Part I: Econometrics of Financial Markets -- Information Asymmetry, Liquidity and the Dynamic Volume-Return Relation in Panel Data Analysis -- Density forecasts of emerging markets’ exchange rates using Monte Carlo simulation with regime switching -- Determination of the own funds requirements...

Terms, definitions and short essays -- Deposit insurance schemes -- Gramm-Leach-Bailey Act: creating a new bank for a new millennium -- Comparative analysis of zero-coupon and coupon-pre-funded bonds -- Intertemporal risk and currency risk -- Credit derivatives -- international parity conditions...

This dissertation investigates capital market frictions across three themes. The first theme is sovereign debt. Recent experience in the EU shows that it can be complex to enforce the repayment promises of states. Furthermore, governments are better informed about their repayment capacity than...