Distribution of product and quotient of Pareto variates

Density and distribution functions are obtained for the product ofn independent Pareto variates with different parameters as well as for the quotient of two independent Pareto variates.Results are given in such a form that for several appropriate values of the parameters, both density and distribution functions can be tabulated.     

Networks and market-based measures of systemic risk: the European banking system in the aftermath of the financial crisis

This article investigates the behaviour of the European banking system during the financial crises that occurred in the last decades. Among the various approaches for measuring systemic risk, we consider network analysis, which describes the linkages among financial institutions and their whole structure. We construct a time-varying network of the European banking system. Banks are linked to form a global interconnected system and they mutually influence one another in terms of risk. We model their reciprocal influence via a weighted and directed network, in which weights are related to risk measures that are based on equity returns. Then, we apply two network indicators to investigate the prominence of a bank in spreading and receiving risk from the others. The results enable us to capture many features of the banking system while identifying the global systemically important banks. Moreover, the results of the analysis over time show how interconnections change over periods that are characterized by various economic scenarios.

     

Conception and test of a comprehensive model of international strategy for retail companies

Abstract

This article proposes a model of international strategy of retail companies. It has been developed and tested by studying the international activities, both successful and unsuccessful, of 37 international companies for more than a decade. It defines the most important components of a successful strategy and, for each component, it evaluates the importance of this variable in connection with the others. The model proposed is able not only to explain the internationalization process of many important companies during the 1990s and at the beginning of the 2000s, but also puts forward to the managerial sector the strategic variables for both the companies that have already started an internationalization process and those that wish to begin it.     

Modelling Credit Risk for Innovative SMEs: the Role of Innovation Measures

Small-medium enterprises (SMEs) encounter financial constraints when they try to obtain credit from banks. These constraints are particularly severe for innovative SMEs. Thus, developing models for innovative SMEs that provide reliable estimates of their probabilities of default (PD) is important because the PDs can also serve as ratings. We examine the role of innovative assets such as patents in credit risk modelling due to their signaling value. Specifically, we add to a logit model two innovation-related variables in order to account for both the dimension and the value of the patent portfolio. Based on a unique data set of innovative SMEs with default years of 2005–2008, we show that, although the value of the patent portfolio always reduces the PD, its dimension reduces the firm’s riskiness only if coupled with an appropriate equity level.     

What is the Value of Luxury? A Cross‐Cultural Consumer Perspective

International luxury businesses are challenged by the identification and satisfaction of the common needs and desires of global market segments. Although luxury goods have become available to a wider range of consumers, the traditional conspicuous consumption model has been transformed into a new experiential luxury sensibility that is marked by a change in the way that consumers define luxury. Based on an empirical study in collaboration with American, European, and Asian researchers, the results provide evidence that consumers in various parts of the world purchase or wish to purchase luxury products for varied reasons but that such consumers generally possess similar values. Regardless of their countries of origin, the basic motivational drivers of luxury consumers are similar among the financial, functional, personal, and social dimensions of luxury value perceptions, although the relative importance of these dimensions varies.     

Systemic risk measures and macroprudential stress tests: an assessment over the 2014 EBA exercise

Regulators’ stress tests on banks further stimulated an academic debate over systemic risk measures and their predictive content. Focusing on marked based measures, Acharya et al. (Rev Financ Stud 30(1):2–47, 2017) provide a theoretical background to use marginal expected shortfall (MES) for predicting the stress test results, and verify it on the 2009 Supervisory Capital Assessment Program of the US banking system. The aim of this paper is to further test the goodness of MES as a predictive measure, by analysing it in relation to the results of the 2014 European stress tests exercise conducted by the European Banking Authority. Our results underscore the importance of choosing the appropriate index to capture the systemic distress event. In fact MES based on a global market index does not show association with the stress test results, in contrast to Financial MES, which is based on a financial market index, and has a significant information and predictive power.     

Rating systems,procyclicality and Basel II: an evaluation in a general equilibrium framework

The introduction of Basel II has raised concerns about the potential impact of risk-sensitive capital requirements on the business cycle. Several approaches have been proposed to assess the procyclicality issue. In this paper, we adopt a general equilibrium model and conduct comprehensive analysis of different proposals. We set out a model that allows to evaluate different rating systems in relation to the procyclicality issue. Our model extends previous models by analysing the effects of different rating systems on banks’ portfolios (as in Catarineu et al. in Econ Theory 26:537–557, 2005) and the contagion effects relevant to financial stability (as in Goodhart et al. in Ann Finance 1:197–224, 2005). The paper presents comparative statics results comparing a cycle-dependent and a neutral rating system from the point of view of banks profit maximization. Our results suggest that banks’ preferences about point in time or through the cycle rating systems depend on the banks’ characteristics and on the business cycle conditions in terms of expectations and realizations.     

The Interaction of Financial Fragility and the Business Cycle in Determining Banks’ Loan Losses: An Investigation of the Italian Case

The Basel II capital accord and the recent crises have fostered the debate over the financial stability of the aggregate banking sector. Because loan losses are an important factor for banking stability, this paper aims to gauge the impact of real and financial fragility on default losses of Italian banks. To this end the ratio of non‐performing loans to total loans is regressed on the business cycle and indebtedness. In addition, to capture the joint effect of real and financial fragility, the analysis considers an interaction term, which to our knowledge has never been applied before to Italian default data. Based on the interaction model, results show that the actual impact of financial fragility on default losses depends not only on the business cycle phase but also on the firm's size, whereby in adverse economic conditions, small firms are more significantly affected by financial fragility.     

Capital requirements and business cycle regimes: Forward-looking modelling of default probabilities

This paper proposes a forward-looking model for time-varying capital requirements, which finds application within Basel II. The model rests on the relationship between default rates and the business cycle: by positing two regimes, expansion and recession, and by forecasting the associated probabilities, the default probability for each rating class is defined as the expected value of a default rate whose distribution is a mixture of an expansion and a recession distribution. The application to US data over the forecasting period 1971–2002 provides evidence that the model makes it possible to preserve the risk sensitivity of the capital requirement and at the same time to dampen procyclicality.