Projects
Trade at the Crossroads of the Pacific and Indian Ocean Worlds: Credit Networks and the Financial Structure of Merchant Cooperation in Eighteenth-Century Manila KU Leuven
During the course of the Manila galleon era (1571–1815), merchant networks were essential to the operation of trans-Pacific and Indian Ocean routes, though until now we have had little systematic evidence of how these operated. The allocation of networkable resources, specifically credit, can be gleaned from Spanish archival record and acts as a proxy for a less tangible resource: mercantile trust. The National Archives of the Philippines ...
One Country, Multiple SystemsSpecial Economic and Internationalised Jurisdictions & Their Courts: The Cases of the International Zone of Tangier, the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong & the Qatar Financial Centre KU Leuven
The proposed research aims to map, compare & contextualise the new international commercial courts ('ICCs') and explore their historical precedents. In recent years many of these ICC's have been established in various jurisdictions. Despite a myriad of names (such as 'International Business Court' or 'International Financial Centre Court'), all share the goal of providing a smooth modern legal procedure, conducted in English, to respond ...
The Early Modern Law and Morality of the Financial Market. An In-depth Analysis of Robertus Bellarminus’ and Leonardus Lessius’ teachings and writings ‘On Justice and Law’ KU Leuven
The rise of capitalism in the early modern period urged scholars to come up with a new normative framework to accommodate new commercial and financial transactions. This PhD project concentrates on the transformation of the Catholic morality and law of the marketplace prompted by these events in the Low Countries. Student notebooks featuring the teachings on law and economics by the Jesuit theologians Robert Bellarmine and Leonardus Lessius ...
The Real Estate Financial Complex in the Netherlands and Belgium KU Leuven
During the credit crunch in 2007 the global financial system was close to a meltdown, setting in motion a wave of state rescues of domestic financial institutions. The credit crunch also revealed that the deep motivation of financial actors to liquify illiquid activities and assets (such as real estate) in order to further enlarge the financial sphere can be extremely destructive. The Netherlands and Belgium (i.e., the Low Countries), where ...
On the role, determinants, and consequences of financial literacy KU Leuven
In spite of the consensus that financial literacy is an important determinant for optimal financial decision-making, existing research often only considers the overall degree of financial literacy, while the analysis of financial literacy of specific groups remains under researched.
Based on innovative scientific research, this PhD aims at contributing to the existing literature on financial literacy in general and the understanding of ...
Insurance and macroeconomic growth in times of financial technology and unconventional monetary policy Vlerick Business School
Alleviating financial barriers for women-owned enterprises in Tanzania. KU Leuven
‘Financial inclusion’ is a necessary precondition for female entrepreneurs to start up and grow their business into a successful venture (Armendariz and Morduch, 2010). However, according to a report by the International Labour Organization on women’s entrepreneurship development in Tanzania, access to finance remains problematic for many female entrepreneurs (ILO, 2014). This project aims to provide hands-on solutions to financial barriers ...
The Dawning of the Modern State: Institutional Reform, Financial Reconstruction and the Penetration of the State in the Austrian Netherlands Ghent University
This research project focuses on three consecutive plans of state reform in the eighteenth-century Southern Netherlands, which were chiefly pursued to cut government costs and to maximize tax income. The aim of the project is a better understanding of factors and actors furthering or hindering the modernization of the central governmental apparatus in the era of burgeoning Enlightenment ideas.
Are returns and volatitilty on financial markets driven by macro-economical determinants? Ghent University
In this project we research whether Financial variables, in particular the returns on financial assests and their volatility, are driven by macro economical determinants, possibly controlled for the institutional environment. More specifically research is done on how shocks in the macro economy transfer into financial variables like stock returns, interst rates, exchange rates and their volatility.