This paper investigates the potential impact of the growing influence of the opinions of credit rating agencies (CRAs) on market dynamics. This impact can be seen as a consequence of the information content of the ratings themselves or indirectly as a consequence of the "hardwiring" of ratings...

In this article we analyse the impact of firms’ size on their financial and cost structure. We use a panel of 2000 Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1991-1998. We find that the marginal cost of external finance of firms varies inversely with their size. Also the smaller the firm the...

Due to the rising costs of periodicals and the necessity of assuring access to the research results of the scientific community, new publishing models are required. Most of them are based on the distribution of financing costs among all participating authors, affiliations or countries according...

Die Fehlleistungen der marktbeherrschenden US-amerikanischen Ratingagenturen ließen den Wunsch nach Etablierung einer großen europäischen Ratingagentur laut werden. Erich Harbrecht und Martin Wieland, Deutsche Bundesbank, halten eine Forderung nach einem Gegengewicht zu US-Agenturen nicht...

The financial crisis and the ensuing recession have caused a sharp deterioration in public finances across advanced economies, raising investor concerns about sovereign risk. The concerns have so far mainly affected the euro area, where some countries have seen their credit ratings downgraded...

The paper discusses the limits to market-based risk transfer in the financial system and the implications for the management of systemic long-term financial risks. Financial instruments or markets to transfer and better manage these risks across institutions and sectors are, as yet, either...

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) which comes to life on November 1, 2007, represents a major step toward the creation of a single, more competitive, cross-border securities market in Europe. Together with other components of the European Commission's Financial Services...

We use a discrete choice experiment conducted in Sweden to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce school bullying. The estimations indicate a mean marginal WTP of 5.95 to 8.48 Swedish kronor (€0.66 to €0.95), which implies that the aggregate WTP for each reduced statistical victim of...

This paper analyzes whether class size has an effect on the prevalence of mental health problems and well-being among adolescents in Swedish schools. We use cross-sectional data collected in year 2008 covering 2,755 Swedish adolescents in 9th grade from 40 schools and 159 classes. We utilize...