We propose a nonparametric method to test which characteristics provide independent information for the cross section of expected returns. We use the adaptive group LASSO to select characteristics and to estimate how they affect expected returns nonparametrically. Our method can handle a large...

Unconventional monetary policies (UMPs) by the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan exert important spillover effects on asset prices in Switzerland if market anticipation of UMP announcements is properly accounted for. Using a broad event set and...

What is the added value of a security which qualifies as a "high-quality liquid asset" (HQLA) under the Basel III "Liquidity Coverage Ratio" (LCR)? In this paper, we quantify the added value in terms of yield changes and, as suggested by Stein (2013), call it HQLA premium. To do so, we exploit...

We propose new methods for estimating the bid-ask spread from observed transaction prices alone. Our methods are based on the empirical characteristic function instead of the sample autocovariance function like the method of Roll (1984). As in Roll (1984), we have a closed form expression for...

In this paper, we introduce a new Bayesian approach to explain some market anomalies during financial crises and subsequent recovery. We assume that the earnings shock of an asset follows a random walk model with and without drift to incorporate the impact of financial crises. We further assume...

This cumulative dissertation studies various approaches to improve stock market volatility forecasts based on nonlinearity and asymmetric dependence modeling as well as new innovative data sources. Studying multivariate dependence patterns using a vine copula approach and incorporating Google...

This dissertation deals with the impact of speculative behaviour on output patterns of the real economy. The impact may be twofold. Speculative behaviour occurs due to positive developments at the real economy and optimistic outlooks. Also, speculative behaviour may occur at other markets, like...

We explore the term structures of claims to a variety of cash flows: U.S. government bonds (claims to dollars), foreign government bonds (claims to foreign currency), inflation-adjusted bonds (claims to the price index), and equity (claims to future equity indexes or dividends). Average term...

From 1963 through 2015, idiosyncratic risk (IR) is high when market risk (MR) is high. We show that the positive relation between IR and MR is highly stable through time and is robust across exchanges, firm size, liquidity, and market-to-book groupings. Though stock liquidity affects the...