Als Journalist suchte er vergeblich nach Experten, die Wirtschaftskrisen
historisch reflektierten. Heute ist Tobias Straumann selbst preisgekrönter
Fachmann für Wirtschaftsgeschichte.
Safe assets usually trade at a premium due to their high credit quality and deep liquidity. To understand the role of credit quality for such premia, we focus on Swiss Confederation bonds, which are extremely safe but not particularly liquid. We therefore refer to their premia as safety premia and quantify them using an arbitrage-free term structure model that accounts for time-varying premia in individual bond prices. The estimation results show that Swiss safety premia are large and exhibit long-lasting trends. Furthermore, our regression analysis suggests that they shifted upwards persistently following the launch of the euro but have been depressed in recent years by the asset purchases of the European Central Bank.
Many consumers use payment instruments to control their budget. Previously, such behavior has been associated with checking disposable cash ("pocket watching"). Based on recent survey data, we show that "digital watchers" have emerged, i.e., noncash payers who use digital applications to control their budget. Both watcher types have distinct characteristics. Pocket watchers tend to have lower incomes than other consumers, while digital watchers ascribe low security risk to payment cards. Watching behavior influences current and future payment behaviors. Pocket watchers use cash more intensively than nonwatching cash payers. Digital watchers expect to intensify their reliance on noncash payment instruments more strongly than nonwatching noncash payers.
Robotik-Forschende der Universität Zürich zeigen, wie Drohnen vor dem Absturz bewahrt werden, sollte einer von vier Rotoren ausfallen. Dank eingebauten Kameras fliegen die Drohnen auch ohne GPS stabil weiter.
