We examine the effect of Amnesty Plus and Penalty Plus on firms' initial selfreporting decision, in one market, by altering their whistle-blowing incentives in another market. Amnesty Plus and Penalty Plus are proactive US strategies which aim at triggering multiple confessions by increasing the...

The paper studies property insurance in Britain. It emphasises the following points. In the case of terrorism insurance the government decided to provide cost free stop loss insurance, to prevent the market from breaking down. When the country was hit by subsidence damages, the premiums and...

Le marché de l'assurance immobilière en France se caractérise par une forte intervention de l'Etat. La volonté du législateur est claire : certains types d'assurances (en particulier l'assurance des catastrophes naturelles) doivent être disponibles dans tout le pays à des prix identiques....

The paper studies the profit distribution and portfolio management of the Swiss National Bank in comparison with the behavior of other European central banks.It is shown that the SNB's behavior is unique in a number of respects : Relatively to the countries size, it holds the largest gold...

This short paper reviews the recent anti-trust analysis of banking mergers as well as recent decisions by the Department of Justice and the Bundeskartellamt (in the last few months). We analyse the proposed merger between UBS and SBC in light of this evidence and focus on the domestic retail...

This paper studies under what circumstances an incumbent has an incentive to over-invest in a "commitment variable" such as advertising or R&D expenditures. It is sometimes argued that the answer crucially depends on the question, wether the "second stage variables" are strategic complements or...

The proposed new law for the Swiss National Bank attempts to establish the SNB as an entity, which is practically uncontrolled by the democratic institutions of our country. The proposal has to be fundamentally remodelled, taking into account the following principles: The more independence the...