The systematic risk is considered as one of the most important factors that influence the investment in financial assets. Usually, it is evaluated in the framework of the Capital Asset Price Model. The systematic risk associated to firm equities is affected by some firm’s characteristics,...

Mutual fund investors are concerned with the selection of the best fund in terms of performance among the set of alternative funds. This paper proposes an innovative mutual funds performance evaluation measure in the context of multicriteria decision making. We implement a multicriteria...

We investigate if using a CPPI-style methodology it is possible to “improve” the distribution of portfolio returns from the point of view of an investor holding a balanced portfolio with different allocations in Equities, and whose concern is to avoid significant negative returns and in...

We study the behavior and interaction of systematic and idiosyncratic components of risk in a cross-section of U.K. stocks. We find no clear evidence of a trend in any component of total risk, but we document different “regimes” in the behavior of each component of total risk, in their...

This note contains two remarks on the traditional capital asset pricing model (CAPM) with one risk-free asset. Firstly, an elementary proof of the two-fund separation theorem is provided showing that asset-demand may become undefined if the limiting slope of the investor's indifference curves is...

This paper tests the hypothesis that portfolio diversification can increase the threat of systemic financial risk. The paper provides first a theoretical rationale for the possibility that systemic risk may be increased by the proliferation of financial instruments that lead operators to hold...

We analyze a very thorough data base, including all of the bid/ask orders and daily portfolio values of more than 600 on-line amateur traders from February 2007 to June 2009. These traders were taking part in a stock-exchange contest proposed by the French Internet stock-exchange site...

This paper explores integration and contagion among US metropolitan housing markets. The analysis applies Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) house price repeat sales indexes from 384 metropolitan areas to estimate a multi-factor model of U.S. housing market integration. It then identifies...

Insurance Industry is going through a very important stage of its transformation - the transition from the classical system of management into a risk-based management. These changes were launched in Europe by international organizations which deal with the development of the necessary...

Three essays comprise this dissertation. The first essay uses panel data to show that labor income risk alone cannot explain limited stock market participation. However, transaction costs and household demographics, considered jointly, can determine both the discrete choice of whether to hold...