Bank intermediated finance has been cited frequently as the preferred means for channeling funds from savers to firms. Germany is the prototypical economy where universal banks allegedly exert substantial influence over firms. Despite frequent assertions about the considerable power of German...

This paper examines the financing structure of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) inGermany and questions whether an equity gap – or, more generally, a financing gap - exists.Reviewing the literature and available data sources, we find that financing constraints seem toaffect, if at...

SMEs play a crucial role for European economies. The numbers show the high importance ofSMEs for national economies. Accordingly, it is no surprise that the regulatory frameworkSMEs are imbedded in is the subject of an important political discussion. In the discussion itis frequently mentioned...

The objective of this paper is to test the hypothesis that in particular financially constrainedfirms lease a higher share of their assets to mitigate problems of asymmetric information. Theassumptions are tested under a GMM framework which simultaneously controls forendogeneity problems and...

Der auf die Beschaffung von Produktionsfaktoren, deren Kombination und den anschließenden Absatz der erstellten Güter gerichtete Leistungsprozeß eines Unternehmens ist typischerweise dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die damit verbundenen Auszahlungen den daraus resultierenden Einzahlungen...

This paper develops a principal-agent model of financial contracting in which optimal contracts resemble a combination of debt and equity. When defaulting on debt, the firm is punished by disruption of external funding. Such contracts however, invite rivals to compete more aggressively to...

In a recent paper Loeffler/Schneider (2000) showed that introducing a tax on a financial market does not create an arbitrage opportunity...

Multinationale Unternehmen unterscheiden sich in vielen Aspekten grundlegendvon nationalen Unternehmen. Aus der simultanen Tätigkeit in verschiedenen Hoheitsgebieten mitunterschiedlichen Währungen, Wirtschafts- und Rechtordnungen resultieren charakteristische Kenn-zeichen multinationaler...

We investigate the interdependence of debt financing and R&D activities of young firms.Using micro-level data of the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel, our estimation results show that firmcharacteristics are more important than personal characteristics of the founders for explainingyoung firms’...

Thin capitalization rules have become an important element in the corporate tax systems of developed countries. This paper sets up a model where national and multinational firms choose tax-efficient financial structures and countries compete for multinational firms through statutory tax rates...