Corporate Real Estate and Corporate Takeovers: International Evidence

We investigate whether corporate real estate ownership is a trigger for takeovers. The empirical analysis is based on a sample covering 225 takeovers in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom between 1992 and 2003. Using a multivariate probit model in which we control for various financial firm characteristics we find that the role of corporate real estate in takeovers depends on the nature of the takeover, the industry, the period, and the country. The presence of corporate real estate is a significantly positive predictor for takeovers within the same industry. Companies that have been taken over appear to have been reducing their real estate holdings prior to the takeover, which would suggest a financial distress situation.

Inflation risk and international asset returns

We show that inflation risk is priced in international asset returns. We analyze inflation risk in a framework that encompasses the International Capital Asset Pricing Model (ICAPM) of Adler and Dumas (1983). In contrast to the extant empirical literature on the ICAPM, we relax the assumption that inflation rates are constant. We estimate and test a conditional version of the model for the G5 countries (France, Germany, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.) over the period 1975-1998 and find evidence of statistically and economically significant prices of inflation risk (in addition to priced nominal exchange rate risk). Our results imply a rejection of the restrictions imposed by the ICAPM. In an extension of our analysis to 2003, we show that even after the termination of nominal exchange rate fluctuations in the euro area in 1999, differences in inflation rates across countries entail non-trivial real exchange rate risk premia

The Cost of Capital of Cross-Listed Firms

This paper analyzes the cost of capital of firms with foreign equity listings. Our purpose is to shed light on the question whether international and domestic asset pricing models yield a different estimate of the cost of capital for cross-listed stocks. We distinguish between (i) the multifactor ICAPM of Solnik (1983) and Sercu (1980) including both the global market portfolio and exchange rate risk premia, and (ii) the single factor domestic CAPM. We test for the significance of the cost of capital differential in a sample of 336 cross-listed stocks from nine countries in the period 1980-1999. Our hypothesis is that the cost of capital differential is

Do Global Risk Factors Matter for International Cost of Capital Computations?

International financial markets are becoming integrated. Hence, global risk factor are increasingly important for portfolio selection and asset pricing. The recent empirical finance literature has confirmed that both the global market portfolio and exchange rate risk factors constitute important determinants of asset returns. We show, however, that global risk factors do not importantly affect estimates of the cost of equity capital for a remarkably wide variety of companies. We analyze almost 3,300 stocks from nine industrialized countries over the period 1980-1999. Incorporating global factors into cost of capit

Why Panel Tests of Purchasing Power Parity Should Allow for Heterogeneous Mean Reversion

Abstract Recent studies of purchasing power parity (PPP) use panel tests that fail to take into account heterogeneity in the speed of me

Purchasing Power Parity and Heterogeneous Mean Reversion

This paper analyzes the properties of multivariate tests of purchasing power parity (PPP) that fail to take heterogeneity in the speed of mean reversion across real exchange rates into account. We compare the performance of homogeneous and heterogeneous unit root testing methodologies. The recent literature has successfully contested several severe restrictions on the structure of the model, but the assumption of homogeneous mean reversion is still widely used and its consequences are virtually unexplored. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we uncover important adverse properties of the methodology that relies on homogeneous estimation and testing. More specifically, power functions are low and assume irregular shapes. Furthermore, homogeneous estimates of the mean reversion parameters exhibit potentially large biases. This can have a dramatic impact on inferences made on the validity of the PPP hypothesis. Our findings highlight the importance of allowing for heterogeneous estimation when testing for a unit root in panels of real exchange rates

Strategic Debt: Evidence from Bertrand and Cournot Competition

We investigate how competitive behavior affects the capital structure of a firm. Theory predicts that the impact of different types of output market uncertainty (in particular, unanticipated shocks in demand and costs) on a firm’s leverage depends on the type of competition in an industry. We test these predictions in a sample of U.S. manufacturing firms by classifying firms into Cournot competition (strategic substitutes), and Bertrand competition (strategic complements). We show that demand uncertainty is positively related to leverage for firms in both the Cournot and the Bertrand sample. Cost uncertainty has a significantly positive impact on the leverage of Cournot firms, but plays a negligible role for Bertrand firms. Our results support the strategic use of debt and highlight the role of firms’ competitive behavior in the product market in their capital structure decisions

Dividing the Pie

We examine the consequences of transparency in an experimental multiple-dealer market with asymmetrically informed dealers. Five professional securities traders make a market for a single security. In each trading round, one of the dealers (the "insider") is told the security's true value. We vary both pre-trade and post-trade transparency by changing the way quote and trade information is published. The insider's profits are greatest when price efficiency is lowest. Price efficiency, in turn, is reduced by pre-trade transparency and increased by posttrade transparency. Market liquidity, measured by dealers' bid-ask spreads, is improved by pre-trade transparency and reduced by post-trade transparency

Nascent markets: Understanding the success and failure of new stock markets

We study the success and failure of 59 newly established (“nascent”) stock markets since 1975 in their first 40 years of activity. Nascent markets differ markedly in their success, as measured by number of listings, market capitalization, and trading activity. Long-term success is in part determined by early success: a high initial number of listings and trading activity are necessary, though not sufficient, conditions for long-term success. Banking sector development at the time of establishment and development of national savings over the life of the stock market are the other two most reliable predictors of success. We find little evidence that structural factors such as country size or legal and political institutions matter. Rather, our results point to an important role of banks, demand factors, and initial success in fostering long-term stock market development

Activation of NF-κB driven inflammatory programs in mesenchymal elements attenuates hematopoiesis in low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes

Activation of NF-κB signaling in mesenchymal cells is common in LR-MDS.Activation of NF-κB in mesenchymal cells leads to transcriptional overexpression of inflammatory factors including negative regulators of hematopoiesis.Activation of NF-κB attenuates HSPC numbers and function ex vivo