Simulations of agent-based models have shown that the stylized facts (unit-root, fat tails and volatility clustering) of financial markets have a possible explanation in the interactions among agents. However, the complexity, originating from the presence of non-linearity and interactions, often...

An event study is used to assess the views of Keynes and Friedman on speculation. Speculative extremes are ranked by intensity of sentiment and weight of speculative activity. A unique dataset of risk-reversal skew on option prices is used to measure the intensity of speculative sentiment; the...

While the determinants of firms’ optimal hedging strategies on the micro level are well understood, there is rarely any literature dealing with macroeconomic consequences of microeconomic risk management. This book is concerned with the impact of diverse hedging policies on macroeconomic...