I test whether the persistence of the momentum and reversal effects is the result of idiosyncratic risk limiting arbitrage. Idiosyncratic deters arbitrage, regardless of the arbitrageur's level of diversification. Reversal is prevalent only in high idiosyncratic risk stocks, suggesting that...

All US stock market sectors and industries perform better during winter than during summer in our sample from 1926-2005. In more than two-third of all sectors and industries this difference in summer and winter returns, known as the Halloween effect, is statistically significant and in half of...

This paper confronts the main foundations of the neoclassical theory of the capital market and asset pricing with allegations of behavioral finance. Cornerstones of the traditional theory are discussed in the first section. It is followed by a brief presentation of the behavioral approach....

Prevailing models of capital markets capture a limited form of social influence and information transmission, in which the beliefs and behavior of an investor affect others only through market price, information transmission and processing is simple (without thoughts and feelings), and there is...

We address the question whether the evolution of implied volatility can be forecasted by studying a number of European and U.S. implied volatility indices. Both point and interval forecasts are formed by alternative model specifications. The statistical and economic significance of these...

This paper finds that systematic default risk, or the event of widespread defaults in the corporate sector, is an important determinant of equity returns. Moreover, the market price of systematic default risk is one order of magnitude higher than the market price of other risk factors. In...

This study shows that the information content of FX transactions depends on the identity of market participants. Using spot FX transactions of a major Australian bank, we find that central banks have the greatest price impact, followed by non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) such as hedge...

The efficient markets hypothesis (EMH) maintains that market prices fully reflect all available information. Developed independently by Paul A. Samuelson and Eugene F. Fama in the 1960s, this idea has been applied extensively to theoretical models and empirical studies of financial securities...

We document that Regulation Fair Disclosure has reduced differences in information quality between investors prior to quarterly earnings announcements consistent with the intent of the regulation. This reduction is driven by small firms and high technology firms, rather than the large firms...

This paper reviews and analyzes five areas relating to closed-end funds. (1) Issues relating to the existence of closed-funds and why rational investors subscribe to new issues of them. A detailed set of model assumptions is examined in order to understand the basis for closed-end funds coming...