In this paper we test for the presence of periodically partially collapsing, positive and negative, speculative bubbles in the S&P 500 Composite Index for the period 1888-2001. We extend existing regime-switching models of speculative behaviour by including abnormal volume as an indicator of the...

This paper examines the performance of various statistical models and commonly used financial indicators for forecasting securitised real estate index returns for five European countries: the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands, France and Italy. Within a VAR framework it is demonstrated that the...

This study tests for the presence of periodically, partially collapsing speculative bubbles in the sector indices of the S&P 500 using a regime-switching approach. We also employ an augmented model that includes trading volume as a technical indicator to improve the ability of the model to time...

In this paper we investigate the claim that hedge funds offer investors a superior risk-return trade-off. We do so using a continuous time version of Dybvig’s (1988a, 1988b) payoff distribution pricing model. The evaluation model, which does not require any assumptions with regard to the...

Much research has demonstrated the existence of patterns in high-frequency equity returns, return volatility, bid-ask spreads and trading volume. In this paper, we employ a new test for detecting periodicities based on a signal coherence function. The technique is applied to the returns, bid-ask...

This study evaluates the efficiency of cross hedging with the new single stock futures (SSF) contracts recently introduced in the United States. We use matched sample estimation techniques to select SSF contracts that will reduce the basis risk of crossing hedging and will yield the most...

In this paper we examine whether a three-regime model that allows for dormant, explosive and collapsing speculative behaviour can explain the dynamics of the S&P 500 Composite Index for the period 1888-2001. We extend existing two-regime models of speculative behaviour by including a third...

Many popular techniques for determining a securities firm’s value at risk are based upon the calculation of the historical volatility of returns to the assets that comprise the portfolio, and of the correlations between them. One such approach is the J.P. Morgan RiskMetrics methodology using...

has long been known that English Cistercian monasteries often sold their wool in advance to foreign merchants in the late thirteenth century. The abbey of Pipewell in Northamptonshire features in a number of such contracts with Cahorsin merchants. This paper looks again at these contracts in the...

This paper proposes a new model for autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity and kurtosis. Via a time-varying degrees of freedom parameter, the conditional variance and conditional kurtosis are permitted to evolve separately. The model uses only the standard Student’s t density and...