We consider the choices available to a defined contribution (DC) pension plan member at the time of retirement for conversion of his pension fund into a stream of retirement income. In particular, we compare the purchase at retirement age of a conventional life annuity (i.e., a bond-based...

We investigate the valuation of catastrophe insurance derivatives that are traded at the Chicago Board of Trade. By modeling the underlying index as a compound Poisson process we give a representation of no-arbitrage price processes using Fourier analysis. This characterization enables us to...

This paper shows that if moral hazard leads to credit rationing, an appropriate usury law must raise social welfare. Under market clearing, a usury law is always beneficial if funds are inelastically supplied. When entrepreneurial heterogeneity is introduced, an improvement arises even when the...

We empirically study individual pension choice between two different defined benefit (DB) plans and a defined contribution (DC) plan. The DB plans differ in their contribution rates and in the way retirement benefits are calculated, as a proportion of final salary or as a proportion of lifetime...

International Asset Management (‘IAM’) is the proud sponsor of the IAM Hedge Fund Research Programme of the Financial Markets Group. Within this programme the LSE team undertakes independent research into aspects of the hedge fund industry. It is hoped that the results of this research will...

We perform a comparative country-by-country study of companies going public in the six largest Continental European markets and Sweden during 1988 and 1998, a time period characterized by IPO activity in a broad set of industries. By applying a common research methodology, we find broad...

This paper estimates the implied stochastic process of the volatility of the Swiss market index (SMI) from the prices of options written on it. A GARCH(1,1) model is shown to be a good parameterization of the process. Then, using the GARCH option pricing model of Duan (1991), the implied...

This study empirically examines the Fama-French three-factor model of stock returns for India. We find evidence for pervasive market, size, and book-to-market factors in Indian stock returns. We find that cross-sectional mean returns are explained by exposures to these three factors, and not by...

In the presence of overlapping generations, markets are incomplete because it is impossible to engage in risksharing trades with the unborn. In such an environment the government can use a social security system, with contingent taxes and benefits, to improve risksharing across generations. An...

With this paper, we introduce the Marketing Strategy Conference approach to set strategic marketing priorities effectively and allocate marketing-related resources accordingly. The system is based on managerial preference modelling with a decision model (analytical side) and...