In this chapter the authors seek to provide a general overview of the international markets for foreign exchange (FX) and FX derivatives as well as the theoretical relationships that tie these markets together with interest rates and central bank policies. The first section provides a brief...

This paper reexamines the main arguments of whether or not monetary policy should respond to asset bubbles. The question of how the central bank should respond to an asset bubble can be reformulated in two ways. First, how does the central bank respond while an asset bubble is growing, and...

During the past few decades, significant theoretical advances in portfolio theory and asset pricing have substantially increased our understanding of how to construct optimal portfolios. These theoretical developments have challenged professional portfolio management to develop appropriate tools...

The Stochastic Discount Factor (SDF) methodology is a general and convenient framework for asset pricing. SDF encapsulates all the modeling uncertainties and its advantage is that we do not require the knowledge of investors' preferences. Suitable specification of SDF is, therefore, critical. It...

In 1994 the Federal Reserve System moved to a more transparent reporting of monetary policy. In this paper we first discuss the evolution of Federal Reserve transparency in U.S. and second we test its effectiveness. We assess the empirical impact of monetary policy transparency on the...

In 1994 the Federal Reserve System moved to a more transparent reporting of monetary policy. In this paper we first discuss the evolution of Federal Reserve transparency in U.S. and second we test its effectiveness. We assess the empirical impact of monetary policy transparency on the...

In 1994 the Federal Reserve System moved to a more transparent reporting of monetary policy. In this paper we first discuss the various sources of uncertainty that play an essential role in the formulation and conduct of monetary policy and evaluate the degree of uncertainty faced by monetary...

This chapter introduces the reader to definitions and key properties of stochastic processes that are important in finance. The discussion starts from the description of Brownian motion that describes the idea of a continuous random walk and proceeds to Ito processes that incorporate both trend...

The standard hypothesis concerning the behavior of asset returns states that they follow a random walk in discrete time or a Brownian motion in continuous time. The Brownian motion process is characterized by a quantity, called the Hurst exponent, which is related to some fractal aspects of the...

This paper focuses on economic and financial asymmetries by addressing methodological issues related to the meaning of economic asymmetries and how such asymmetries arise in markets, general equilibrium modeling and in national and global economies. Historically, the methodology of modeling...