We propose a model of volatility tail behavior, in which the pricing measure dominates the physical measure in both tails of the volatility distribution and, hence, the derived pricing kernel exhibits an increasing and decreasing region in the volatility dimension. The model features investors...

Almost a century and half of evidence suggests that only individuals who start saving for retirement in the later stages of population busts and the early stages of population booms spend most of their retirement planning phase in bull stock markets with tame inflation, thus benefiting greatly...

We examine the effectiveness of applying a trend following methodology to global asset allocation between equities, bonds, commodities and real estate. The application of trend following offers a substantial improvement in risk-adjusted performance compared to traditional buy-and-hold...

The strategy of buying safe low-beta stocks while shorting (or underweighting) riskier high-beta stocks has been shown to deliver significant risk-adjusted returns. However, it has been suggested that such “low-risk investing” delivers high returns primarily due to its industry bet, favoring...

This study examines the effect of options trading on the January effect in the period 1996-2009. The options market offers investors an alternative trading venue that circumvents several trading limitations in the equity market and hence enables a higher level of arbitrage activities. In a...

I estimate a mean-variance efficient (MVE) portfolio assuming that the MVE frontier is spanned by optimal portfolios that fund managers offer to heterogeneous investors. Consistent with predictions of mutual fund separation, the estimated MVE portfolio can price the cross section of portfolios...

Sharpe's (1964) Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) assumes that the relationship between risk and return is positive, linear and significant. However, it is not free from controversies and one of them advocates replacing CAPM's beta by downside beta based on investors' preference of downside...

This study examines financial contagion in stock markets of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan during various financial crises. These markets represent a significant part of South Asian economies; therefore, the results obtained can be generalized to the region. The paper employs an Exponential GARCH...

Equity risk premiums are a central component of every risk and return model in finance and are a key input in estimating costs of equity and capital in both corporate finance and valuation. Given their importance, it is surprising how haphazard the estimation of equity risk premiums remains in...

We examine whether the decision to participate in the stock market and other related portfolio decisions are influenced by income hedging motives. Economic theory predicts that the market participation propensity should increase as the correlation between income growth and stock market returns...