We present a standard model of financial innovation, in which intermediaries engineer securities with cash flows that investors seek, but modify two assumptions. First, investors (and possibly intermediaries) neglect certain unlikely risks. Second, investors demand securities with safe cash...

This paper articulates three insights regarding asset prices and monetary policy: (1) Asset price appreciation due to monetary expansion, despite its “paper” wealth nature, tends to make current consumers as a whole wealthier; (2) the wealth effect of monetary policy (on consumption) is...

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate and measure the effect of financial liberalization (FL) on bank risk exposure. We pursue these questions by assessing the changes in market-based asset values and risk exposure measures for commercial banks (CB) before and during a FL program. We do this...

We study the problem of illiquidity that afflicts the stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (B.S.E.). Trading on a regular basis is concentrated in only a few of the listed stocks. We examine this issue by empirically looking at the characteristics of firms leading to differential levels of...

This paper shows that a flaw exists in the logic behind the previously stated theoretical connections between utility theory and moment preferences. In fact, no such relationship exists. There is also a flaw in the logic that postulates that approximate normality can justify moment (e.g.,...

This paper analyses the efficacy of the governance structure of occupational pension funds (Pensionskassen – PKs) in Austria. Based on the results of the analysis, it further investigates the politico- economic implications for the political and legislative process regarding recent changes to...

We consider the problem of constructing a portfolio of finitely many assets whose returns are described by a discrete joint distribution. We propose a new portfolio optimization model involving stochastic dominance constraints on the portfolio return. We develop optimality and duality theory for...

An economic rationale is provided for the competitive equilibrium deployment of commitment and usage fees in loan commitment pricing. It is shown that, under perfect information, assessing both fees rather than just one permits optimal risk sharing. When the borrower is privately informed about...

Equity default swaps (EDS) - contracts that trigger a payment when the underlying equity price falls below a predetermined level - have attracted much attention recently because of their similarities to credit default swaps (CDS) on the one hand, and American digital puts on the other....