explicitly...

The limited liability company (LLC) is a much more popular business entity in some U.S. states than in others. This empirical study provides the first detailed analysis of this phenomenon, using a partly original set of cross-sectional state-level data. I find that formation fees, rather than...

The aim of the paper, based on empirical research in Brazil, is to investigate how supply chains have evolved over time, what factors have driven this evolution and also how a specific set of contractual practices along these chains is linked to access to international markets. The two selected...

Transaction costs are a major reason why international trade flows are much smaller than traditional trade theory would suggest. Trust between trading partners lowers transaction costs and may therefore enhance trade. The empirical analysis of this paper shows that more trust leads to more trade...

International refugee law is binding upon all European Union member states, however European regional instruments, relocation theories and practices may diverge from the 1951 Geneva Convention and 1967 Protocol. This may lead to the violation of the ius cogens norm of the principle of...

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have become active investors on the financial markets. This working paper meets the increasing thirst for information on the investment activities of Sovereign Wealth Funds, their legal environment and the implications on German stock listed corporations. Thus, this...

The work report first describes the current developments on the German market for nonperforming loans, which after its peak in spring 2007 is now also affected by the financial crisis. The sale of small and medium-size portfolios is described within the scope of a case study. Furthermore, the...

Private equity has seen an impressive activity surge in Germany over the last ten years. This working paper meets the increasing thirst for information on the German buyout market with an overview of its historic development, a quantitative analysis of its performance and a future outlook. While...

This paper looks at the current status and role of specific commercial contract law within a setting of international and European contract law reform projects. It recapitulates the value and necessity of a special contract law for merchants and discusses critically the terminology and doctrine...