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DIW Discussion Papers 903 / 2009
In developing and transition economies, microlending has become an effective instrument for providing micro businesses with the necessary financial resources to launch operations. In the industrialized countries, with their highly developed banking systems, however, there has been ongoing debate on the question of whether an uncovered demand for microlending services exists. The present pilot study ...
2009| Alexander S. Kritikos, Christoph Kneiding, Claas Christian Germelmann
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DIW Discussion Papers 901 / 2009
The paper investigates the motives of activity (entry and exit) of Private Equity (PE) investors in European companies. Investment of a PE firm is not viewed unambiguously. First, it is claimed that PE investment is made for the sake of seeking short-term gains by taking control and utilizing the company's resources. Second, a PE firm invests because of prior identification of chances to add value ...
2009| Oleg Badunenko, Nataliya Barasinska, Dorothea Schäfer
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DIW Discussion Papers 906 / 2009
This study assesses the relative performance of Greek equity funds employing a non-parametric method, specifically Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Using an original sample of cost and operational attributes we explore the effect of each variable on funds' operational efficiency for an oligopolistic and bank-dominated fund industry. Our results have significant implications for the investors' fund ...
2009| Vassilios Babalos, Guglielmo Maria Caporale, Nikolaos Philippas
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SOEPpapers 218 / 2009
Weather variables, and sunshine in particular, are found to be strongly correlated with financial variables. I consider self-reported happiness as a channel through which sunshine affects financial variables. I examine the influence of happiness on risk-taking behavior by instrumenting individual happiness with regional sunshine, and I find that happy people appear to be more risk-averse in financial ...
2009| Cahit Guven
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SOEPpapers 224 / 2009
This study questions the popular stereotype that women are more risk averse than men in their financial investment decisions. The analysis is based on micro-level data from large-scale surveys of private households in five European countries. In our analysis of investment decisions, we directly account for individuals' self-perceivedwillingness to take financial risks. The empirical evidence we provide ...
2009| Oleg Badunenko, Nataliya Barasinska, Dorothea Schäfer
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FINESS Working Papers 2.4 / 2009
Over the past decades, banks have significantly increased their cross-border asset positions. The ongoing crisis on international financial markets has raised the question whether this increase in cross-border activities has allowed banks to diversify risks and to what extent it has increased banks' exposure to systemic risks. In this contribution, we review the existing empirical evidence.
2009| Claudia M. Buch, Katja Neugebauer
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FINESS Working Papers 5.4 / 2009
We use household survey data from Hungary to analyse the determinants of foreign currency (FX) borrowing. We do not find evidence that Hungarian FX borrowers are better educated, wealthier or more risk-loving than their peers. In fact, FX borrowing is a common phenomenon driven mostly by macroeconomic factors: high interest rate spreads, a relatively stable exchange rate and the competition of foreign ...
2009| Gábor Pellényi, Péter Bilek
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FINESS Working Papers 5.6 / 2009
We investigate the likely sources of exchange rate dynamics in selected CIS countries (Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) over the past decade (1999-2008). The analysis is based on country VAR models augmented by a regional common factor structure (FAVAR model). The models include nominal exchange rates, the common factor of exchange rates in the CIS countries, and global ...
2009| Christian Dreger, Jarko Fidrmuc
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FINESS Working Papers 6.1 / 2009
This study questions the popular stereotype that women are more risk averse than men in their financial investment decisions. The analysis is based on micro-level data from large-scale surveys of private households in five European countries. In our analysis of investment decisions, we directly account for individuals' self-perceived willingness to take financial risks. The empirical evidence we provide ...
2009| Oleg Badunenko, Nataliya Barasinska, Dorothea Schäfer
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FINESS Working Papers 3.4 / 2009
The paper investigates the link between bank concentration and a country's buyout market. We perform a macro level analysis for 15 European countries during 1997-2007. We estimate the elasticity of the country i's buyout market to country i's concentration in the banking sector. Our major finding suggests that the more concentrated the banking sector is, the better it is for the size of the buyout ...
2009| Oleg Badunenko, Saloni Deva, Dorothea Schäfer, Michael Viertel