We show empirically that there is no relation between funding of pensions and economic growth in a sample of OECD- as well as non-OECD countries over the period 2001-2008. This finding contradicts findings of earlier studies, which do not control for capital market returns of pension funds. Our...

Measurement error causes a downward bias when estimating a panel data linear regression model. The panel data context offers various opportunities to derive moment conditions that result in consistent GMM estimators. We consider three sources of moment conditions: (i) restrictions on the...

Substitution elasticities quantify the extent to which the demand for inputs responds to changes in input prices. They are considered particularly relevant from the perspective of cost management. Because the crisis has drastically altered the economic environment in which banks operate, we...

The quiet life hypothesis posits that firms with market power incur inefficiencies rather than reap monopolistic rents. We propose a simple adjustment to Lerner indices to account for the possibility of foregone rents to test this hypothesis. For a large sample of U.S. commercial banks, we find...

International commercial banks, institutional investors, and private investors have become increasingly interested in financing microfinance institutions (MFIs). This paper investigates whether adding microfinance funds to a portfolio of risky international assets yields diversification gains....

The liquidity patterns of investors provide a new common framework to explain the autocorrelation of returns and volumes, as well as some calendar anomalies. Festivities are occasions around which liquidity constraints are particularly relevant, leading to a quot;festivity effectquot;. This...

In this paper we investigate the relation between price impact and trading volume for a sample of stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The parametric VAR-models that have been used in the literature starting with Hasbrouck (1991a, 1991b) impose strong proportionality and symmetry...

In this paper we propose a bivariate model for the trading intensities of two stocks in a particular industry. The model consists of a univariate duration model for the pooled transaction process and a probit-specification for the type of trade. We apply the model to the trading intensities of...