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Two marketing schemes that provide protection against downside price risk are examined. The buy‐back guarantee allows the property purchaser to sell the property back to the developer at the original purchase price, while the guaranteed appreciation plan assures the buyers of a minimum price appreciation at the end of a specified period. Both plans essentially provide the property purchaser with put options with contingent payoffs that differ in terms of the strike price. This paper examines the value of the buy‐back guarantee and the guaranteed appreciation plan as well as providing a framework for evaluating the put options. The key finding is that the time value of such put options is extremely low if they are too deep in‐the‐money and if expected volatility is low. If so, a careful examination of the terms offered suggests that the buy‐back guarantee is expensive. In contrast, the guaranteed appreciation plan can be regarded as a free option because it provides a strike price that is above the purchase price. Hence, property purchasers react favorably to the guaranteed appreciation plan. Finally, implications for marketing and pricing strategies are examined.

The object of this research is the reconstruction of the existing legal response by European Union states to the phenomenon of immigration. It seeks to analyse the process of conferral of protection.

One main dimension is selected and discussed: the case law of the national courts. The study focuses on the legal status of immigrants resulting from the intervention of these national courts.

The research shows that although the courts have conferred an increasing protection on immigrants, this has not challenged the fundamental principle of the sovereignty of the states to decide, according to their discretionary prerogatives, which immigrants are allowed to enter and stay in their territories. Notwithstanding the differences in the general constitutional and legal structures, the research also shows that the courts of the three countries considered – France, Germany and Spain – have progressively moved towards converging solutions in protecting immigrants.

The research contributes to a better understanding of the different legal orders analysed.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the socio-economic determinants of employment in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) at both household and individual level. My results show that there is no discrimination in provision of employment to backward classes. Out of all the Indian States, J&K has lowest female participation in the scheme. My results show that women are discriminated against in provision of employment. Worksite facilities, like creche, can positively affect female participation in the scheme.

The author uses multi-variate OLS regression model to analyse the data collected through primary survey of three heterogenous villages of district Ganderbal of J&K.

The author finds clear evidence of discrimination against females in provision of employment along with slight evidence of elite capture of the scheme. The author also finds negative relationship between the number of children in a household and the number of workdays which highlights the importance of worksite facilities to increase female and overall participation for the scheme to be successful.

The possible limitation could be small sample size but given that this is the first study of its kind in the J&K State, researchers can build up on it.

This is one of the first research papers which looks at the performance of MGNREGS in J&K in such detail. No comprehensive study of this magnitude and rigour has been undertaken in J&K till now.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the full potential of an effective deposit insurance system. The current financial crisis in Europe has arguably casted fresh doubt on the role and need for deposit insurance. In this regard, the deposit insurance system’s rationale is a key starting issue in order to fully understand its design and role within a financial safety net system.

Using the UK regulatory regime as the main reference point, the deposit insurance system’s objectives are divided into two broad categories: depositor protection and financial stability.

It is argued that a deposit insurance system could only be effective if designed to perform key regulatory objectives. Otherwise, authorities will keep resorting to other rescue measures, as this system will never be well equipped to respond to a bank failure.

Notwithstanding recent regulatory reforms, there is still a lack of clear objectives and, thus, a clear profile for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, as the UK deposit compensation scheme. In light of systemic risk and increased demands on prudential banking regulation, the UK deposit insurance system should be reformed to perform significant regulatory objectives.

The further reform of the UK deposit insurance will enhance depositor protection and financial stability, especially amid the euro-crisis.

An effective reform of deposit insurance requires a clear role-setting for deposit insurance. To this end, this paper offers a comprehensive analysis of all regulatory objectives that the post-crisis UK deposit insurance system should serve.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the incentive effects of existing compensation mechanisms in case of the bankruptcy of a financial institution.

The paper uses insights of law and economics to predict the effects of compensation mechanisms on the incentives of depositors, financial institutions, financial regulators and government.

The paper shows that the current compensation system in The Netherlands will not provide sufficient incentives for all stakeholders to prevent the failure of a financial institution. Adjustments to this system are necessary to improve these incentives.

