On May 10, 1999, the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) transferred trading in the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 Index futures contracts from outcry to LIFFE CONNECT, its electronic trading system. We find lower spreads in the electronic market after...

On February 1, 2002, the Chicago Board of Trade appointed a designated market maker to enhance liquidity in its 10‐year interest rate swap futures contract. This market‐making program is the first of its kind in the open‐outcry futures industry. We find that introduction of the market...

On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), so‐called “E‐mini” index futures contracts trade on the electronic GLOBEX trading system alongside the corresponding full‐size contracts that trade on the open outcry floor. This paper finds that the current minimum tick sizes of the E‐mini...

The STAR model is used to characterize the time series of aggregate consumption. It makes smooth transition from one optimal level to another, as heterogeneous individuals reach their optimal revision points over time. These results suggest that consumption adjustment costs and heterogeneity...