The FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index is the flagship index at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). It captures more than 80% of the total market capitalisation of all the shares listed on the JSE. It is tradable and the liquid ALSI future is listed on this index. A superficial view of the long-term...

On the tracking and replication of hedge fund optimal investment portfolio strategies in global The hedge fund represents a unique investment opportunity for the institutional and private investors in the diffusion-type financial systems. The main objective of this condensed article is to...

Financial crises are typically marked by substantial increases in ambiguity where prices appear to decouple from fundamentals. Consistent with ambiguity-based asset pricing theories, we find that ambiguity concerns are more severe for firms with higher pre-crisis earnings volatility, causing...

In this paper we survey the theoretical and empirical literatures on market liquidity. We organize both literatures around three basic questions: (a) how to measure illiquidity, (b) how illiquidity relates to underlying market imperfections and other asset characteristics, and (c) how...

This paper examines whether the aggregate investments in corporate equity in the U.S. yield lowering per-unit return for the period 1950-2009. We measure the per-unit return on aggregate equity investment as the ratio of the annual aggregate value of after-tax corporate profit of nonfinancial...

We document significant outperformance by government bond funds on important macro announcement days such as FOMC and GDP. The macro-day outperformance is persistent, larger during times of high macro disagreement and surprise, and stronger for active funds with larger idiosyncratic volatility....

Historically, cat bonds have provided high single-digit average annual returns, paired with a low volatility and little correlation to other asset classes. While there is an extensive literature that explains (ex-ante) cat bonds spreads, there is no factor model in the academic literature that...

The aim of this study is to examine whether securitized real estate returns reflect direct real estate returns or general stock market returns using international data for the U.S., U.K., and Australia. In contrast to previous research, which has generally relied on overall real estate market...

This paper studies the effect of new fund flows on investment behavior and the resulting equilibrium price of risk. The Small Fund Industry model shows equilibria with overinvestment in unprofitable and underinvestment in profitable investment opportunities. The Large Fund Industry model derives...