Eine Konzeption zum Regulierungsmanagement im Kontext der Anreizregulierung

Strategic decisions of network operators are directly and indirectly affected by the current regulatory environment. Representing an important political and legal influence factor, the regulatory environment must be taken into account in the strategic decision-making process. Dealing with this factor is essential for an unbundled network operator, who’s main source of income is its grid access fee. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of the regulatory environment is indispensable for the success of network operators. This task should be handled by a department for regulatory management. However, as regulatory management is not clearly defined in business research, the present article intends to close this gap and develop a design for implementing a department for regulatory management. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of managerial behaviour under regulatory constraints. As part of our design, environmental analysis serves as an example to point out the specific challenges in regulated markets.     

Political rights and the cost of debt

We examine the impact of country-level political rights on the cost of debt for corporate bonds issued by firms incorporated in 39 countries. Similar to, but separate from, the relation for creditor rights, greater political rights are associated with lower yield spreads. A one standard deviation increase in political rights is associated with an 18.6% decline in bond spreads. We find evidence that political and legal institutions are substitutes; marginal improvements in political rights produce greater reductions in the cost of debt for firms from countries with weaker creditor rights. We examine potential factors through which political rights may affect the cost of debt and find that greater freedom of the press provides an important channel for reducing bond risks. Moreover, debt of firms with cross-listed equity trades at a premium in U.S. markets, but this relation appears to be more consistent with improved visibility than with bonding effects.     

Wie soll die EZB aus ihrer unkonventionellen Geldpolitik aussteigen?

As economic conditions improve in the euro area, the European Central Bank (ECB) has to decide how to sequence the normalisation of monetary policy. Phasing out asset purchases first would mainly increase long-term rates and help to mitigate some of the most negative side effects of the extremely expansionary monetary policy, such as misallocations in asset markets. In contrast, starting with an increase of the rate on the deposit facility would reduce the implicit tax on banks’ liquidity holdings at the ECB, which could improve financial stability. Forward guidance and clear communication from the ECB are crucial to safeguarding a smooth transition back to a more conventional monetary policy.     

Kohleausstieg 2030 unter neuen Vorzeichen

Wirtschaftsdienst - Der russische Angriff auf die Ukraine und die Abhängigkeit der deutschen Energiewirtschaft von russischem Gas führen aktuell zu einer sehr angespannten...     

DO WOMEN MANAGE SMALLER FUNDS?

Based on a sample of 467 asset managers from four countries we robustly find that women manage smaller funds than men, despite tough competition in this industry. Interestingly, the gender gap exists only for managers of smaller funds, i.e. at the lower end of the hierarchy, as quantile regressions show. This is inconsistent with the glass ceiling hypothesis. Going further, this gender gap is limited to large firms. Explanations may refer to large firms using market power in the area of smaller funds or to ‘visibility’ among top asset managers protecting against unequal treatment of the sexes.     

Smart predictors in the heterogeneous agent model

We extend the original heterogeneous agent model by introducing the concept of smart traders. The idea of smart traders is based on the endeavor of market agents to estimate future price movements. The main result of the simulations is that the probability distribution functions of the price deviations change significantly with an increasing number of smart traders in the model. We also find that the Hurst exponent is significantly increasing with an increasing number of smart traders in the simulations. Hence the introduction of the smart traders concept into the model results in significantly higher persistence of the simulated price deviations.     

Zinsspreads im Euroland: Marktsignale an die Politik

Innerhalb des Euroraums haben sich in den letzten Jahren erhebliche Zinsspreads entwickelt. Der Autor vertritt die Auffassung, dass diese Spreads die Entwicklung der wirtschaftlichen Fundamentaldaten nachzeichnen. Auf diese Fundamentaldaten und entsprechend auch auf die Spreads habe die Finanz- und Wirtschaftspolitik einen erheblichen Einfluss.     

The use of technical analysis by fund managers: International evidence

The use of technical analysis by financial market professionals is not well understood. This paper thus analyzes survey evidence from 692 fund managers in five countries, the vast majority of whom rely on technical analysis. At a forecasting horizon of weeks, technical analysis is the most important form of analysis and up to this horizon it is thus more important than fundamental analysis. Technicians are as experienced, as educated, as successful in their career and largely just as overconfident in decision-making as others. However, technical analysis is somewhat more popular in smaller asset management firms. What we find most significant is the relation of technical analysis with the view that prices are heavily determined by psychological influences. Consequently, technicians apply trend-following behavior.     

Net neutrality: A progress report

This paper is intended as an introduction to the debate on net neutrality and as a progress report on the growing body of academic literature on this issue. Different non-net neutrality scenarios are discussed and structured along the two dimensions of network and pricing regime. With this approach, the consensus on the benefits of a deviation from the status quo as well as the concerns that are unique to certain non-net neutrality scenarios can be identified. Moreover, a framework for policy decisions is derived and it is discussed how the concept of neutrality extends to other parts of the Internet ecosystem.