We examine the volume-return relationship of individual stocks around the world. We frame our empirical investigation in the context of the heterogeneous agent, rational expectations, framework proposed by Llorente, Michaely, Saar, and Wang (2002) in which investors trade to speculate on their...

Using ordered logit and probit plus random effects ordered probit approaches, we study the determinants of sovereign debt ratings. We found that the last procedure is the best for panel data as it takes into account the additional cross-section error

We investigate the impact of country and sector as variables in explaining the cross-sectional variability of price returns for a sample of over 1900 companies comprising the MSCI Developed World Index, drawn from 21 countries, over the period 1992-2001. For the value-weighted world portfolio,...

One striking feature of international portfolio investment is the extent to which equity portfolios are concentrated in the domestic equity market of the investor - the home bias puzzle. In this paper, I examine the role of investors' perception of the risk of foreign investment on their...

This paper analyzes the factors determining transactional exchange rate hedging with foreign currency debt for a sample of 56 Spanish non-financial companies listed in 2004. In particular, we analyze the variables that determine the decision to hedge with foreign currency debt as well as hedging...

What is the influence of syndicate structure on the duration of loan arrangement? I answer this question using survival analysis methodology on a sample of loans from 59 countries over the 1992-2006 period. I find that syndicate size, concentration, reputation, and national diversity clearly...

We investigate whether rising oil prices have resulted in over-rating of oil-producing countries by rating agencies, after controlling for fundamentals. Based on a large dataset of countries from Standard and Poor's and Moody's, we find strong statistical evidence of a large ratings...

The positive price effect of index inclusion has been well-documented in the literature. The underlying cause still remains in dispute, since this finding is consistent with a number of hypotheses. In this paper, I revisit this debate by examining the price effects in the emerging markets...

This paper establishes a surprising and robust empirical similarity between short-run heterogeneous consumption and long-term consumption growth risk models. The models not only deliver a similar fit on a given set of portfolios, their actual pricing errors are also highly correlated. In...

We use multivariate regime switching vector autoregressive models to characterize the time-varying linkages among short-term interest rates (monetary policy) and stock returns in the Irish, the US and UK markets. We find that two regimes, characterized as bear and bull states, are required to...