Browsing Working Papers (FI) by Title
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Lessons from the UKMallin, Chris; Mullineux, Andy; Wihlborg, Clas (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In 1992 the Cadbury Committee report on the financial aspects of corporate governance was published. The Committee had been established following the failures of a number of high profile businesses in the UK which had shaken confidence in the market. Some nine years later, in 2001, the collapse of Enron sent shockwaves through the US market. As a result of the Enron collapse and various other high profile scandals in the years since its occurrence, the US is examining its own corporate governance structures and provisions to determine how these might be improved and help avoid another Enron. The EU similarly is developing principles and legislation to improve corporate governance, and scandals such as Royal Ahold and Parmalat have helped drive further governance reforms. In this paper we detail the development of corporate governance codes in the UK and the adaptation of similar codes in the EU. We discuss the role of the financial sector in corporate governance and how principles for regulation and supervision of the financial sector complement codes of conduct and legislation in the area of corporate governance. JEL Classification numbers: G34, G28, G22, G23 Keywords: corporate governance, financial sector; institutional investors. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6789 Files in this item: 1
wplefic062004.pdf (171.8Kb) -
Østrup, Finn (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The article analyses how government spending is determined under different exchange rate regimes in the context of a small open economy. Assuming nominal wage contracts which last for one period and assuming a benevolent government which determines government spending to optimise a representative individual’s utility, it is demonstrated that there are differences between exchange rate regimes with respect to the level of government spending. These differences arise first because a rise in government spending affects macroeconomic variables differently under different exchange rate regimes, and second because the government’s inclination to expand government spending is affected by inflation which depends on the exchange rate regime. At low rates of inflation, the government is inclined to set a higher level of government spending under a fixed exchange rate regime than under a floating exchange rate regime in which the monetary authority optimises preferences which include an employment target and an inflation target. As government spending affects the representative individual’s utility, the choice of exchange rate regime has an impact on welfare. Keywords: exchange rate regimes; fiscal policy; monetary union; inflation targeting. JEL classicification: E42, E61, E62, F33. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7140 Files in this item: 1
endeligt_wp_2005-1.pdf (290.0Kb) -
do companies need owners?Thomsen, Steen; Rose, Caspar (København, 2002)[More information][Less information]
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Raahauge, Peter (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Kinks and jumps in the payoff function of option contracts prevent an effective implementation of higher-order numerical approximation methods. Moreover, the derivatives (the greeks) are not easily determined around such singularities, even with standard lower-order methods. This paper suggests a transformation to turn the original ill-conditioned pricing problem into a well-behaved numerical problem. For a standard test case, both vanilla- and binary call price functions are approximated with (tensor) B-splines of up to 10’th order. Polynomial convergence rates of orders up to approximately 10 are obtained for prices as well as for first and second order derivatives (delta and gamma). Unlike similar studies, numerical approximation errors are measured both as weighted averages and in the supnorm over a state space including time-to-maturities down to a split second. KEYWORDS: Numerical option pricing, Transformed state spaces, Higher-order B-splines. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7157 Files in this item: 1
2004_5.pdf (467.4Kb) -
Lunde, Jens (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Housing markets in several countries are suffering. The prolonged and strong housing price rises of recent years have turned around. Historical records suggest that housing price drops may happen slowly but be large. Housing prices continue to fall because capital losses have substituted capital gains, housing equities are falling, and housing price expectations have become negative. Household debt had increased to the same degree as housing prices or even more in some countries. Access to mortgage and credit had improved and lenders used "cruise control” when financing still higher housing market prices. Now, housing demand is further weakened because access to credit has been tightened. During a downturn, owner-occupiers’ housing price risk is increased and a growing number of owners have negative equity and payment troubles. Under these conditions, arrears and foreclosures will be widespread in owner-occupation. The effects on the wider economy of a housing price downturn are discussed. Not only does the lenders’ increased credit risk lead to tightened credit access, losses threaten the banks and can create financial crises. Falling housing prices clearly depress the housing market and housing construction activities and thereby the contribution of residential investments to economic growth, while it is less obvious that average housing consumption and residential investments over the whole cycle are affected. The reduction of non-housing consumption as a result of a wealth effect is a reality for years for depressed owner-occupiers but in the aggregate, the housing wealth effect is more dubious. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7141 Files in this item: 1
wp 2008-1 jens lunde.pdf (199.0Kb) -
Gangopadhyay, Shubhashis; Wihlborg, Clas (København, 2001)[More information][Less information]
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presentations on share prices, insider trading and securities regulationRose, Caspar (København, 2001)[More information][Less information]
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Rose, Caspar (København, 2002)[More information][Less information]
