The current paper proposes a conditional volatility model with time varying coefficients based on a multinomial switching mechanism. By giving more weight to either the persistence or shock term in a GARCH model, conditional on their relative ability to forecast a benchmark volatility measure,...

Forward-looking metrics of uncertainty based on options-implied information should be highly predictive of equity market returns in accordance with asset pricing theory. Empirically, however, the ability of the VIX, for example, to predict returns is statistically weak. In contrast to other...

Proponents of the efficient markets hypothesis would claim that investors correctly and timely incorporate new information into asset prices. Bayesian rationality is assumed to be a good description of investor behavior (Fama (1965, 1970)). However, the quality of information disclosure differs...

Empirical studies have shown that implied volatilities of long-term options react quite strongly to changes in implied volatilities of short-term options and do not display the rationally expected smoothing behavior. Given the observed strong mean-reversion in volatility, those findings have...