In cross-spectral analysis, the tau statistic is used to infer lead-lag relationships between series in the time domain. Unfortunately, it is frequently inferred that tau is meaningful only when the phase diagram is linear. In this paper it is shown that tau is far more robust than is generally...

We investigate jump memory using an extensive database of short-term S&P 500 index options. Jump memory refers to the attenuation of the implied jump intensity and magnitude parameters following a crash event. We use a genetic algorithm to obtain a time series of implied parameter estimates and...

Absent liquidity in long-term futures or forward markets, firms use nearby contracts to hedge long-term commitments. To hedge commodities that exhibit stochastic convenience yield, adjustments to the naive stacked hedge are necessary. Simulated and empirical tests of the hedging model using oil,...

Exchange traded futures contracts often are not written on the specific asset that is a source of risk to a firm. The firm may attempt to manage this risk using futures contracts written on a related asset. This cross hedge exposes the firm to a new risk, the spread between the asset underlying...

This study measures the performance of stacked hedge techniques with applications to investment assets and to commercial commodities. The naive stacked hedge is evaluated along with three other versions of the stacked hedge, including those which use exponential and minimum variance ratios....

The standard theory of the stochastic models used to value financial derivatives contracts involves models whose input parameters are deterministic functions and often constants. Because of the random nature of the changes in the market prices of the financial instruments, the coefficients of...

The executive compensation literature argues that executives generally value stock options at less than market value because of suboptimal ownership and risk aversion. Implicit in this finding is the assumption that executives are, like shareholders, price takers. That is, they have no ability...

In GARCH models, neglecting parameter changes in the conditional volatility process results in biased estimation. The estimated sum of the autoregressive parameters of the conditional volatility converges to one. In Chapter 2, I analyze the effect of changes in the parameters of conditional...