This essay introduces the papers presented at a conference held in April 2009 on the global financial crisis. The issue begins with four articles that survey the key events and analyze important issues around the crisis from the context of four asset classes: the equity market, fixed income...

We investigate the determinants of forecast heterogeneity in the JPY/USD market using panel data from Consensus Economics. We find that past exchange-rate volatility increases forecast dispersion, while foreign exchange intervention of the Japanese Ministry of Finance dampens expectation...

Using Self-Exciting Threshold Autoregressive Models (SETAR), this paper explores the validity of the Law of One Price (LOOP) for nineteen sectors in ten European countries. We find strong evidence of nonlinear mean reversion in deviations from the LOOP. We highlight the importance of modelling...

Neighbourhood characteristics affect the social and economic opportunities of their residents. While a number of studies have analysed housing adjustments at different life stages, little is known about neighbourhood quality adjustments. Based on a model of optimal housing consumption we analyse...

Since 1997, the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has met monthly to set the UK policy interest rate. We examine evidence of systematic patterns in exchange rate movements on MPC days over the first decade of operation of the MPC. Daily data reveal significant differences in...

We examine subjective data on desired hours of work from the BHPS and investigate which individuals are able to work their desired number of hours at the prevailing wage, which individuals are under-employed and which are over-employed. Our evidence suggests that about 40% of men and women in...