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In dit preadvies wordt ingegaan op mogelijke veranderingen in de stabiliteit van de financiële sector, en met name de bancaire sector. Aangegeven zal worden dat fundamentele veranderingen in het bankwezen de stabiliteit ervan geen goed hebben gedaan. De afhankelijkheid van financiële markten en de interconnecties in het financiële systeem zijn sterk toegenomen. Ontwikkelingen in informatietechnologie hebben met name de ‘marketability’ en veranderbaarheid van banken sterk vergroot en daarmee geleid tot een grotere wispelturigheid en kuddegedrag. Hierdoor zijn systeemrisico’s sterk vergroot. Ingegaan wordt op de invloed van financiële innovaties, de toename van het transactiebankieren, verstorende kruissubsidies binnen banken en een toename van de schaal en complexiteit van banken. Ook wordt ingegaan op de toegevoegde waarde van de financiële sector voor de economie. Tegen deze achtergrond wordt bekeken hoe de financiële sector aan stabiliteit kan winnen. Wij zullen concluderen dat aan fundamentele structuurveranderingen in het bankwezen niet valt te ontkomen. Ook is een visie nodig is op de gewenste inrichting van de financiële sector.

This paper analyses international location decisions of corporations based on corporate governance considerations. Using firm level data on 540 Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) with 44,149 subsidiaries in 188 countries, we test whether firms with relatively good governance standards are more often located in countries with a weak governance system. We find empirical support for this hypothesis, especially for those corporations present in low-income countries.

We analyse the development of world records speed skating from 1893 to 2000 for bothmen and women. The historical data show that it is likely that the relation betweenskating speed and distance of the various events is non-linear and converges to a limitvalue. We pay special attention to technical innovations in speed skating, especially, the introduction of the klapskate in the 1996/1997 season, and its impact on the long-run limit value. We focus on endurance and we estimate lower bounds for world records given the current technological state of the art.

We analyze the relationship between performance and board composition of Dutch listed firms. Since the Netherlands has a two-tier board structure, we analyze both the impact of the size of the management board and the supervisory board. The supervisory board plays a role in (anti-) investor protection in the Dutch corporate governance system. Therefore, we use indicators of corporate governance as instrumental variables. We find that the size of the management board is not determining firm performance. We do, however, find support for a negative relationship between the size and composition (number of outsiders) of the supervisory board and firm performance.

In this study we examine private investment behavior of firms in the Czech Republic. A special feature of the study is that the investment equations include variables which may give some more insights into the role of capital market imperfections as well as the effect of uncertainty. Our results find support for the accelerator model. We find evidence for cash-flow effects on Czech corporate investment. It is striking that indeed smaller longer privatized firms face relatively less cash flow restrictions. Financial structure doesn't matter as much as we expected. We find that smaller firms react positively to more uncertainty.

The paper tests a standard real options model of investment using a data set of listed Dutch manufacturing firms over the period of 1984-1997. The threshold value that triggers investment is based on the historical distribution of the profit process and the risk-adjusted discount rate of the firm. The system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimates show that Dutch firms are on average concerned with the option values of investment opportunities. We explore the arguments why firms would be confronted with higher investment hurdles.

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Het CESAM-model is lets minder optimistisch over de Nederlandse economic dan het Centraal Planbureau. Zowel ten opzichte van de Macro Economische Verkenning als het pas verschenen Centraal Economisch Plan voorspelt CESAM een geringere produktie- en investeringsgroei. Een lichtpuntje is de geringere inflatie. Een tijdelijke loskoppeling van de gulden van de D-mark heeft volgens CESAM positieve gevolgen voor de Nederlandse economic. Ook verhoging van de overheidsinvesteringen kan voordelen bieden.

This paper presents CESAM, a macroeconometric model of the Dutch economy based on annual data. CESAM can be characterized as a Keynesian expenditure model including a neoclassical production model and a post-Keynesian financial model. This characterization holds for most of the Dutch macroeconometric models including, for instance, FREIA-KOMPAS of the Dutch Central Planning Bureau. There are, however, some interesting features that distinguish CESAM from other Dutch models: the production structure is based on a putty-clay vintage approach; the financial model is based on a system of financial accounts and is modelled using the portfolio approach; and the institutional structure of Dutch public finance is described in detail. The main objectives in using the model are to generate medium-term forecasts of the Dutch economy and to analyse economic policy.