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Lunde, Jens (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Abstract. In Denmark, taxation of residential property returns varies considerably with the type of ownership and type of tenure in terms of the way income is calculated, the types of taxes applied and tax rates, which range from 0 % to above 60 %. Together with other housing subsidies this disparity in taxation contributes to the pronounced lack of tenure neutrality in the Danish housing market. The paper illustrates how tax rules alone create distortions and imbalances in the housing and residential property markets and discusses as well the magnitude of the imbalances. The method used is the application of a set of return and user cost equations. The tax aspects of the long-standing rather unequal treatment of private rental dwellings, social rental dwellings, owner-occupied dwellings and private co-operative dwellings, which have drawn decisive tracks in the markets, are discussed. The lowering of the tax rate for the return of institutional pension savings to 15 % which came into effect in 2001 has created a substantial advantage for pension funds compared with private investors with regard to investments in rental residential properties. The owner-occupiers’ user costs and subsidization are shown to depend on their capital structure and to a large extent they depend on whether the owners’ most obvious savings alternatives are either personal investments with heavily taxed returns or institutional pension savings with lightly taxed returns. Also private co-operative associations are tax exempted, and this fact in combination with the prospects of improved legal conditions for raising loans to finance the individual apartments will almost certainly lead to this form of tenure – as "tax free ownership" – capturing part of the market for owner occupation. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7154 Files in this item: 1
2004_3.pdf (276.5Kb) -
Christensen, Bent Jesper; Raahauge, Peter (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: We consider a random utility extension of the fundamental Lucas (1978) equilibrium asset pricing model. The resulting structural model leads naturally to a likelihood function. We estimate the model using U.S. asset market data from 1871 to 2000, using both dividends and earnings as state variables. We find that current dividends do not forecast future utility shocks, whereas current utility shocks do forecast future dividends. The estimated structural model produces a sequence of predicted utility shocks which provide better forecasts of future long-horizon stock market returns than the classical dividend-price ratio. KEYWORDS: Randomutility, asset pricing, maximumlikelihood, structuralmodel, return predictability URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7135 Files in this item: 1
endeligt_wp_peter_raahauge_2004_7.pdf (270.6Kb) -
Møller, Michael; Rose, Caspar (København, 2001)[More information][Less information]
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Løchte Jørgensen, Peter (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
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a review of some portfolio selection criteria of Elton, Gruber and PadbergAstrup Jensen, Bjarne (København, 2001)[More information][Less information]
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Holst, Anders; Nalholm, Morten (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In this paper an investigation of the pricing of callable annuities with interest-only (I-O) optionality is conducted. First the I-O optionality feature of callable annuities is introduced. Next an algorithm for pricing callable annuities with I-O optionality using the finite difference methodology, is formulated. This is then used to investigate optimal strategies of I-O bonds and impacts on prices from the I-O optionality. It is found that the I-O feature necessitates a simultaneous valuation of all elements of the callable I-O bond. Following this, the Greeks of the I-O bond are investigated. It is found that they are affected by the I-O feature, but only to a limited extent. Finally, a model of heterogenous prepayment decisions is incorporated into the framework. The model is extended to model heterogeneity in the I-O exercise decisions. The incorporation of heterogeneity in borrower decisions is found to lead to reasonable causalities. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7149 Files in this item: 1
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Florentsen, Bjarne; Møller, Michael; Nielsen, Niels Chr. (København, 1999)[More information][Less information]
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Lando, Henrik (København, 2000)[More information][Less information]
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Astrup Jensen, Bjarne (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: We describe the background and the basic funding mechanisms for the type of adjustable rate mortgage loans that were introduced in the Danish market in 1996. Each loan is funded separately by tap issuing pass-through mortgage bonds ("strict balance principle"). The novelty is a funding mechanism that uses a roll-over strategy, where long term loans are funded by sequentially issuing short term pass-through bonds, and the first issuer of these loans obtained a patent on the funding principles in 1999. Publicly available descriptions of the principles leave an impression of very complicated numerical algorithms. The algorithms described here show that the essentials can be reduced to a "back of an envelope" complexity. Keywords: Adjustable rate mortgages, balance principle, patent, yield curve riding URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7173 Files in this item: 1
endeligt_wp_2004_11.pdf (244.1Kb) -
Astrup Jensen, Bjarne (København, 1999)[More information][Less information]
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Rose, Caspar; Lando, Henrik (København, 2000)[More information][Less information]
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Lando, David; Mortensen, Allan (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper investigates the pricing of step-up bonds, i.e. corporate bonds with provisions stating that the coupon payments increase as the credit rating level of the issuer declines. To assess the risk-neutral rating transition probabilities necessary to price these bonds, we introduce a new calibration method within the reduced-form rating-based model of Jarrow, Lando, and Turnbull (1997). We also treat split ratings and adjust for rating outlook. Step-up bonds have been issued in large amounts in the European telecom sector, and we find that, through most of the sample, step-up bonds issued by the two largest issuers have traded at a discount relative to comparable fixed-coupon bonds from the same issuers. Our findings cannot be attributed to traditional liquidity factors, and they suggest that issuing step-up bonds increased the cost of capital for the issuers. Keywords: defaultable bonds, step-up coupons, rating-based models JEL classification: G12, G13 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7184 Files in this item: 1
endeligt_wp_2004-9.pdf (412.0Kb)