This paper focuses on the impact of full capital account liberalization on macroeconomic volatility in Greece. According to the standard neoclassical model, such liberalization is to be desired because, among other advantages, it may reduce macroeconomic volatility. The link between...

This study sheds new light on the question of whether or not sentiment surveys, and the expectations derived from them, are relevant to forecasting economic growth and stock returns, and whether they contain information that is orthogonal to macroeconomic and financial data. I examine 16...

Against the dominant view that financial assets are liquid within national borders, this study theoretically motivates and empirically demonstrates the existence fo financial market specificity.

Using ordered logit and probit plus random effects ordered probit approaches, we study the determinants of sovereign debt ratings. We found that the last procedure is the best for panel data as it takes into account the additional cross-section error

This is a top-level and short review (hopefully an eye-opener) of the factors that affect the Dollar-Euro exchange rate in the near future. It seems that the US is better positioned, than the Euro Zone, to face the current illiquidity crisis. Moreover, over the period of this crisis it is...

We investigate whether rising oil prices have resulted in over-rating of oil-producing countries by rating agencies, after controlling for fundamentals. Based on a large dataset of countries from Standard and Poor's and Moody's, we find strong statistical evidence of a large ratings...

This comment letter was submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department in connection with that Department's review of proposals for changes in the regulatory structure for financial institutions. The comment letter presents the following policy recommendations: (1) the thrift charter should be...

Different explanations have been suggested for the puzzling negative relationship observed between stock returns and inflation. The most popular ones have been the Tax-Effects Hypothesis (Feldstein, 1980), the Proxy Hypothesis (Fama, 1981), and the Reverse Causality Hypothesis (Geske and Roll,...

It is widely believed that economic growth is good for stockholders. However, the cross-country correlation of real stock returns and per capita GDP growth over 1900-2002 is negative. Economic growth occurs from high personal savings rates and increased labor force participation, and from...