Investors are trying to generate excess returns through active investment strategies. Since the outbreak of the financial crisis, investors face a situation where increased risks are accompanied by falling key interest rates. An optimal portfolio in terms of risk and return becomes a perpetual motion machine. Markus Vollmer answers the question how the seemingly impossible could still be achieved by an empirical analysis of historical data of 1'800 stocks listed at equity markets in 24 countries covering all 19 super sectors. The author offers valid and reliable findings by using the...

The Author shows that modelling the uncertain cash flow dynamics of an investment project deserves careful attention in real options valuation. Focusing on the case of commodity price uncertainty, a broad empirical study reveals that, contrary to common assumptions, prices are often non-stationary and exhibit non-normally distributed returns. Subsequently, more realistic stochastic volatility, jump diffusion, and Levy processes are evaluated in the context of a stylised investment project. The valuation results suggest that stochastic process choice can have substantial implications for...

Bettina Hauser develops a research model, which encompasses entrepreneurial leadership as a major success factor during post-merger integration. Additionally, contextual variables, namely cultural distance and the organizational variable, relative size, are tested for their moderating effect on the influence of entrepreneurial leadership on M&A performance. The author clarifies the question of how entrepreneurial leadership can help to enhance M&A performance. Based on 114 transactions with acquirers of German-speaking companies, she proves that entrepreneurial leadership has a positive...

In light of the 20th anniversary of the ruling in Francovich, Michael Haba analyzes the principle of Member State Liability, which provides a right to damages whenever EU law is breached by Member States. His research ascertains that the doctrine evolved through three stages before becoming the unified approach that it is today. The author emphasizes that the principle's base lay at the outset of the EEC, when the ECJ sought means to foster the enforcement of EC law. He shows that although State Liability was introduced in Francovich, there was not enough guidance on its application. He...

Vadim Kufenko provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of various aspects of economic growth and income inequality in the Russian regions using different estimation techniques from the cross-section OLS and logistic models to dynamic panel data system GMM. The general period for the data is 1995-2012. Acknowledging the crucial role of human capital, the author models the brain-drain using game theory and shows that the owners of human capital may have monetary as well as institutional motives. He states that the income gap between the regional elite and the population is a robust...

In order to measure the dynamics of flow-performance relationships for a multi-domicile sample, Simon Weiler applies existing flow-performance research methods to a broad set of European equity (UCITS) funds and proves that major findings (performance-chasing behaviour and a convex flow-performance relationship) also hold true in a cross-border market environment.

​Christoph Samitsch investigates whether decision-making efficiency is being influenced by the quality of data and information. Results of the research provide evidence that defined data quality dimensions have an effect on decision-making performance as well as the time it takes to make a decision.

Lukas Heim evaluates the performance of a price-level targeting rule compared to that of a standard inflation targeting rule. The comparison is based on a medium-scale DSGE model which has been estimated based on state-of-the-art Bayesian methods. The model for the Swiss economy is an expanded version of the framework proposed by Gali and Monacelli (2005) as well as Monacelli (2005). It is enriched with habit formation in consumption, price indexation, labor market imperfections, and several additional structural disturbances. The results show that - exactly as expected - the volatility of...

Franziska Eller investigated the effectiveness of individualized Neurofeedback training in addition to a comprehensive basic neurodevelopmental therapy for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The results clearly speak for the benefits of a supplemental Neurofeedback training, since QEEG recordings revealed positive changes in the children's brain wave activity after only a few weeks of training. Furthermore behavioral aspects and imitation abilities were assessed using two autism questionnaires and an imitation test. Results showed that all children improved in several domains,...

Christian Wolf shows that even with unreliable visual information, no auditory motion is integrated to guide smooth pursuit eye movements. This suggests that smooth pursuit eye movements are solely driven by visual motion information and motion information from other senses is disregarded.