This paper analyzes the impact of model complexity on the net present value distribution and the expected default probability of equity investments in project finance. Model complexity is analyzed along two dimensions: simulation complexity and forecast complexity. We aim to identify model...

Starting with the liberalization of electricity trading, this market grew rapidly over the last decade. However, while spot and future markets are rather liquid nowadays, option trading is still limited. One of the potential reasons for this is that the spot price process of electricity is still...

This paper analyzes how founders and their families influence R&D intensity. Information on R&D comes from a large-scale, bi-annual survey among listed German firms. We find that R&D intensity is higher in firms that are actively managed by the family. The impact of family control (via voting...

This study examines how family firm characteristics affect capital structure decisions. In our analysis we disentangle the influence of three distinct components of a family firm: ownership, supervisory and management board activities by the founding family. Thereby, we use a unique panel...

Around the world (with the U.S. and U.K. as exceptions) concentrated ownership structures and controlling shareholders are predominant even among listed firms. We provide novel empirical evidence how such controlling shareholders, in particular founding families, affect payout policy decisions....

The mechanism behind price formation in electricity futures markets is still under discussion. Theory suggests that hedging pressure caused by deviating risk preferences is the most promising approach. This paper contributes to this discussion through an empirical investigation of electricity...

This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on price formation in electricity markets. For this, we conduct an analysis of the German electricity wholesale spot market which is located at the European Energy Exchange (EEX). Our dataset covers three spot market segments, namely the intraday...

Naturparke bilden die älteste Schutzgebietskategorie in Deutschland. Neben Aufgaben wie Naturschutz und Erholung wurde ihnen als relativ neue und zentrale Aufgabe die nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung, verankert im Bundesnaturschutzgesetz sowie den meisten Landesnaturschutzgesetzen, zugesprochen....

We propose a novel approach to measure the value that shareholders assign to financial flexibility. In contrast to existing proxies for financial constraints, our measure is market-based, forward-looking and not directly influenced by past financial decisions. We find that firms for which...

We examine whether cultural differences between countries help in explaining firms' hedging decisions. For this, we manually collect data on the hedging behavior of worldwide energy utilities. The analysis reveals a strong impact of a country's long-term orientation, which reduces the...