Recent developments in biofuel technologies have resulted in heightened linkages between the petroleum and agricultural sectors. As such, a large price and/or volatility shift experienced in one sector is now more likely to spill-over into the other. In trying to capture the interrelations...

It is well-known that the market prices of options produce implied volatilities that inexplicably vary by exercise price in a pattern often referred to as the volatility smile. This paper shows that not only do market prices produce volatility smiles, but so do model prices. This result occurs...

The global financial crisis has again brought the interdependencies of international financial markets to the fore, particularly during times of financial crises. This paper explores the relative roles of news and volatility in explaining the changes in correlations between national stock...