We analyze the impact of prior performance on the risk-taking behavior of mutual fund managers. We contribute to the existing literature by using different measures of risks, a larger data set, and an econometric approach capturing non-linear effects and assigning exact probabilities to the...

Using a complete sample of US equity options, we analyze patterns of implied volatility in the cross-section of equity options with respect to stock characteristics. We find that high-beta stocks, small stocks, stocks with a low-market-to-book ratio, and non-momentum stocks trade at higher...

The four risk factors controlling for the market, size, value, and momentum effect have become a state-of-the-art framework for various applications in financial markets research. However, previous work shows that these broadly recognized risk factors are country-specific. For these reasons,...

We propose and empirically study a pricing model for convertible bonds based on Monte Carlo simulation. The method uses parametric representations of the early exercise decisions and consists of two stages. Pricing convertible bonds with the proposed Monte Carlo approach allows us to better...

This study investigates the announcement and issuance effects of offering convertible bonds and exchangeable bonds using data for the Swiss and German market during January 1996 and May 2003. The analysis shows that announcement effects of convertible bonds and exchangeable bonds are associated...

We conduct an event study to investigate the processing of information and the existence of insider trading on the Swiss stock market. Although Swiss laws are less restrictive than those of other countries, we find the empirical evidence for systematic insider trading before the publication of...

We investigate statistical arbitrage strategies for index options. To test the efficiency of markets in pricing relative implied volatilities in highly correlated markets, U.S. stock indices for which listed options are available are matched into pairs according to their degree of correlation....

We investigate the pricing performance of three convertible bond pricing models on the French convertible bond market using daily market prices. We examine a component model separating the convertible bond into a bond and option component, a method based on the Margrabe model for pricing...

We propose a new approach for the estimation of conditional asset pricing models based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach. In contrast to existing approaches, it is truly conditional because the assumption that time variation in betas is driven by a set of conditioning variables is...

We present a simple new explanation for the diversification discount in the valuation of firms. We demonstrate that, ceteris paribus, limited liability of equity holders is sufficient to explain a diversification discount. To derive this result, we use a credit risk model based on the value of...