Contributions in Merlin

null

The article puts forward the view that the regulatory perspective on systemic risk should be changed drastically. The sub-prime crisis has indeed revealed many loopholes in the supervisory/regulatory framework for banks—in particular, the inability to deal with the too-big-to-fail syndrome and also the lack of resiliency of interbank and money markets. To a large extent, the contagion phenomena that took place in these markets were the necessary outcomes of the passive attitude of banking supervisors, who have let large banks develop a complex and opaque nexus of bilateral obligations. We propose two reforms: adopting a platform-based (instead of institutionbased) regulatory perspective on systemic risk and encouraging a generalized move to central counterparty clearing.

This paper examines whether individuals who become either entrepreneurs or employees follow systematically different educational paths to a given educational level. Following Lazear’s jack-of-all-trades theory, we expect that entrepreneurs aim at a balanced set of different skills – that is, they combine academic and vocational skills – while employees specialize in one skill. This means that entrepreneurs follow educational paths that combine different types of education, while employees follow same-type paths while climbing up the educational ladder. We use the Swiss Labor Force Survey to test our hypothesis. Our empirical findings are in line with Lazear’s theory and indicate that individuals who change between different types of education and acquire a more balanced set of skills are more likely to become entrepreneurs. Thus, the permeability of a country-specific educational system is one crucial determinant of entrepreneurship.

Instability problems regarding biped locomotion increase dramatically, when the points of support are reduced from four to two points. This thesis aims to describe the construction and programming of a biped skating robot, called «Skaty». By trying to implement the principle of cheap design and adapting Skaty to her ecological niche as good as possible, a relatively simple design was developed. In Skaty’s environment, gravity and friction are the dominant forces. Skaty takes more advantage of these forces than fighting against them. Each leg is supported by two passive wheels only. Being equipped with four actors only, Skaty is able to generate slow skating motions in forward direction at an maximum speed of 11 cm ± 10%. No sensors were needed. A natural frequency of 0.9 Hz was predicted, based on a simple physical theory of the skating mechanism. The measured natural frequency at best performance is 1.1 Hz (±10%).

Many governments as well as terrorist experts see the use of military and police forces as the only way to effectively counter terrorism. The most effective negative sanctions are considered to be military strikes, aggressive actions (including kidnapping and killing) against individuals known or suspected of being terrorists, or against persons supporting and harboring terrorists. Overt and covert military and paramilitary action is also thought advisable to pre-empt and prevent actions by terrorist groups, as well as against states suspected of hosting or tolerating terrorists. This paper argues that decentralization constitutes a powerful antidote as it strongly reduces the incentives for terrorists to attack and because the expected damage suffered is much smaller than in a centralized society. It moreover strengthens society, as economic, political and social decentralization (or polycentricity) is an essential element of a free and vigorous society. This in turn makes a society less vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Indeed, terrorism has no chance of success against a society that actively guards its fundamental liberal institutions, of which decentralized decision-making forms an essential part.

null

Wealth Management besteht aus einer Reihe von Dienstleistungen zum Aufbau und der nachhaltigen Verwaltung von Vermögen. In diesem Artikel konzentriere ich mich auf den Aspekt des Portfolio Managements, vernachlässige dabei jedoch die wichtigen legalen und steuerlichen Aspekte. Die Finanzkrise von 1998 hat traditionelle Theorien über Investition, Risiko, Korrelation und Diversifikation in den Grundfesten erschüttert. Mittlerweile ist klar, dass die Standardabweichung alleine ein ungenügendes Mass des Risikos darstellt und dass traditionelle Investitionsstrategien, die sich auf die Annahmen und Vorhersagen des sogenannten Capital Asset Pricing Models stützen, überholt sind (sicherlich wird niemand mehr die Annahme von normalverteilten Renditen wirklich ernst nehmen). Alternative Ansätze, welche auf der Verhaltensökonomie aufbauen, scheinen einige der Probleme des traditionellen Ansatzes zu lösen - aber auch hier fehlt letztendlich der explizite Zusammenhang zwischen Preisen auf Finanzmärkten und gesamtwirtschaftlicher Aktivität. In Zeiten normaler öko‐nomischer Aktivität ist dies nicht allzu problematisch, aber es ist zu bezweifeln, dass wir uns (schon) wieder in solch „normalen“ Zeiten befinden. Um eine kohärente Theorie der optimalen Portfolio-Verwaltung zu entwickeln, muss man zunächst erklären, wie es regelmässig zu Finanzkrisen kommen kann.

null

null