We estimate the long rate and its volatility within the Svensson framework. The procedure that best extrapolates the longest observable rate and its volatility is a 2-dimensional grid search conditioned on the ridge regression suggested by Annaert et al. (2013).

The limited availability of high quality and computer readable data seriously impedes research in history and finance. We introduce a new monthly return series for Belgian owned equity based on Brussels Stock Market data for the period 1832–1914 as an improvement to the popular Drappier index....

Corporate bonds expose the investor to credit risk, which will be reflected in the credit spread. Based on the EMU Broad Market indices, this paper reports studies of the intertemporal stability of the covariance and correlation matrices of credit spread changes on weekly data. For a...

In this paper, we elaborate a formula for determining the optimal strike price for a bond put option, used to hedge a position in a bond. This strike price is optimal in the sense that it minimizes, for a given budget, either Value-at-Risk or Tail Value-at-Risk. Formulas are derived for both...

We investigate monthly returns of Belgian stocks listed on the Brussels stock exchange in the period 1838–2010. Our dataset is based on official quotation lists of the stock exchange, and it takes into account all common stocks that were ever listed on the stock exchange during the period...

We use pre-World War I Brussels Stock Exchange (BSE) data to investigate the relation between average stock returns and market beta, size, momentum, dividend yield and total risk on the cross-section of stock returns. Based on portfolio sorts and Fama–MacBeth regressions, we find no...