We introduce a canonical representation of call options, and propose a solution to two open problems in option pricing theory. The first problem was posed by (Kassouf, 1969, pg. 694) seeking “theoretical substantiation” for his robust option pricing power law which eschewed assumptions about...

In this paper, we address the question whether the impact of default risk on equity returns depends on the financial system firms operate in. Using an implementation of Merton's option-pricing model for the value of equity to estimate firms' default risk, we construct a factor that measures the...

The binary and multinomial logit models are applied for prediction of the Russian banks defaults (license withdrawals) using data from bank balance sheets and macroeconomic indicators. Significantly different models correspond to the two main grounds for license withdrawal: financial insolvency...

We study the portfolio decision of a household with limited information-processing capacity (rational inattention or RI) in a setting with recursive utility. We find that rational inattention combined with a preference for early resolution of uncertainty could lead to a significant drop in the...

Credit risk modelling has become increasingly important to Banks since the advent of Basel II which allows Banks with sophisticated modelling techniques to use internal models for the purpose of calculating capital requirements. A high level of credit risk is often the key reason behind banks...

The way in which market participants form expectations affects the dynamic properties of financial asset prices and therefore the appropriateness of different econometric tools used for empirical asset pricing. In addition to standard rational expectations models, this thesis studies a class of...

A test of the CAPM is developed conditional on a prior belief about the correlation between the true market return and the proxy return used in the test. Consideration is given to the effect of the proxy's mismeasurement of the market return on the estimation of the market model. Failure to...

This paper attempts to assess the economic significance and implications of collateralization in different financial markets, which is essentially a matter of theoretical justification and empirical verification. We present a comprehensive theoretical framework that allows for collateralization...

Tim Xiao: This paper attempts to assess the economic significance and implications of collateralization in different financial markets, which is essentially a matter of theoretical justification and empirical verification. We present a comprehensive theoretical framework that allows for...

This paper investigates how the downside tail risk of stock returns is differentiated cross-sectionally. Stock returns follow heavy-tailed distributions with downside tail risk determined by the tail shape and scale. If safety-first investors are concerned with sufficiently large downside...