Do higher real-estate agent fees imply better performance? This study uses a nation-wide data set of residential real-estate transactions in the Netherlands from 1985 to 2011 to provide evidence against this. Brokers with a flat-fee structure who charge an up-front fee (which is substantially...

We estimate the effect of broker characteristics on sales performance on a large dataset of residential real estate transactions in the Netherlands from 1985 to 2011. Using house fixed-effects, we find that large brokers, brokers who are close by, and brokers on a fixed-price commission, sell...

Bitcoin is a widely-spread payment instrument, but it is doubtful whether the proof-of-work (PoW) nature of the system is sustainable on the long term. To assess sustainability, we focus on the bitcoin miners as they play an important role in the proof-of-work consensus mechanism of bitcoin to...

We document cycles of innovation fueled by early-mover advantages in the hedge-fund industry. Our method involves clustering hedge funds based on their self-reported strategic risk profile at inception. The 'innovative funds', compared with their 'imitators', survive twice as long while...

Hedge funds are known to have liquidity-timing capability, but this might be conditional on aggregate market conditions. To test this, we analyze changes in the relation between hedge funds' stock market exposure and aggregate stock market liquidity. Employing an optimal changepoint approach, we...

Individual retirement savings schemes could benefit from risk-sharing mechanisms between generations that take behavioral aspects into account. We introduce a novel risk-sharing mechanism that incorporates nominal loss-aversion in two ways. First, the system avoids out-of-pocket wealth transfers...

We compute joint sovereign default probabilities as coincident systemic risk indicators. Instead of commonly used CDS spreads, we use government bond yield data which provide a longer data history. We show that for the more recent sample period 2008-2015, joint default probabilities based on CDS...

Market valuation is becoming more and more popular, both in accounting and regulation, as well as in academic circles. For pension funds and their participants, the knowledge that market-valued pension liabilities can indeed be transferred to a third party, if necessary, is a great virtue. Using...

For an agent with loss averse preferences we derive the optimal payoffs with one option. A total of four different payoffs are found to be optimal, depending on the strike price of the option and whether the initial position of the agent is one of surplus or shortfall. Our results have...

Recent research reveals that hedge fund returns exhibit a range of different, possibly non-linear pay-off patterns. It is difficult to qualify all these patterns simultaneously as being rational in a traditional framework for optimal financial decision making. In this paper we present a simple...