Disziplinierung steigender Staatsschulden durch Brüssel, Frankfurt oder Basel?

Der Stabilit?ts- und Wachstumspakt soll dazu beitragen, dass die Mitgliedstaaten der Europ?ischen W?hrungsunion die Verschuldungskriterien einhalten. Welche Funktion k?nnen dabei die Kapitalm?rkte ausüben? Gibt es Ineffizienzen auf dem Markt für Staatsschulden? Wie k?nnen die EU-Kommission als Wettbewerbsbeh?rde, die Europ?ische Zentralbank und die Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich hinsichtlich der Finanzmarktaufsicht zur St?rkung der M?rkte beitragen? Philipp Paulus, 38, Dipl.-Volkswirt, ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter des Instituts für Wirtschaftspolitik an der Universit?t zu K?ln. * Dieser Artikel entstand im Rahmen eines Projekts zur Stabilit?t von Staatsverschuldung bei EWU-Beitrittskandidaten für das Otto-Wolff-Institut für Wirtschaftsordnung in K?ln.     

Ein Regressionsmodell zur sparten- bzw. marktbezogenen Analyse der Eigenkapitalkosten von Unternehmen am Beispiel der Versicherungsbranche

In this paper we present a regression model which is fitted in the cost of equity of stock market companies. In this way we can estimate the cost of equity for companies which are not listed on the stock market based on the weights of line of business and market. Thus the cost of equity used for a value based management of strategic business units can be derived on the basis of these economic parameters. The theoretical model is introduced in a general setting for companies of any industry sectors. Then the model is applied to the insurance sector based on the lines of business Life and Non-life as well as on markets for Germany, Europe and the United States of America.     

Democracies cooperate more: even where it threatens to bite?

Estimating two-step selection models, we find that more democratic governments are more likely to conclude preferential trade agreements (PTAs) and to agree to stricter investment provisions related to pre-establishment national treatment and investor–state dispute settlement in PTAs. This is surprising when considering the potentially high costs of litigation.     

The drivers and value of enterprise risk management: evidence from ERM ratings

In the course of recent regulatory developments, holistic enterprise-wide risk management (ERM) frameworks have become increasingly relevant for insurance companies. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature by analyzing determinants (firm characteristics) as well as the impact of ERM on the shareholder value of European insurers using the Standard & Poor’s ERM rating to identify ERM activities. This has not been done so far, even though it is of high relevance against the background of the introduction of Solvency II, which requires a holistic approach to risk management. Results show a significant positive impact of ERM on firm value for the case of European insurers. In particular, we find that insurers with a high quality risk management (RM) system exhibit a Tobin’s Q that on average is about 6.5% higher than for insurers with less high quality RM after controlling for covariates and endogeneity bias.     

The regional distribution of foreign investment in Russia

This article conducts a plant‐level study of the factors affecting foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to a large opening economy endowed with specific factor advantages. We conclude that the distribution of FDI in Russian regions depends on market access and can be most notably described by the knowledge‐capital framework. Factor endowments built by natural resources are more successful in explaining the location decisions of export–platform affiliates. The impact of natural resources depends on how the availability of these resources is measured. The results reject the crowding out effects of resource FDI and prove co‐location mode, when service investments are attracted to resource‐rich regions. Labour cost advantages better explain the preferences of non‐trading service affiliates.     

MARKET POWER AND EFFICIENCY IN A SEARCH MODEL*

We build a theoretical model to study the welfare effects and policy implications of firms’ market power in a frictional labor market. The main characteristics of our environment are that wages play a role in allocating labor across firms and the number of agents is finite. The decentralized equilibrium is inefficient and the firms’ market power results in the misallocation of workers from the high to the low productivity firms. A minimum wage exacerbates the inefficiencies by forcing the low‐productivity firms to increase their wage. Moderate unemployment benefits can increase welfare by improving the workers’ outside option.