The skewness of the conditional return distribution plays a significant role in financial theory and practice. This paper examines whether conditional skewness of daily aggregate market returns is predictable and investigates the economic mechanisms underlying this predictability. In both...

Asymmetric volatility refers to the stylized fact that stock volatility is negatively correlated to stock returns. Traditionally, this phenomenon has been explained by the financial leverage effect. This explanation has recently been challenged in favor of a risk premium based explanation. We...

The turn to the use of mixed qualitative and quantitative (Q-Squared) methods in the analysis of poverty is a welcome development with large potential payoffs. While the benefits of mixing are not in doubt, the tensions involved in so doing have not received adequate attention. The aim of this...

International markets for agricultural products are often subject to a range of trade barriers, and horticultural products are no exception. This paper examines the economic implications of tariffs and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulations that are applied to global markets for fresh...

Generic dairy promotion is big business. The 1983 Dairy and Tobacco Adjustment Act requires that all dairy farmers pay a promotion assessment of 15 cents per hundredweight on all milk sold commercially. Of the total assessment, up to 10 cents may be retained locally to fund regional or state...