This paper analyzes the impact of taxes and lending conditions on the financial structure ofmultinationals' foreign affiliates. The empirical analysis employs a large panel of affiliates ofGerman multinationals in 26 countries in the period from 1996 until 2003. In accordance withthe theoretical...

Universal life policies are the most popular insurance contract design in theUnited States. They have either a level death benefit paying a fixed faceamount, or an increasing death benefit, which additionally pays the availablecash value, and both types include the option to switch from one to...

This paper analyses the impact of government grants on labour demand using plant leveldata for manufacturing industry in Ireland. Our data consists of a large sample of plants andtheir complete grant history...

The aim of this article is to identify fair equity-premium combinations for non-lifeinsurers that satisfy solvency capital requirements imposed by regulatory authorities. In particular, we compare target capital erived using the value at risk concept as planned for Solvency II in the European...

Participating life insurance contracts typically contain various types of implicit options. These implicit options can be very valuable and can thus represent a sig-nificant risk to the insurance companies issuing these contracts in case of in-sufficient risk management. Options can get...

A change in the corporate tax level can have a significant impact on rate making and capital structure for insurance companies. The purpose of this paper is to study this effect on competitive equity-premium combinations for different asset and liability models while retaining a fixed safety...

This paper identifies several distortions which create barriers to entrepreneurship. First, inaddition to the innate entry cost, there are entry costs caused by regulation. Second, unionwage policies raise the opportunity cost of entrepreneurship...<BR>

This paper provides a firm-level empirical analysis on the ways in which corruption affects innovative activity. Particularly with respect to the African continent that is striving to reconcile with instability and poverty, this issue seems to be of utmost importance. Using a newly available...

This paper investigates the role of corporate taxation with respect to a multinational'sinvestment decision, in which the multinational can pursue either a direct or an indirectinvestment strategy. The latter involves at least three corporate entities and opens upenhanced opportunities for...

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of thin-capitalization rules in preventing debt financeby intercompany loans and explores their consequences for corporate decisions. A theoreticaldiscussion emphasizes that limitations of the deduction of interest owed to foreign afiliateswould not only...