Understanding the dynamics of interest rates and the term structure has important implications for issues as diverse as real economic activity, monetary policy, pricing of interest rate derivative securities and public debt financing. Our paper follows a longstanding tradition of using factor...

We consider the problem of testing whether the observations X1, · · ·, Xn of a time series are independent with unspecified (possibly nonidentical) distributions symmetric about a common known median. Various bounds on the distributions of serial correlation coefficients are proposed:...

In this paper we propose a generic procedure for estimating and pricing options in the context of stochastic volatility models using simultaneously the fundamental price and a set of option contracts. We appraise univariate and multivariate estimation of the model in terms of pricing and hedging...

Unlike European-type derivative securities, there are no simple analytic valuation formulas for American options, even when the underlying asset price has constant volatility. The early exercise feature considerably complicates the valuation of American contracts. The strategy taken in this...

Many continuous time term structure of interest rate models assume a factor structure where the drift and volatility functions are affine functions of the state variable process. These models involve very specific parametric choices of factors and functional specifications of the drift and...

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new class of jump diffusions which feature both stochastic volatility and random intensity jumps. Previous studies have focussed primarily on pure jump processes with constant intensity and log-normal jumps or constant jump intensity combined with a one...

This paper exploits the natural link between observed wages and productivity that is inherent in piece-rate wage data to estimate worker productivity profiles. Piece-rate wages are functions of the parameters of the compensation system and worker effort. Identifying productivity from such data...

In this paper, we survey some of the recent nonparametric estimation methods which were developed to price derivative contracts. We focus on equity options and start with a so-called model-free approach which incolves very little financial theory. Next we discuss nonparametric and...

In this paper, we consider American option contracts when the underlying asset has stochastic dividends and stochastic volatility. We provide a full discussion of the theoretical foundations of American option valuation and exercise boundaries. We show how they depend on the various sources of...

This paper looks at the effectiveness of R&D grants for Canadian plants that already benefit from R&D tax credits. Using a non-parametric matching estimator, we find that firms that benefited from both policy measures introduced more new products than their counterparts that only benefited from...