Historical events are reflected in asset prices. In this paper we therefore analyze the prices of Swiss government bonds traded during WWII. The econometric analysis reveals that some events that are generally considered crucial for the military threat Switzerland faced, are clearly reflected in...

Using an applied general equilibrium of the Swiss economy the economic consequences of an environmental tax reform are analysed. Such a reform is followed by a substantial reduction of C02 emissions and the use of non-renewable energy (first dividend), and a reduction of involuntary...

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The use of environmental taxes as an instrument for environmental policy has developed considerably in several OECD countries. These «green» tax reforms, implemented in particular in Nordic countries and in the Netherlands, consist in adapting existing taxes, in particular on energy and...

In spite of its "clean" image, electricity is not without external effects, which can be increasingly traced to the households, whose demand is characterized by considerable time-of-day and seasonal variation. Thus, a reduction of this variation may permit the cancellation or at least deferral...

There is a risk of an increasing disconnect between regulatory capital and what banks and other financial institutions do. The last few decades have brought tremendous changes in the nature of financial firms, their activities, and their approaches to risk management. In such an environment,...

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Asymmetric portfolio insurance strategies have become increasingly popular in practice. We show that a combination of investments in bonds and call options allows for more flexible strategies than the traditional portfolio insurance based on investments in put options and their underlying...

This paper argues that interests of nationals (i.e., domestic residents) and owners of home-based foreign capital in the formation of a Trade Agreements (TA) are not antagonistic, except under rather particular assumptions on initial tariffs among potential members. Further, if initial tariffs...