The assumption that the probability distribution of returns is independent of the current level of the asset price is an intuitive property for option pricing models on financial assets. This ‘scale invariance’ feature is common to the Black-Scholes (1973) model, most stochastic volatility...

Contrary to popular belief, the diffusion limit of a GARCH variance process is not a diffusion model unless one makes a very specific assumption that cannot be generalized. In fact, the normal GARCH(1,1) prices of European call and puts are identical to the Black-Scholes prices based on the...

In this paper we investigate the claim that hedge funds offer investors a superior risk-return trade-off. We do so using a continuous time version of Dybvig’s (1988a, 1988b) payoff distribution pricing model. The evaluation model, which does not require any assumptions with regard to the...

The objective of the paper is to determine if family firms are able to provide a return premium compared to their non-family counterparts. The assumption is that some of the benefits and costs related to family ownership can be absorbed into the business model. This may mean that family...

In 1999 the Financial Services Authority recommended that a standard repayment mortgage was the “best advice” for Independent Financial Advisors to give to essentially all new mortgage customers seeking the best value repayment vehicle. The FSA simply followed the recommendation of the 1999...

Convertible bonds are hybrid securities whose pricing relies on a set of complex inter-dependencies due to the sensitivity to interest rate risk, underlying (equity) risk, FX risk, and credit risk, and due to the convertible bond’s early exercise American feature. We present a two factor model...

By examining the distribution of state prices obtained from binomial versions of Jarrow and Turnbull (1995), Lando (1998) and Duffie and Singleton (1999), we are able to suggest which credit risk parameters are of critical interest. We find that it appears worthwhile to parameterize credit risk...

Using monthly return data on 455 hedge funds over the period 1994-2001 we study the diversification effects from introducing hedge funds into a traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds. Our results indicate that although the inclusion of hedge funds may significantly improve a portfolio’s...

We develop a theoretical model of a mutual fund manager’s investment decision that incorporates three well-known observations: (i) past fund performance influences subsequent net fund inflows; (ii) fund manager compensation rises with total assets under management; (iii) trading has short-run...

Some recent specifications for GARCH error processes explicitly assume a conditional variance that is generated by a mixture of normal components, albeit with some parameter restrictions. This paper analyses the general normal mixture GARCH(1,1) model which can capture time-variation in both...