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Under the current global forces, economics muddled with politics is exerting undue pressures on the BRICS countries and is challenging the sustainability of their accord. Unanticipated problems are increasingly inhibiting economic and social prosperity. This paper analyzes the current difficulties that the BRICS are facing, scrutinizes their unique individual economic and political environments, and ventures to anticipate their prospects. Our consensus is that the future prosperity of these countries depends not only on their individual political and economic environments, but also on the major global powers. Furthermore, the current inevitable interconnectivity of politics and economics provides foresight into their future role on the world stage.

Free Cash Flow (FCF) was adopted in the late 1980s as a financial tool to evaluate the firm and its individual projects. We question the procedure of calculating the FCF where a significant portion of Current Liabilities is offset against Current Assets, thereby creating the hybrid asset Net Working Capital (NWC). Borrowed from accounting methodology, that procedure distorts the FCF size, composition, volatility, and estimated value. Our empirical analysis shows that the nature and extent of those distortions can misinform the firm's stockholders, lenders and borrowers, and investors at large. We propose a revised FCF that would avoid those distortions.

This paper examines Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) used as a financing tool for the shipping industry in the period 2004–2013. SPACs that focused on acquisitions in the shipping industry have statistically similar characteristics to the population of SPACs that entered U.S. financial markets. Additionally, shipping companies merge into SPACs for the benefits of acquiring a public listing and receiving the SPAC's cash. The paper constructs an original SPAC Shipping Index and compares its performance with benchmark indices. Under some conditions, managers of SPACs with a focus on shipping on average exhibit a return of $154 for every $1 invested.

This paper analyzes the responses of the United States and the economies of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) to the financial and economic crisis of 2008–2009. The crisis illuminates the fundamental structural problems within the EMU, the European Union and the United States and the scale and scope of interconnections among the world economy. The paper focuses on the reactions of the real sector to the financial disturbances in these economies. Both comparative static and dynamic methodologies are used in order to appraise the scope and pace of adjustments in response to the global crisis.

The volatility of an asset price measures how uncertain we are about future asset price movements. It is one of the factors affecting option price and the only input into the Black–Scholes model that cannot be directly observed. Thus, estimating volatility properly is vital. Two approaches to calculating volatility are historical and implied volatilities. Using index options listed on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange, this paper focuses on historical volatility. Since numerous methods of estimating volatility may provide different results, this paper assesses the impact of volatility estimation method on theoretical option values.

One of the few constants since the United States declared its independence is the presence of frequent financial crises with similar causes. In the nineteenth century, these panics were frequent with eight occurring over the century. However, following the Second World War there was a period of relative calm, which may have led to complacency. The Savings and Loans and the current financial crises have shown that these events remain a very real threat to economic stability.

Many are currently studying the origins of the financial crisis in an attempt to answer two seemingly simple questions: why did it happen, and can another crisis be prevented? Those two questions have proved incredibly divisive. The majority opinion of The United States Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was submitted with two dissenting positions. Furthermore, The 2010 Economic Report of the United States President does not perfectly align with any opinion presented in that report. Few studies, however, provide proper consideration to the evolution of macroeconomic thought and lengthening of the business cycle preceding the current crisis.

The combined economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs) appear likely to become the largest global economic group by the middle of this century. Our paper summarizes the features of each economy that justify this forecast, and highlights some of the country-specific obstacles that could prevent its realization. Specifically, we contribute an analysis of the relative difficulty of doing business within each country and discuss how this, combined with a lack of long-term conditions to promote growth, affects the potential of these markets to lead the future world economy.

Since 1980, as most advanced economies deregulated their capital markets, removed barriers to international investments, and improved the accessibility to information, investors in many countries have adopted a global view. These trends are especially pronounced in Europe, where European Community (EC) countries have embarked on a process of unifying their economies and their financial markets. The Maastricht treaty, which was agreed to by EC leaders in December 1991, established the steps toward a currency union and closer political integration. Moreover, by 1996, the EC Investment Services Directive will allow stockbrokers to operate across national borders without the need to establish local subsidiaries. Global trends notwithstanding, European financial intermediaries, investors, and corporations are national rather than pan-European in character. There are substantial differences among EC countries in the regulation of national securities markets, taxes, corporate laws, and accounting practices. Barriers to crossborder investments, e.g., pension funds, remain. The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamic linkages among the eight major EC stock markets. The interdependence among national stock markets has been the subject of several recent papers (Schollhammer & Sand, 1985, 1987; Eun & Shim, 1989; Merit & Merit, 1989; Jeon & Von Furstenberg, 1990; Von Furstenberg & Jeon, 1989; Koch & Koch, 1991). These studies were motivated by growing recognition of the benefits of international portfolio diversification (e.g., Grubel, 1968; Grubel & Fadner, 1971; Levy & Samat, 1970; Agmon, 1972) and the international propagation of the October 1987 crash (e.g., Malliaris & Urrutia, 1992). None of these studies solely focused on Europe.