The Nasdaq stock market provides information about buying and selling interest in what is called the Level II display. Using a bivariate VAR model of trades and quotes, I assess the effect of Level II prices and depths on short-run quote dynamics. I also determine the influence of individual...

The paper analyzes the intensity of choice in an agent based financial optimization problem. Mean-variance optimizing agents choose among mutual funds of similar styles but varying performance. We specify a model for the allocation of new funds, switching between funds, and withdrawals and...

The Enron Corporation went from a $65 billion dollar market capitalization to bankruptcy in just 16 months. Using statistical techniques for extracting the implied probability distributions built into option prices, I examine the market's expectation of Enron's risk of collapse. I find that the...

Financial markets embed expectations of central bank policy into asset prices. This paper compares two approaches that extract a probability density of market beliefs. The first is a simulated moments estimator for option volatilities described in Mizrach (2002); the second is a new approach...

I investigate the linkage between liquidity provision by Nasdaq market makers and analysts in the same firm. Using three measures of market activity, I find that Nasdaq firms are more likely to provide buy side liquidity in anticipation of upgrades in the period 1999-2000. ECN activity supports...

This paper assesses the contribution of monetary policy to the dynamics of bond real returns. We assume that the monetary authority controls the short-term nominal interest rate. We then model exogenously the joint dynamics of the aggregate endowment and the monetary policy variable, and...

There is now considerable evidence that business cycle variation in output and employment in the U.S. differs in expansions and contractions. We present nonparametric evidence that asymmetries are strongest in durable goods manufacturing. In a Markov switching framework, we find two leading...

This article is a video presentation of an interview with Buz Brock at the 12th SNDE conference in Atlanta Georgia on March 12, 2004. The interview includes 15 questions on topics ranging from nonlinear dynamics, ecological modeling, and heterogenous agents.

I examine the effects of Nasdaq's introduction of an anonymous trading facility called SIZE. I compare SIZE to competing ECNs in terms of liquidity and market impact. Despite rapid growth, SIZE has not yet attained a significant market share and rarely influences short-run price evolution. I...

This article reviews the history of the recent shift to electronic trading in equity, foreign ex- change and fixed-income markets. We analyze a new data set: the eSpeed (Cantor Fitzgerald) electronic Treasury network. We contrast the market microstructure of eSpeed with the tradi- tional voice...