Risk-off refers to a change in risk preferences and the associated portfolio rebalancing. We identify these episodes using the switch to a polarized correlation regime of foreign-exchange returns. These risk-off transitions are relatively infrequent but noticeably increasing over time, are...

We propose a simple cross-sectional technique to extract daily latent factors from economic news releases available at different dates and frequencies. Our approach can effectively handle the large number of heterogeneous announcements that are relevant for tracking current economic conditions....

We construct daily real-time macroeconomic indices conditional on the rating of Eurozone countries. We uncover substantial explanatory power of our measures of economic fundamentals for yield dynamics beyond the traditional yield principal components. In particular, we find that the divergence...

We construct daily real-time indices capturing the public information on realized and anticipated economic activity. The one-month change in realized fundamentals predicts US stock returns across horizons with strongest results between a month and a quarter. The information in anticipated...

This paper reviews the theories of corruption in regulated sectors to further understand the impact of corruption and the ways in which it can be reduced. The aim is to draw out the policy implications of the different theoretical approaches and to examine the support that can be garnered for...

This paper offers a unique quantitative evaluation of the distribution of the welfare of a water privatization experience in Mali among labor, investors, intermediate input providers, users and taxpayers. The assessment is based on indicator duality and production theory. The paper shows that...