In this paper we empirically investigate the determinants of leverage and specific agency problems and we examine the relations between leverage and these agency problems. We use structural-equations modeling with latent variables and questionnaire data. The questions concern the characteristics...

We analyze the importance of firm-specific and country-specific factors in the leverage choice of firms from 42 countries around the world. Our analysis yields two new results. First, we find that firm-specific determinants of leverage differ across countries, while prior studies implicitly...

Existing research on the hedging effectiveness of currency futures assumes that futures positions are continuously adjusted. This is an unrealistic assumption in practice. In this paper we study the hedging effectiveness for futures positions which are not adjusted during the hedge period. For...

Why do some banks fail in financial crises while others survive? This article answers this question by analysing the effect of the Dutch financial crisis of the 1920s on 142 banks, of which 33 failed. We find that choices of balance sheet composition and product market strategy made in the...