This paper analyzes the economic cost of Mean-Variance portfolios that involve asset returns which are smoothed. In this situation, variance and covariance of returns will be understated, resulting in sub-optimal allocation. Certainty equivalent loss (CEL), associated with this ‘smoothed'...

Individuals are prone to significant errors when making value judgements through the use of heuristics (cognitive short cuts) to simplify decision making. This paper uses an economic experiment to investigate the strength of arbitrary anchors in judgements over house prices among a student...

Efficient markets should guarantee the existence of zero spreads for total return swaps. However, real estate markets have recorded values that are significantly different from zero in both directions. Possible explanations might suggest non-rational behaviour by inexperienced market players or...