We introduce an alternative version of the Fama-French three-factor model of stockreturns together with a new estimation methodology. We assume that the factorbetas in the model are smooth nonlinear functions of observed securitycharacteristics. We develop an estimation procedure that combines...

This paper develops a new estimation procedure for characteristic-based factor models of security returns. We treat the factor model as a weighted additive nonparametric regression model, with the factor returns serving as time-varying weights, and a set of univariate non-parametric functions...

Abstract: Although the US credit crisis precipitated it, the Irish credit crisis is an identifiably separate one, which might have occurred in the absence of the U.S. crash. The distinctive differences between them are notable. Almost all the apparent causal factors of the U.S. crisis are...