The paper examines for the first time the impact of different compensation mechanisms on the incentives of multiple stakeholders. It also shows how these mechanisms influence each other regarding their incentive generating capability. These findings offer important insights for policy makers.

This paper aims to examine the impact of government financial assistance provided to Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This study uses firm-level panel data on more than 2,000 SMEs over a five-year period from the Business Longitudinal Database compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The authors measure the impact of government financial assistance in terms of subsequent SME performance (income from sales of goods and services and profitability) and changes in the availability of alternative nongovernment finance.

The authors find government financial assistance helps SMEs improve performance over and above the effects of conventional financing. They also find than the implicit guarantee effect signalled by a firm receiving government financial assistance suggests firms are more likely to obtain nongovernment finance in the future. Control factors that significantly affect SME performance and finance availability include business size, the level of innovation, business objectives and industry.

Nearly all of the responses in the original survey data are qualitative, so we are unable to assess how the strength of these relationships varies by the levels of assistance, income and profitability. The measure of government financial assistance of the authors is also general in that it includes grants, subsidies and rebates from any Australian Government organisation, so we are unable to comment on the impact of individual federal, state or local government programmes.

Government financial assistance helps SMEs improve both immediate and future performance as measured by income and profitability. This could be because government financial assistance quickly overcomes the financial constraints endemic in SMEs. Government financial assistance also helps SMEs obtain nongovernment finance in the future. The authors conjecture that this is because it overcomes some of the information opaqueness of SMEs.

Few studies focus on the impact of direct government financial assistance compared with indirect assistance as typical in credit guarantee schemes. The authors use a very large and detailed data set on Australian SMEs to undertake the analysis.

The global financial turmoil of 2008 spilled over into the British Isles offshore jurisdictions of Guernsey and the Isle of Man resulting in the collapse of two local subsidiaries of major Icelandic banking groups and consequent depositors' losses. The purpose of this paper is to contrast the sharply differing reactions of the insular authorities and critically evaluate Guernsey's recently enacted deposit protection scheme.

The paper outlines the nature of the Guernsey jurisdiction, its offshore development and policy issues in deposit protection. Legislation establishing Guernsey's deposit protection scheme is described and critically evaluated.

Guernsey's scheme is a rushed legislative reaction dominated by finance centre reputational concerns. The legislation is clear and comprehensive but the long‐term robustness of its funding model is unclear.

The analysis contained in this paper highlights the ramifications of international bank instability in small offshore jurisdictions and the regulatory problems this poses. Discussion of the legislative basis of the deposit protection scheme clarifies its nature and limitations as an investor protection technique, which is timely given the status of deposit protection as a key theme in the UK Government's initiated Foot Review of nine offshore jurisdictions.

EC Common Agricultural Policy expenditure is substantial, about £22 billion a year. Its objective is to support the market and to “guarantee” EC producers, processors, importers and exporters a reasonable return. The individual market support arrangements are defined by many hundreds of EC Council and Commission regulations which either specify or imply the need for control measures such as guarantees, indemnities, product descriptions, processes: technical, legal and administrative, and the checking of them. Checking in this specific but fragmented way has to be reinforced by control at an “aggregate” level, which is achieved by the examination of a claimant's transactions in the context of its suppliers, markets, associated companies and key third parties. Provision for this to be done is given by EC Council Regulation 4045/89, but argues that the Regulation itself militates against effective control at this “aggregate” level on at least three counts.

Builders have a long history of a public perception of poor image and low quality products. Political and administrative demands for builder registration and tighter control of entry into the industry have been seen to be the solution to these problems. However, progress towards registration and control has proved elusive. Recently, the state of Victoria in Australia introduced mandatory builder registration under its Building Control Act 1993. Further reform for the housing industry was introduced in 1996 through the Domestic Building Contracts and Tribunal Act 1995. As the first legislation of its kind in Australia, the Victorian experience provides a case study for similar developments elsewhere. This paper reviews the history of builder registration in Victoria and identifies the major provisions of the 1995 Act, including the organisations established to regulate and supervise the implementation of the legislation. The perceived drawbacks and benefits of the new system are also analysed following the limited experience since the introduction of the legislation.