an der

I would like to thank all of those who helped and supported me during the years in the doctoral programme in “Quantitative Economics and Finance ” at the University of Konstanz. First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Ralf Brüggemann, for providing an encouraging work atmosphere, for his guidance, collaboration, patience and comprehensiveness. I would like to thank my second supervisor, Prof. Dr. Winfried Pohlmeier, for his critical discussions and for the fact that he was the one to raise my curiosity and passion for econometrics. I am grateful to all of the members of the chair “Statistics and Econometrics ” at the University of Konstanz for their support and help during the years. I would like to thank my colleagues Matthias Krapf, Lidan Grossmass, Katarina Zigova, Derya Uysal and Laura Wichert for their inspiring conversations, understanding and care. I would like to thank my family for their emotional and financial support during my undergraduate and graduate studies, without them this work would not be possible. Las