We propose a new accurate method for pricing European spread options by extending the lower bound approximation of Bjerksund and Stensland (2011) beyond the classical Black–Scholes framework. This is possible via a procedure requiring a univariate Fourier inversion. In addition, we are also...

This paper investigates, in a particular parametric framework, the geometric meaning of joint unpredictability for a bivariate discrete process. In particular, the paper provides a characterization of the joint unpredictability in terms of distance between information sets in an Hilbert space.

This paper characterizes the term structure of Treasury bond yields for Brazil, and estimates a Nelson-Siegel Model to reproduce its stylized facts for the period 2004-2010. For this purpose, this paper uses a software developed by Fund staff. In addition, the paper estimates two versions of the...

In this article, we propose a new approach for pricing futures contracts more efficiently. We show that the coefficients of the pricing partial differential equation can be estimated directly from the data. We reduce the number of functions to be estimated as well as the computational cost....

The aim of this article is to highlight a number of problems due to a rather „mechanical“ application of the Hodrick-Prescott Filter and its possible implication for the monetary policy decision-making process. The author concludes that HP filter is not able to estimate the potential output,...

China’s household saving rate has increased markedly since the mid-1990s and the age-savings profile has become U-shaped. We find that rising income uncertainty and pension reforms help explain both of these phenomena. Using a panel of Chinese households covering the period 1989-2006, we...

The paper studies how high leverage and crises can arise as a result of changes in the income distribution. Empirically, the periods 1920-1929 and 1983-2008 both exhibited a large increase in the income share of the rich, a large increase in leverage for the remainder, and an eventual financial...

Building on the widely-used double-lognormal approach by Bahra (1997), this paper presents a multi-lognormal approach with restrictions to extract risk-neutral probability density functions (RNPs) for various asset classes. The contributions are twofold: first, on the technical side, the paper...