DP3073 Takeover Bids versus Proxy Fights in Contests for Corporate Control

Author(s): Lucian Arye Bebchuk, Oliver Hart

Date of Publication: November 2001

Programme Area(s): FE

Keyword(s): corporate governance, corporate control, takeovers, proxy contests, mergers and acquisitions

Abstract: This Paper evaluates the primary mechanisms for changing management or obtaining control in publicly traded corporations with dispersed ownership. Specifically, we analyse and compare three mechanisms: (1) proxy fights (voting only); (2) takeover bids (buying shares only); and (3) a combination of proxy fights and takeover bids in which shareholders vote on acquisition offers. We first show how proxy fights unaccompanied by an acquisition offer suffer from substantial shortcomings that limit the use of such contests in practice. We then argue that combining voting with acquisition offers is superior not only to proxy fights alone but also to takeover bids alone. Finally, we show that, when acquisition offers are in the form of cash or the acquirer’s existing securities, voting shareholders can infer from the pre-vote market trading which outcome would be best in light of all the available public information. Our analysis has implications for the ongoing debates in the US over poison pills and in Europe over the new EEC directive on takeovers.

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DP3074 Inflation Targeting in Emerging Market and Transition Economies: Lessons After a Decade

Author(s): Jeffrey D Amato, Stefan Gerlach

Date of Publication: November 2001

Programme Area(s): IM

Keyword(s): inflation targeting, central banks, monetary Policy

Abstract: Starting in the early 1990s, several emerging market and transition economies (EMEs) have adopted inflation targeting (IT). In this Paper we discuss a number of issues that arise in this context: (a) the definition of IT, (b) the role of preconditions for IT, (c) the use of intermediate exchange rate targets and (d) the specification of inflation targets. Our overall conclusion is that, suitably modified, IT is a useful policy strategy for EMEs.

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DP3077 Core, Periphery, Exchange Rate Regimes and Globalization

Author(s): Michael D Bordo, Marc Flandreau

Date of Publication: November 2001

Programme Area(s): IM

Keyword(s): core, periphery, exchange rate regimes, feldstein Horioka tests, financial depth, currency mismatch

Abstract: In this Paper we focus on the different historical regime experiences of the core and the periphery. Using conventional Feldstein-Horioka tests, but taking a more careful look at the panel properties of our sample, this Paper reports results which are consistent with the ‘Folk’ wisdom that financial integration was as high before 1914 as it is today. But the evidence suggests that it was not the exchange rate regime followed that mattered for deeper integration but the presence of capital controls. Moreover, we find that the financial integration observed for the recent period is truly an advanced country phenomenon, suggesting that the causality goes from globalization to the exchange rate regime rather than the other way round. We develop this intuition by showing that before 1914, advanced countries adhered to gold while periphery countries either emulated the advanced countries or floated. Some peripheral countries were especially vulnerable to financial crises and debt default in large part because of their extensive external debt obligations denominated in core country currencies. This left them with the difficult choice of floating but restricting external borrowing or devoting considerable resources to maintaining an extra hard peg. Today while advanced countries can successfully float, emergers, who are less financially mature and must borrow abroad in terms of advanced country currencies, are afraid to float for the same reason as their 19th century forbearers. To obtain access to foreign capital they may need a hard peg to the core country currencies, or else can resort to capital controls. Thus the key distinction between the exchange rate regime of core and periphery countries both then and now that we emphasize in this Paper is financial maturity, evidenced in the ability to issue international securities denominated in domestic currency.

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DP3081 The Microstructure of the Euro Money Market

Author(s): Philipp Hartmann, Michele Manna, Andres Manzanares

Date of Publication: November 2001

Programme Area(s): FE, IM

Keyword(s): auctions, financial market microstructure, high-frequency data, monetary policy instruments, overnight deposit rates, payment systems, reserve requirements, trading volume, transaction costs

Abstract: This Paper provides the first empirical examination of the microstructure of the euro money market, using tick data from brokers located in six countries. Special emphasis is put on the institutional environment (monetary policy decisions and their implementation, payment systems and private market structures) and its implications for intraday volatility, quoting activity, trading volume and bid-ask spreads in the overnight deposit segment. Volatility and spreads increase right after ECB monetary policy decisions, but market expectations of the interest rate changes were relatively precise during the sample period. Main refinancing operations with the open market are associated with active liquidity re-allocation, little volatility and no signs of market power or adverse selection. Spreads and volatility were high at the end of the reserve maintenance periods and during the year 2000 changeover. Even intraday, overnight rate levels hardly differ across euro area countries, reflecting active arbitrage and a high degree of integration.

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