In 2002, a new legislation that harmonises insolvency laws within the EU came into effect. I find reasons – both theoretical and empirical – to doubt whether the new law has achieved the goal of decreasing the cost of cross-border insolvency and borrowing. I thus suggest an...

In the framework of stochastic volatility models we examine estimators for the integrated volatility based on the p-th power variation,i.e. the sum of p-th absolute powers of the log-returns. We derive consistency and distributional results for the estimators given high frequency data,...

This paper evaluates relations between industrial activity and the structure of countries’ financial, ownership and legal systems. Using data on 27 industries in 14 OECD countries over the period 1970 to 1995, we evaluate whether the structure of countries’ systems is associated...

In contrast to practice in the U.S., European IPOs are very rarely priced outside the indicative price range, and frequently are priced at its upper bound. We develop a model that provides a rationale for this seemingly inefficient pricing behaviour. The model allows for the practice, observed...

I show that the fiscal position of the UK means it will be very hard for the next government to allow the undergraduate fee cap to increase beyond the rate of inflation. The funding position of the higher education sector can be improved by the government removing the interest rate subsidy it...

We investigate the properties of the composite likelihood (CL) method for (T ×N_T ) GARCH panels. The defining feature of a GARCH panel with time series length T is that, while nuisance parameters are allowed to vary across N_T series, other parameters of interest are assumed to be common. CL...

In this paper we model the value of a firm based on its current earnings and cash balances. The value is modelled on the assumption that earnings follow a mean-reverting process. The effect of advertising on earnings is modelled, and the condition for optimal advertising derived. The value of...

Functional Signal plus Noise (FSN) time series models are introduced for the econometric analysis of the dynamics of a large cross-section of prices in which contemporaneous observations are functionally related. A semiparametric FSN model is developed in which a smooth, cubic spline signal...

The purpose of this paper is to assess the choice between adopting a monetary base or an interest rate setting instrument to maintain financial stability. Our results suggest that the interest rate instrument is preferable, since during times of a panic or financial crisis the Central Bank...

We define a non-tâtonnement dynamics in continuous-time for pure exchange economies with outside and inside fiat money. Traders are myopic, face a cash-in-advance constraint, and play dominant strategies in a short-run monetary strategic market game involving the limit-price mechanism. The...