This study provides a rigorous empirical comparison of structural and reduced-formcredit risk frameworks. As major difference we focus on the discriminative modelingof the default time. In contrast to the previous literature, we calibrate both approaches to the same data set, apply comparable...

This paper analyzes the investment timing of firms facing two dimensions of financingconstraints: Liquidity constraints and capital market frictions inducing financing costs. We showthat liquidity constraints are not sufficient to explain voluntary investment delay. However, whenadditionally...

Objective of this paper is to gain insights into jump occurrences and to enhance the understanding of modelling jumps in electricity markets. We provide a common modelling framework that allows to incorporate the main jump patterns observed in electricity spot prices and compare the...

The EU's multiannual budget is generally assumed to be marked by policy stability over its seven-year duration. This paper analyses how change and stability have affected EU budget policy during the current 2007-13 period. The theories of incrementalism and advocacy coalition framework are...

While German public finances have remained more resilient than other EU countries throughout the recent crisis, fiscal flexibility has become increasingly limited for its regional governments which deliver most public service. The recent introduction of a balanced-budget requirement (‘debt...

This paper reviews the debate over fiscal rules and specifically balanced-budget requirements with regards to sub-national (state/regional) government. It will be argued that fiscal rules, if properly designed, can play an important role in balancing the relations between central and...