In this paper, we examine the evolution of the S&P500 returns volatility around market crashes using a Markov-Switching model. We find that volatility typically switches into the high volatility state well before a crash and remains in the high state for a considerable period of time after the...

Risk managers use portfolios to diversify away the unpriced risk of individual securities. In this article we compare the benefits of portfolio diversification for downside risk in case returns are normally distributed with the case of fat-tailed distributed returns. The downside risk of a...

Several studies indicate that stock option plans are becoming more and more a substantial part of compensation schemes in U.S. companies. This paper shows the tax implications and accounting rules for stock option plans. By comparison of the tax and accounting rules for different compensation...

Credit reports are used in nearly all consumer lending decisions and, increasingly, in hiring decisions in the labor market, but the impact of a bad credit report is largely unknown. We study the effects of credit reports on financial and labor market outcomes using a difference-in-differences...

The economic history of the United States is riddled with financial crises and banking panics. During the nineteenth-century, eight major such episodes occurred. In the period following World War II, some believed that these crises would no longer happen, and that the U.S. had reached a time of...

The importance of asset allocation decisions in wealth management is well established. However, given its importance it is perhaps surprising that so little attention has been paid to the question of whether professional fund managers are skillful at timing market movement across asset classes...

In the present paper an attempt has been made to estimate how political stability affects economic growth. This analysis refers to the three economic poles (EU, Japan and the United States) for the period (1998-2013). The findings of present model are in agreement with (Alberto et al., 1996; Aisen...

In the present paper an attempt has been made to estimate how political stability affects stock prices. This analysis refers to EU, Japan and the United States for the period (1997–2012). The findings of present model are in agreement with (Nixon, 2014); (Voth, 2001). The econometric model...

This paper examines whether political events create, or resolve uncertainty in financial markets. In the few days following the surprise outcomes of the Brexit referendum and the 2016 U.S. presidential election, bid-ask spreads increase, quoted depth decreases, and volatility increases. We fail...