Investors in tax-exempt bonds may invest in bonds that are insured against default risk. Research in this paper explores whether it makes a difference to investors which insurer provides the default risk protection. Using a sample of bonds insured by each of the major insurers, evidence is...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief review of pre-2003 work on the weekend effect and then discuss how recent selected work has extended our knowledge of the subject. Design/methodology/approach – Results of recently published studies are organized and summarized by...

Do credit risk transfers in general, and loan sales and securitizations in particular, by financial institutions enhance credit availability and financial stability? Or do they allow assets of poor credit quality to spread to unprotected investors, and thus create financial crises and destroy...

We investigate whether dividends convey information about the risk of a company by examining the reaction of implied volatility in the option market to the announcement of a dividend initiation. Implied volatility decreases after the announcement and the magnitude of the decline in volatility is...