Institut de recherches économiques

2014, Weber, Sylvain, Ferro Luzzi, Giovanni

Using data over 1991–2008 for Switzerland, we investigate job stability through a series of Cox proportional hazards models. Our baseline results show that employment has become less stable for older male workers, with less noticeable change for other groups. However, when destination states are considered in the model, results indicate that younger workers face more transitions towards unemployment than before, whereas older male workers’ greater instability is caused by an increase in transitions to inactivity. It thus appears that the situation of young workers has deteriorated, while the evolution of older men’s job stability is at least partly explained by the increasing number of early retirements. For women, our results are largely consistent with their increasing participation rate and attachment to the labor market.

2022, Fabio Canetg, Kaufmann, Daniel

We analyse the impact of interest-bearing central bank bills on financial market variables in Switzerland. The unique institutional setting allows us to identify the causal effects of two orthogonal shocks occurring on days with central bank bill auctions through heteroscedasticity: an overnight interest rate shock and a signalling shock. The first shock raises the overnight interest rate and modestly appreciates the exchange rate. The signalling shock appreciates the exchange rate more strongly. In addition, it lowers stock prices, long-term interest rates, as well as inflation expectations, and it raises corporate bond spreads. The signalling shock is economically more important for forward-looking variables than the overnight rate shock. The results suggest that liquidity-absorbing operations between official monetary policy decisions affect financial market variables by revealing information about the central bank’s future policy actions.

2014, Blasch, Julia, Farsi, Mehdi

2011, Widmer, Philippe, Zweifel, Peter, Farsi, Mehdi

2007, Farsi, Mehdi, Fetz, Aurelio, Filippini, Massimo

2004, Farsi, Mehdi, Filippini, Massimo

2020, Lanz, Bruno

2008, Theurillat, Thierry, Corpataux, José, Crevoisier, Olivier

Theories on corporate governance have developed in line with the development of the financial markets and the increasing power of institutional investors. Indeed, the financial markets' power can be measured by the ability of shareholders, and of institutional investors in particular, to influence businesses and their managers. A number of reforms have been implemented in several countries, Switzerland included, in order to strengthen shareholders' powers. Making specific reference to Swiss case studies, this paper aims to create a better understanding of the role of institutional investors in corporate governance. Indeed, Switzerland is paradoxical in that it is generally considered Rhenish, with banks and families taking a leading role in controlling big business (David et al. 2004; Windolf & Nollert 2001), whilst developing a pension fund system which, since the mid-1980s, has attracted considerable funds and is still experiencing strong growth. How do these two approaches, traditionally at opposite ends of the spectrum as far as the subject's literature is concerned, reconcile themselves in the Swiss market?

2023, Delacrétaz, Nathan, Lanz, Bruno, Amir H. Delju, Piguet, Etienne, Rebetez, Martine

Rural populations are particularly exposed to increasing weather variability, notably through agriculture. In this paper, we exploit longitudinal data for Turkish provinces from 2008 to 2018 together with precipitation records over more than 30 years to quantify how variability in a standardized precipitation index (SPI) affects out-migration as an adaptation mechanism. Doing so, we document the role of three potential causal channels: per capita income, agricultural output, and local conflicts. Our results show that negative SPI shocks (droughts) are associated with higher out-migration in rural provinces. A mediated-moderator approach further suggests that changes in per capita income account for more than one quarter of the direct effect of droughts on out-migration, whereas agricultural output is only relevant for provinces in the upper quartile of crop production. Finally, we find evidence that local conflict fatalities increase with drought and trigger out-migration, although this channel is distinct from the direct effect of SPI shocks on out-migration.

2014, Carraz, Rene