An Income Gap Theory and it effects on Unemployment and Economic Growth By Drs Kees De Koning Abstract An income gap is often described as the difference in incomes between the rich and poor. This is a relative gap. In economies a different income gap can occur which can be defined as the...

The U.K.’s recent economic developments can be broken down in two distinct periods. The period 2002-2008 was the period in which economic growth was satisfactory and individual households’ wages and salaries were increasing at a level higher than inflation rates. It was also the period that...

The real financial crisis in the U.S. and in other countries did not take place in the banking or the wider financial sector -yes banks and others financial institutions were affected by their own induced excessive lending schemes- but no, it seriously affected the individual households. More...

A simple and fundamental question in derivatives pricing is the way (contingent) cash-flows should be discounted. As cash can not be invested at Libor the curve is probably not the right discounting curve, even for Libor derivatives. The impact on derivative pricing of changing the discounting...

An approximation approach to Constant Maturity Swaps (CMS) pricing in the separable one-factor Gaussian LLM and HJM models is presented. The approximation used is a Taylor expansion on the swap rate as a function of a random variable which is intuitively similar to a (short) rate. This approach...

An explicit pricing formula for inflation bond options is proposed in the Jarrow-Yildirim model. The formula resembles that for coupon bond options in the HJM model.

Even if the name futures indicates a simple instrument, bond futures are complex. Several special features are embedded in the instrument. In particular the future is not written on one specific bond but on a basket of bonds, from which the short side can deliver the cheapest. This paper focuses...

A simple exotic option (floor on rolled deposit) is studied in the shifted log-normal Libor Market (LMM) and Gaussian HJM models. The shifted log-normal LMM exhibits a controllable volatility skew. An explicit approach is used for both models. Using approximations the price in the LMM is...

Bond futures are liquid but complex instruments. Here they are analysed in a one-factor Gaussian HJM model. The in-the-model delta and out-of-the-model delta and gamma are studied. An explicit formula is provided for in-the-model delta. The out-of-the-model delta and gamma are equivalent to...

In 1946 the economist Arthur Burns defined a business cycle as a period of expansion occurring about the same time in many economic activities, followed by similar general recessions, contractions and revivals, which merge into the expansion phase of the next cycle. Cycles may take from one year...