We consider impulse response functions to study the impact of both return and volatility on the correlation between international equity markets. Using data on the US (as the reference country), Canada, the UK and France equity indices, empirical evidence shows that without taking into account...

This article proposes a new nonparametric test for conditional independence that can directly be applied to test for Granger causality. Based on the comparison of copula densities, the test is easy to implement because it does not involve a weighting function in the test statistic, and it can be...

We present empirical evidence on whether the introduction of the euro has changed the effect of economic fundamentals on the growth rates of euro countries’ GDPpc and GDPpc volatility. We find that the effect of increments in debt on economic growth exhibits a structural break in 1999. A...

We study risk assessment using an optimal portfolio in which the weights are functions of latent factors and firm-specific characteristics (hereafter, diffusion index portfolio). The factors are used to summarize the information contained in a large set of economic data and thus reflect the...

We model portfolio weights as a function of latent factors that summarize the information in a large number of economic variables. This approach (hereafter diffusion index approach) offers the opportunity to exploit a much richer information base to improve portfolio selection. We use factor...

We use a Fourier transform to derive multivariate conditional and unconditional moments of multi-horizon returns under a regime-switching model. These moments are applied to examine the relevance of risk horizon and regimes for buy-and-hold investors. We analyze the impact of time-varying...