We estimate a model of credit risk for portfolios of small and medium-sized enterprises, conditional on being a nonprofit (NP) or for-profit (FP) firms. The estimation is based on a unique data set on Italian firms provided by a large commercial bank. We show that the main variables to identify...

This investigation proposes a composite Simpson's rule, a numerical integral method, for estimating quantiles on the skewed generalized error distribution (SGED). Daily spot prices of S&P500 and Dow-Jones stock indices are used as data to examine the one-day-ahead VaR (Value at Risk) forecasting...

This article follows a three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach proposed by Fried et al. (2002) to decompose mutual fund underperformance, in order to obtain pure managerial performance. In the first stage, DEA is used to compute each fund's performance. In the second stage, a...

Jin, et al. (2006) relied on a semi-parametric wavelet estimator of the degree of fractional integration and its associated t-statistic to conclude that many exchange rates appear to be fractionally integrated. This note demonstrates that several recent tests for fractional integration provide a...

This article examines the potential impacts of monetary policy on the yield of Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS). A quadratic relationship is confirmed for all four types of TIPS. It suggests that Fed easing would not lower TIPS yields when the federal funds rate is below certain...

The regional exposure and stock-selection ability of emerging markets mutual funds is empirically examined during the 2001 to 2005 time period. This sample of funds shows a clear preference towards the Asian markets and as a group show evidence of poor stock-selection ability. When the sample is...

In this article we extend the application of returns-based style analysis in order to gauge the performance of a sample of Australian multi-sector managed funds. Specifically, we apply both static and rolling window style analysis to develop customized performance benchmarks for each fund. These...

This article presents an estimation and analysis of the Hurst exponent for Australian stocks using the wavelet technique. Consistent with Mulligan's (2004) study of US technology stocks, we find that the Hurst exponent varies over the cross-section of stocks. We also analyse Mulligan's (2004)...

This note reports estimates of the coefficient of relative risk aversion, using a method recently proposed by Azar (2006). In contrast to his work, the complete information of US stock return data over the period 1926 to 2002 is utilized. Moreover, a bootstrap procedure is applied to estimate...

This short article demonstrates an application of price auction theory to a securities underwriting market, which is characterized by the competitive behaviours of investment houses. An investigation of newly issued Japanese straight bonds, reported in a letter by Matsui (2006), provided...