We study the potential model instability problem with respect to mortgage default risk and examine to what extent it helps explain the default shock during the recent crisis. We find that econometric default risk models based on historical data can be unstable over time. Due to temporal shifts...

As an extension to the Fama and French three factor model (FF), this paper investigates the time-varying risk premiums of sector exchange traded funds (ETF) under a Markov regime-switching framework. In addition to the three style factors in the FF model, three macro factors: changes in market...

This paper looks at the post-financial-crisis period, and the relationship between default risk and corporate governance for financial firms outside North America. Default risk is measured by both credit default swap spreads (CDS) and the Merton-type default probabilities from Bloomberg. Our...

The objectives are to discern how the three financial sectors' CDS spreads interrelate to each other and with three other risks under the full sample and two subperiods: The 2007 Great Recession, and the 2009 recovery, and to assess the impact of QE1 on those risks in the second subperiod. The...

"Arbitrage CDOs" have recorded an explosive growth during the years before the outbreak of the financial crisis. In the present paper we discuss potential sources of such arbitrage opportunities, in particular arbitrage gains due to mispricing. For this purpose we examine the risk profiles of...

This paper considers the economic implications of supporting ``prime" money market funds with capital buffers. The main findings are twofold. First, relatively small capital buffers are capable of absorbing daily fluctuations between a fund's shadow price and its amortized cost. The ability to...

Firm political contributions are associated with lower credit default swap spreads for contributing firms. To address endogeneity, we employ novel instruments and use a set of exogenous events on campaign contribution restrictions: (a) the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether credit and liquidity risks individually and/or jointly impact bank stability in the context of the dual banking system in the MENA region, and to check whether Islamic banks have different patterns in terms of the effect of the two risk...

We develop a macroeconomic portfolio stress test that is specifically geared towards small and medium-sized banks. We combine a credit risk stress test which simulates credit impairments via a CreditMetrics type multi-factor portfolio model with an income stress test in the form of dynamic panel...