For years, researchers have been puzzled by why so few people purchase fixed, immediate, lifetime annuities for their retirement portfolios. Rational theories have been proposed, but none can fully explain the small size of the actual market. Very recently, academics have turned their attention...

This paper presents a test of the response of stock prices to Federal Reserve policy shocks using a Markov-switching framework. The framework endogenously identifies two distinct regimes. The first is a state where the S&P 500 index exhibits a significantly negative response to unexpected...

In the first experimental test of the January effect, we find an economically large and statistically significant result in two very different auction environments. After controlling for variables that could influence subjectsÕ bids such as differences in private values, cumulative earnings,...

Using high-frequency data in a Markov-switching framework, we identify states that imply different responses of the yield curve to unexpected changes in the federal funds target. Empirical estimates reveal a low-volatility state where long-term bonds respond significantly, and in a predictable...

We explore the impact of earnings announcements on equity markets, using intraday price data for the DJIA stocks. We find on a daily basis, an abnormally high volatility only within one day following the overnight announcement. On an intraday basis, a striking volatility spike stands out during...

We examine the response of foreign investors to escalating political conflict and its impact on the South Korean stock market surrounding 13 North Korean military attacks between 1999 and 2010. Using domestic institutions and domestic individuals as benchmarks, we evaluate the trading behavior...

We examine stock market returns at short intervals following after-hours earnings announcements to determine whether the opening price set by NYSE market makers is efficient. Our tests of return volatility, correlation of the close-to-open return with subsequent returns, and trading strategies...

In 2003 the Federal Reserve introduced a new Discount Window (DW) regime designed explicitlyto address the “stigma problem” associated with DW borrowing. However, anecdotal andempirical evidence suggests that the reluctance by banks to access the DW persisted after 2003,even during the...

We examine the response of foreign (i.e., non-South Korean) investors to escalating political conflict and its impact on the South Korean stock market surrounding 13 North Korean military attacks between 1999 and 2010. Using domestic (i.e., South Korean) institutions and individuals as...

We show theoretically that lower tail dependence (chi), a measure of the probability that a portfolio will suffer large losses given that the market does, contains important information for risk-averse investors. We then estimate chi for a sample of DJIA stocks and show that it differs...