We examine the forecast quality of Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) implied volatility indexes based on the Standard and Poor's 100 and Nasdaq 100 stock indexes. We find that the forecast quality of CBOE implied volatilities for the Samp;P 100 (VIX) has significantly improved in recent...

In this paper, we report the first empirical tests concerning the international investment strategies of a panel of investment houses from 1982 through 1999. The previously untapped data for this study comes from surveys published in the Financial Report, a confidential newsletter purchased by...

The boom in the subprime mortgage market yielded many loans with high LTV ratios. From a large proprietary database on subprime mortgages, we find that choice of mortgage rate type is not linear in loan sizes. A fixed rate mortgage contract is a popular choice when loan size, measured by LTV...

Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) shields purchasers from financial risks of losses exceeding insured collateral values if vehicles become total losses. Yet surprisingly little is known about the sales of this product, or consumers' attitudes toward it. In this study, we report the results of a...

This paper reviews the behavioral literature on inter-temporal choice and decision making under uncertainty and assesses the evidence on behavioral influences affecting consumers' credit decisions. The evidence reviewed suggests that consumers often do not consider all information available in...