We present a comprehensive framework for comparing the merits of alternative portfolio insurance strategies in realistic contexts. Our findings add generality to previous results comparing option based and constant proportionality portfolio insurance strategies (OBPI and CPPI). The optimal OBPI...

We design average portfolio insurance (API) strategies with an investment floor and a buffer that is a power of a geometric average of the underlying asset price. We prove that API strategies are optimal for investors with hyperbolic absolute risk aversion who become progressively more risk...

The aim of this paper is to determine whether forward-looking option- implied returns forecasts lead to better out-of-sample portfolio performance than conventional time series models. We consider a simple two-asset setting with a risk-free asset and the S&P 500 index the risky asset with...

Generalizations of traditional preference criteria such as the Sharpe ratio, the information ratio and the Jensen alpha are obtained by maximizing a certain equivalent excess return (CER) under relevant investment conditions. They are increasing functions of CERs and therefore equivalent...

There is a potential conflict of interest between a pension fund sponsor and future pensioners when they share unequally in the pension fund performance. Thus, when a scheme offers a yearly guaranteed minimum return to pensioners, as is presently the case with German Pensionskassen, the sponsors...

We examine the impact of board diversity on both the corporate value and equity risk of British companies since the financial crisis. We find that the inclusion of overseas directors on boards improves market value and reduces equity risk. When the number of female directors included on the...

Different theoretical and numerical methods for calculating the fair-value of a variance swap give rise to systematic biases that are most pronounced during volatile periods. For instance, differences of 10-20 percentage points would have been observed on fair-value index variance swap rates...

We consider a number of ways of testing whether macroeconomic forecasters herd or anti-herd, i.e., whether they shade their forecasts towards those of others or purpose- fully exaggerate their differences. When applied to survey respondents expectations of inflation and output growth the tests...

Most research on option hedging has compared the performance of delta hedges derived from different stochastic volatility models with Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) deltas, and in particular with the `implied BSM’ model in which an option’s delta is based on its own market implied volatility....

This paper explores the properties of random orthogonal matrix (ROM) simulation when the random matrix is drawn from the class of rotational matrices. We describe the characteristics of ROM simulated samples that are generated using random Hessenberg, Cayley and exponential matrices and compare...