We construct portfolios of Samp;P500 futures and their associated options, which are Delta (price) and Vega (volatility) neutral. These systematically earn negative abnormal returns, and suggest that out of the money puts are too expensive, relative to out of the money calls. We give evidence...

We construct portfolios of Samp;P500 futures and their associated options, which are long out of (in) the money puts and short out of (in) the money calls, and which are delta (price) and vega (volatility) neutral, with respect to a GARCH type model for the underlying price. These systematically...

Since its introduction in 1973, the Black-Scholes model has found increasingly more resistance in application. In order to use Black-Scholes to price any option, one needs to know the implied volatility surface. The existence of such surface is an evidence of misspecification of the model. In...

I adapt Schmertmann's Calibrated Spline method to the problem of estimating a complete mortality schedule from abridged data. I demonstrate its ability to fit the range of mortality profiles seen across the epidemiological transition. I find that it is as accurate as current popular methods...