Suchergebnisse

Explores the rise and fall of public housing during a prolonged period of generous Government support for home ownership while forcing the poor to pay more for their accommodation

International audience ; On March 18, 1976, the Swedish parliament voted on a bill that, if approved, would have substantially increased both the scale and scope of government representation on bank boards. Since parliament was hung, the outcome of the vote was decided by a lottery. I exploit this lottery to study the causal effect on shareholder value of government involvement in the corporate governance of banks. I find that the rejection of the bill resulted in positive abnormal returns that persisted in the following days. The results suggest that unsolicited government involvement in the corporate governance of banks is harmful for owners.

International audience ; On March 18, 1976, the Swedish parliament voted on a bill that, if approved, would have substantially increased both the scale and scope of government representation on bank boards. Since parliament was hung, the outcome of the vote was decided by a lottery. I exploit this lottery to study the causal effect on shareholder value of government involvement in the corporate governance of banks. I find that the rejection of the bill resulted in positive abnormal returns that persisted in the following days. The results suggest that unsolicited government involvement in the corporate governance of banks is harmful for owners.

Much of what is known about volunteering to public agencies emanates from surveys of city and county governments. Little research has addressed the magnitude and other characteristics of volunteering to state government organizations. This study presents and analyzes the results of the first systematic national survey of volunteering to state government agencies. The study investigates two models, the first to explain volunteer use by state agencies, and the second to explain the realization of benefits from volunteer involvement. Empirical analysis shows that the rate of volunteer involvement in state government is substantial, reaching 36% of the agencies sampled. However, according to the personnel managers surveyed, simply having volunteers is not sufficient. The authors demonstrate that to achieve the full benefits of the approach as perceived by personnel managers, agencies must engage in effective management of their volunteer programs.

For decades, both state and federal governments have taken a larger role in the property and casualty market. The National Flood Insurance Plan directly writes policies. In contrast, the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirement establishes a last-resort insurance pool for those unable to find certain types of coverage through conventional means. Finally, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act establishes a federal reinsurance backstop in the event of a severe terror loss. While each program seeks to expand property and casualty coverage, some have been more successful than others. This thesis examines the efficacy of each program and provides reform suggestions.

This report discusses the U.S. government involvement in security preparations for the Athens Olympics 2004, the first Summer Games to be held since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Recent regulatory efforts aim at lowering the cyclicality of bank lending because of its potential detrimental effects on financial stability and the real economy. We investigate the cyclicality of SME lending by local banks with vs. without a public mandate, controlling for location, size, loan maturity, funding structure, liquidity, profitability, and credit demand-side factors. The public mandate is set by local governments and stipulates a deviation from strict profit maximization and a sustainable provision of financial services to local customers. We find that banks with a public mandate are 25 percent less cyclical than other local banks. The result is credit supply-side driven and especially strong for savings banks with high liquidity and stable deposit funding. Our findings have implications for the banking structure, financial stability and the finance-growth nexus in a local context.