We investigate whether a rare event (like the default of the annuity provider) can explain the annuity market participation puzzle. High risk aversion is needed to change behavior in the presence of such a disastrous shock but higher risk aversion also makes annuities more valuable. Therefore,...

This paper solves an empiricaly parameterized model of households’ optimal demand for nominal and inflation indexed annuities. The model incorporates mortality, inflation, and real interest rate risk.  The model draws some interesting predictions. First, the welfare calculations on the access...

Using U.K. microeconomic data, we analyze the empirical determinants of voluntary annuity market demand. We find that annuity market participation increases with financial wealth, life expectancy and education and decreases with other pension income and a possible bequest motive for surviving...

We empirically study individual pension choice between two di.erent defined benefit (DB) plans and a defined contribution (DC) plan. The DB plans differ in their contribution rates and in the way retirement benefits are calculated, as a proportion of final salary or as a proportion of lifetime...

This paper presented a new technique for the simulation of the Greeks (i.e. price sensitivities to parameters), efficient for strongly discontinuous payoff options. The use of Malliavin calculus, by means of an integration by parts, enables to shift the differentiation operator from the payoff...

In this paper we compare overall as well as downside risk measures with respect to the criteria of first and second order stochastic dominance. While the downside risk measures, with the exception of tail conditional expectation, are consistent with first order stochastic dominance, overall risk...

We propose a rational theory of momentum and reversal based on delegated portfolio management. A competitive investor can invest through an index fund or an active fund run by a manager with unknown ability. Following a negative cashflow shock to assets held by the active fund, the investor...

  This paper uses data from the British Household Panel Survey to shed further light on the fall in spending at retirement (the “retirement-consumption puzzle”).  Comparing food spending for men retiring involuntarily early (through ill health or redundancy) with spending for those who...

This paper presents the Conditional Probability of Default (CoPoD) methodology for modelling the probabilites of loan defaults (PoD) by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and unlisted firms as functions of identifiable macroeconomic and financial variables. The process of modelling PoDs...

We study how the presence of multiple participation opportunities coupled with individual learning about payoffs affects the ability of agents to coordinate efficiently in global coordination games. Two players face the option to invest irreversibly in a project in one of many rounds. The...