We consider the patterns in the predictability of interest rates expectations hypothesis (EH), and attempt to account for them with affine models. We make the following points: (i) Discrepancies in the data from the EH take a particularly simple form with forward rates: as theory suggests, the...

Prices of currency options commonly differ from the Black-Scholes formula along two dimensions: implied volatilities vary by strike price (volatility smiles) and maturity (implied volatility of at­the­money options increases, on average, with maturity). We account for both using Gram­Charlier...

This paper presents a model on contagion in nancial markets. We use a bank run framework as a mechanism to initiate a crisis and argues that liquidity crunch and imperfect information are the key culprits for a crisis to be contagious. The model proposes that a crisis is more likely to be...

From a large options data set on major equity indexes across the world, we find that worldwide, implied volatilities of options on equity indexes exhibit strikingly similar behaviors. When plotted against moneyness, implied volatilities show a heavily skewed smirk pattern, implying that...