The Scale-Efficiency version of the Efficient-Structure Hypothesis and the Structure-Conduct-Performance Hypothesis find empirical support in German banking data from 1998 to 2002. Due to the acceptance of the two hypotheses and the existence of overall economies of scale, we conclude that...

Recent theoretical works suggest that migrants carry their social networks when moving across borders and that they bridge the information gap between partner countries. We derive a theoretical model where migrants reduce informational trade barriers and thus enhance exports. The model is...

The business literature suggests that exporters either use trade intermediaries or own foreign sales representations. Standard trade models are silent about this choice. We develop a model where producers differ with respect to competitive advantage and where trade intermediaries arise...

This paper investigates the implications of alternative scale variables of money demand for the comparison of a flexible exchange rate regime with a monetary union in a NOEM setup. The welfare evaluation of exchange rate regimes depends on the exchange rate response under the flexible regime....

The fraction of works councillors belonging to a trade union in Germany is much higher than union density among employees. If works councils represent the face of unions, union membership of employees should be related positively to the existence of works councils and their proximity to unions....

Die Ergebnisse der kürzlich veröffentlichten PISA-Studie (OECD 2001) über den Bildungsstand der jüngeren Generation haben nicht nur zu einem Nachdenken über die Ursachen der für Deutschland sehr enttäuschenden Ergebnisse geführt, sondern auch die Diskussion über die Bedeutung von...

Economic theory provides two main explanations why changes in exchange rates can affect foreign direct investment (FDI). According to a first explanation, FDI reacts to exchange rate changes if there are information frictions on capital markets and if the investment by firms depends on their net...

Even if the correct modeling of default dependence is essential for the valuation of portfolio credit derivatives, for the pricing of synthetic CDOs a one-factor Gaussian copula model with constant and equalpairwise correlationsfor all assets in the reference portfolio has become the standard...

In this paper we argue that the surge in world trade over the two decades preceding the global downturn of 2008-09 can be partly explained by the export-magnification effect of offshoring. In a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms we show analytically that a fall in variable...

We extend a framework based on Mellin transforms and show how to modify the approach to value American call options on dividend paying stocks. We present a new integral equation to determine the price of an American call option and its free boundary using modi ed Mellin transforms. We also show...