Suchergebnisse

This study examines German firms' managerial decision-making from the perspective of corporate cash holdings. An econometric analysis of 89,018 firm-year observations for 2004–2016 shows that East German firms hold significantly more cash than their West German counterparts. It is further demonstrated that no reasonable hypotheses (i.e. structural differences, access to financing, and historical differences) can explain East German firms' higher cash holdings. Instead, the difference in cash holdings is only relevant for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Additionally, East German SMEs adjust excess cash more slowly than West German SMEs. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that cultural attributes influence managerial decision-making and imply that the norms and values of the former German Democratic Republic persist. ; Version of record

We argue that current sovereign debt management lacks important incentives for governments and politicians to fulfill it in a sustainable and long-term orientated way. This paper outlines that the mechanisms to solve sovereign debt problems within the EMU are not only missing the right incentives but also setting the wrong ones. In contrast to current policy, we argue that only an instrument which is sufficiently sensitive to the performance of a country (i.e. its debt level) will motivate the players to engage in sustainable debt management. Specifically, we propose performance-sensitive government bonds (PSGB) where coupon payments are closely linked to debt policy, giving strong incentives to limit debt levels and to timely restructure the economy.