The paper analyzes the relation between growth and income inequality in the US during the post-war years (1953–2008). We show that the income of the top income groups is more sensitive to growth, defined broadly as current growth and changes in expectations of future growth, compared to the...

The objective of the paper is to test whether any relation exists between spot prices and futures prices of a commodity and whether futures trading lead to price stabilization of an agricultural commodity. The study undertakes to delineate the various aspects of futures trading in a single...

Weather influences our daily lives and choices and has an enormous impact on cooperate revenues and earnings. Weather derivatives differ from most derivatives in that the underlying weather cannot be traded and their market is relatively illiquid. The weather derivative market is therefore...

Weather derivatives (WD) are different from most financial derivatives because the underlying weather cannot be traded and therefore cannot be replicated by other financial instruments. The market price of risk (MPR) is an important parameter of the associated equivalent martingale measures used...

Forecasting based pricing of Weather Derivatives (WDs) is a new approach in valuation of contingent claims on nontradable underlyings. Standard techniques are based on historical weather data. Forward-looking information such as meteorological forecasts or the implied market price of risk (MPR)...

Exchange-traded products (ETPs) linked to futures contracts on the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) have grown in volume and assets under management in recent years, in part because of their perceived potential to hedge against stock market losses. In this paper we study whether VIX-related...

In 2008, the S&P 500 experienced a drawdown of about 50% from peak to trough. Many assets which are typically considered effective equity diversifiers also faced precipitous losses. In stark contrast, volatility levels as measured by VIX experienced significant increases and in 2008 repeatedly...

With competition heating up for cash inflows globally, it has become imperative to have a liberalized market for more efficient allocation of capital. The strengthening indication of the domestic financial market implies that the domestic markets have opened up for competition and efficiency.For...

Traditional finance teaching on derivatives suggests that they can be utilized to reduce portfolio and market risk. Such outcome hinges on the assumption that derivatives are used as risk management tools and there is at least one true hedger in the transaction. In the absence of hedgers,...

The object of this study was to investigate some implications of the tenets of behavioral finance on the pricing of financial derivatives. In particular, based on the work by Wolff et al (2009) we have investigated how prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979) can be intregrated into the...