Spherical Hartree-Fock calculations with linear momentum projection before the variation.Part II: Spectral functions and spectroscopic factors

The hole--spectral functions and from these the spectroscopic factors have been calculated in an Galilei--invariant way for the ground state wave functions resulting from spherical Hartree--Fock calculations with projection onto zero total linear momentum before the variation for the nuclei 4He, 12C, 16O, 28Si, 32S and 40Ca. The results are compared to those of the conventional approach which uses the ground states resulting from usual spherical Hartree--Fock calculations subtracting the kinetic energy of the center of mass motion before the variation and to the results obtained analytically with oscillator occupations.Comment: 16 pages, 22 postscript figure

Spherical Hartree-Fock calculations with linear momentum projection before the variation.Part I: Energies, form factors, charge densities and mathematical sum rules

Spherical Hartree--Fock calculations with projection onto zero total linear momentum before the variation are performed for the nuclei 4He, 12C, 16O, 28Si, 32S and 40Ca using a density--independent effective nucleon--nucleon interaction. The results are compared to those of usual spherical Hartree--Fock calculations subtracting the kinetic energy of the center of mass motion either before or after the variation and to the results obtained analytically with oscillator occupations. Total energies, hole--energies, elastic charge form factors and charge densities and the mathematical Coulomb sum rules are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 13 postscript figure

The Asian crisis and the exposure of large U.S. firms

A deep financial and economic crisis ravaged many Asian nations during 1997 and 1998. In this article, William Emmons and Frank Schmid examine the impact of the crisis on corporate risk for a subset of large U.S. firms that are included in the S&P 100 stock-market index. They find that the Asian crisis changed many of these firms' exposure to stock-market movements-that is, their "betas" or sensitivity to stock-market risk. In particular, the extent of a firm's sales exposure to Asia appears to be an important link through which the crisis affected beta. This effect is amplified by greater financial leverage.Financial crises - Asia ; Stock - Prices

Monetary policy actions and the incentive to invest

The ability of monetary policy actions to affect the private sector's incentive to invest in fixed capital is hotly debated. Whereas a downward shift in the yield curve increases the present value of expected cash flows and should spur investment, lower short-term interest rates make delay more desirable. These influences work against each other so the net effect of stimulative monetary policy actions could go either way. This article outlines a simple investment decision rule that captures both effects of changing interest rates. It also clarifies why monetary policy actions that shift the yield curve may or may not affect fixed investment.Monetary policy

Universal banking, control rights, and corporate finance in Germany

This article describes the most important corporate governance practices in contemporary Germany. These practices include a prominent role for universal banks, other large financial and non-financial firms, and employees through a system known as codetermination. While some similarities exist, many features of corporate governance in Germany differ greatly from those found in the United States. This article provides historical background and a review of the existing empirical evidence on these topics.Corporations - Finance ; Germany

Asset mispricing, arbitrage, and volatility

Market efficiency remains a contentious topic among financial economists. The theoretical case for efficient markets rests on the notion of risk-free, cost-free arbitrage. In real markets, however, arbitrage is not risk-free or cost-free. In addition, the number of informed arbitrageurs and the supply of financial resources they have to invest in arbitrage strategies is limited. This article builds on an important recent model of arbitrage by professional traders who need—but lack—wealth of their own to trade. Professional abitrageurs must convince wealthy but uninformed investors to entrust them with investment capital in order to exploit mispricing and push market prices back toward intrinsic value. The authors introduce an objective function for the arbitrageur that resembles real-world contracts. Also, the authors calibrate the objective function to show that arbitrage generally has a price-stabilizing influence and reduces volatility in asset returns.Arbitrage ; Asset-liability management

When for-profits and not-for-profits compete: theory and empirical evidence from retail banking

We model competition in local deposit markets between for-profit and not-for-profit financial institutions. For-profit retail banks may offer a superior bundle of financial services, but not-for-profit (occupational) credit unions enjoy sponsor subsidies that allow them to capture a share of the local market. The model predicts that greater participation in credit unions in a given county will be associated with higher levels of retail-bank concentration. We find empirical evidence of this association. The ability of credit unions to affect local banking market structure supports the presumption of current banking antitrust analysis that retail banking markets remain local. We identify local economic factors that modulate the nature of competition between banks and credit unions, including income per capita and population density.Banks and banking

Universal banking, allocation of control rights, and corporate finance in Germany

Corporate governance practices differ greatly in the United States and Germany. This paper describes the main institutional features of the German corporate governance system, focusing on universal banks and codetermination. The paper also summarizes existing empirical evidence that has investigated how- and how well- this system works.Germany ; Banks and banking

Monetary policy actions and the incentive to invest

The ability of monetary policy actions to affect the private sector's incentive to invest in fixed capital is hotly debated. Whereas a downward shift in the yield curve increases the present value of expected cash flows and should spur investment, lower short term interest rates make delay more desirable. These influences work against each other so the net effect of stimulative monetary policy actions could go either way. This article outlines a simple investment decision rule that captures both effects of changing interest rates. It also clarifies why monetary policy actions that shift the yield curve may or may not affect fixed investment.Monetary policy

Pricing and dividend policies in open credit cooperatives

This paper develops an integrated model of pricing and dividend policies in open credit cooperatives (those that do business with members and non-members on a non-discriminatory basis). We show that both the distribution of member preferences and the amount of non-member business the cooperative does influence its optimal pricing and dividend policies. For a fixed distribution of member preferences, the larger the fraction of business done by members, the smaller the optimal dividend and the larger the optimal pricing subsidy (hence, increasing demand). On the other hand, for a fixed fraction of member business, the greater the skewness of member preferences toward loan (deposit) business with the credit cooperative, the larger the optimal dividend and the higher (lower) the optimal loan (deposit) interest rate. Aggregate empirical evidence from the German cooperative banking sector supports a version of the latter prediction, namely, that in an increasingly depositor-dominated open credit cooperative, average deposit rates tend to fall as dividend payouts rise.Credit unions ; Prices ; Dividends