Using a unique data set that contains the complete ownership structure of the German stock market, we study the momentum and contrarian trading of different investor groups. Foreign investors and financial institutions, and especially mutual funds, are momentum traders, whereas private...

In this paper, we propose a state-dependent VaR (SDVaR) to estimate spill over effects among different financial institutions. We permit spill-over effects to change depending on the state of financial markets. We show that spill-over effects only exist during crisis periods; in calm times spill...

The use of informal finance is primarily discussed in the context of developing countries and start-up businesses. Survey data used in this study, however, shows that ``Family and Friends'' (F\&F) finance is also remarkably widespread among established firms in Germany, a highly developed...

This paper presents of a model of banking in order to study why different agents may prefer a 'regulation by the market' over the regulation by a governmental agency, and it illustrates the interaction of two sectors regulated in such alternative ways. Financial intermediaries can operate either...

We study a banking model in which regulatory arbitrage induces the existence of shadow banking next to regulated banks. We show that the size of the shadow banking sector determines its stability. Panic-based runs become possible only if this sector is large. Moreover, if regulated banks conduct...

Most industrialized countries provide a subsistence level consumption floor in old age, usually in the form of means-tested benefits or income supplements. The availability of such means-tested payments creates an incentive to optimally cash out (occupational) pension wealth for low and middle...

Using fund-, firm- and bank-level data we investigate the investments of private equity (PE) funds in the north-western regions of Italy. Both the private equity fund managers and the PE investments are heavily concentrated in this most developed area of the country. The average size of the...

We examine the herd behavior among equity funds in Germany based on a large sample of funds from 2000 to 2009. We show that a large portion of the detected herding can be explained by identical trading among funds of the same investment company. However, we also find statistically significant...

We develop a macro-prudential stress test for the fund sector by including the well-documented flow-performance relationship as an additional funding shock in the model of Greenwood et al. (2015). Here, systemic risks can arise due to funds' fire sales of commonly held assets. Using data on U.S....