分离债与可转债发行条款的比较分析

本文结合理论与实际,对我国近期推出的金融产品分离债与可转债的发行条款进行了比较,包括票面利率、债券期限、转股价格和行权价格、赎回条款、回售条款、担保条件、资信评级和向下修正条款等。结果发现,可转债在条款设计上更加倾向于投资者,分离债在条款设计上更加倾向于发行人。同时还对我国目前分离债的条款设置提出了建议。     

Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Agriculture in the EU: A Spatial Assessment of Sources and Abatement Costs

Agriculture significantly contributes to emissions of greenhouse gases in the EU. By using a farm-type, supply-side oriented, linear-programming model of the European agriculture, the baseline levels of methane and nitrous oxide emissions are assessed at the regional level in the EU-15. For a range of CO₂-equivalent prices, we assess the potential abatement, as well as the resulting optimal mix of emission sources in the total abatement. Furthermore, we show that the spatial variability of the abatement achieved at a given carbon price is large, indicating that abatement cost heterogeneity is a fundamental feature in the design of a mitigation policy. The cost savings permitted by market-based instruments relative to uniform standard are shown to be large.     

Tax competition,tax coordination and tax harmonization: The effects of EMU

There is little doubt that the step towards a monetary union in Europe will increase both the distorionary effects of existing differences in national tax systems and the intensity of tax competition for internationally mobile commodity and factor tax bases. This paper discusses selected issues of commodity and capital tax coordination that are likely to be affected by monetary unification. Starting from the distortive present scheme of value-added taxation in Europe we first analyze the effects of a switch to a general origin-based VAT as a way to maintain national tax rate autonomy over this important tax base. While an origin-based VAT would neither distort trade flows — both within the EU and with third countries — nor investment decisions in the long-run, its short-run effects are likely to be severe in the absence of exchange rate flexibility. In the field of capital taxation the focus switches to the feasibility of regional harmonization measures when there is no cooperation with the rest of the world. We argue that in a monetary union the mobility costs of capital will be significantly lower within the EU as compared to outside investments. This provides an efficiency argument for minimum source taxes on both interest income and corporate profits even if cooperation with third countries is infeasible.     

Using pre-EMU money market rates to assess monetary policy in the euro area

This note addresses the problems arising when using national pre-EMU interest rate data in the estimation of monetary policy reaction functions for the euro area. We provide evidence that failing to adjust for interest rate risk premia leads to an overestimation of the response of monetary policy both to inflationary pressures and to the output gap. A method for adjusting pre-EMU interest rate data for risk premia is proposed.     

Towards governance of human tissue engineered technologies in Europe: Framing the case for a new regulatory regime

The development of human tissue engineered technologies, located in the context of wider debates around the governance of biotechnology, raises important issues. This paper explores these issues by examining theoretical approaches to the regulation of risk, the limits of technical risk assessment and implications of scientific uncertainty in this area. We consider broader social concerns and how these shape contemporary debates relating to the sourcing and use of human tissue-engineered technologies. We examine the emergence of a new regulatory ‘regime’ in Europe and the social shaping of a regulatory space between medicinal products, medical devices and biologics where these innovative products may be situated. Reporting on recent policy initiatives and a survey of regulatory authorities in Europe, we analyse the ways in which public trust in these technologies may be engendered, providing insight into public participation in policy debate and relations between industry and the regulatory state at national and European levels.     

Effects of the single market on the Austrian insurance industry

The integration of European services markets and the implementation of associated European Union directives open up formerly closed national markets to competition from the Single Market. The purpose of this study is to measure the effects of liberalization on technical efficiency and the productivity development of the insurance industry. As an example we construct efficiency frontiers for the years 1992 through 1999 for the Austrian insurance industry using Data Envelopment Analysis. We use the resulting efficiency scores also to construct a Malmquist productivity index for the transition period. In search for effects from the Single Market, returns to scale, economies of diversification, and distribution channels we relate efficiency and productivity measures to several firm specific characteristics. For this purpose we use unbalanced and balanced panels of individual firm data.All correspondence to Thomas Url. The authors gratefully acknowledge valuable comments from David Cummins, Finn Forsund, Shawna Grosskopf, Michael Theil, seminar participants at the University of Vienna, the University of Business Administration Vienna, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, the Austrian Insurance Association, and the SOR-Conference Jena, the EOR Conference Brussels, the 25th EGRIE Conference Vienna, and two anonymous referees. Ursula Glavninger provided valuable research assistance.     

Falling under the control of a different type of owner:risk-taking implications for banks

European banks have experienced significant changes in the type of entity that owns them (another bank, an individual or a family, a non-financial company, an institutional investor, a government, a foreign entity, a domestic entity…). In this paper, we look at the influence of ownership type changes on risk and profitability. Working with a panel of commercial banks from 17 European countries, we find that although banks that experience a change in ownership type do not exhibit lower or higher risk or profitability than other banks, their risk and profitability is significantly affected after the change takes place. The type of the acquirer plays a significant role in explaining the observed changes. When the acquirer is a non-financial company, the state or an institutional investor, the level of risk increases after the change while the level of profitability remains unchanged. Conversely, when the acquirer is a bank, we find that the level of risk-adjusted profitability decreases. Banks acquired by a different type of owner during the global financial crisis do not perform better or worse than they did before.     

The Powers of The Central Governments and the Problems of Enlarging and Deepening the European Union: An Essay of Constitutional Political Economy

In this paper we present an adaptation of Buchanan and Tullock’s model in order to apply it to the constitutional choices regarding the assigning of powers to a supranational authority. The outcome of the economic-political model developed in this paper demonstrates that there are constraints in the supply of integration, suggesting that the enlargement and deepening of the European Union will have to be based on federalist conceptions. The authors should like to thanks seminar participants at European Public Choice conference (Belgirate 2002) and ECSA-C conference (Toronto 2002) where earlier versions of the paper have benefited from constructive suggestions. The authors assume the sole responsibility for any errors remaining in this version.     

U.S. policy in the euro crisis and the institutional deepening of the monetary union

ABSTRACT

Theoretical approaches to European integration often downplay and sometimes ignore the role of external actors. But the regime complex through which the euro crisis of 2010-2015 was prosecuted involved the United states directly and indirectly through the IMF. Tracing such external involvement shows that, although they preferred greater deepening of euro area institutions than was achieved, U.S. and IMF officials nonetheless contributed substantially to the creation of the EFSF/ESM, robust ECB action and launch of the banking union project. The conclusion formulates falsifiable expectations on which a theory of external influence in regional integration can be developed and tested.     

欧洲模式借鉴:东亚货币合作的路径选择与政策协调

本文对欧盟由"准平行货币"向"单一货币"逐步推进的货币合作路径及其政策协调机制进行了探索.从中得到了5点启示,并结合东亚经济金融合作的状况,提出了东亚金融合作应实施渐进式、梯度推进的多重平行货币合作、宏观经济政策逐步协调趋同的发展模式.