We consider time series models in which the conditional mean of the response variable given the past depends on latent covariates. We assume that the covariates can be estimated consistently and use an iterative nonparametric kernel smoothing procedure for estimating the conditional mean...

The paper undertakes a non-parametric analysis of the very high frequency movements in stock market volatility using very finely sampled data on the Samp;P VIX index compiled by the CBOE. The data suggest that stock market volatility is best described as a pure jump process without a continuous...

Motivated by the implications from a stylized self-contained general equilibrium model incorporating the effects of time-varying economic uncertainty, we show that the difference between implied and realized variation, or the variance risk premium, is able to explain a non-trivial fraction of...

In this paper we consider the theoretical and empirical relevance of a new family of conditionally heteroskedastic models with a trend dependent conditional variance equation: the Trend-GARCH model. The interest in these models lies in the fact that modern microeconomic theory often suggests the...

This article estimates stochastic volatility jump-diffusion processes using the continuous empirical characteristic function method based on the Joint characteristic function and the Marginal characteristic function. The emphasis is on the specification of jumps in the asset log-price. Out of...

This article proposes an estimation procedure for the affine stochastic volatility models with jumps both in the asset price and variance processes. The estimation procedure is based on the joint (here bi-variate) unconditional characteristic function for the stochastic process for which we...

We investigate the economic importance of modeling non-linearities in the dynamics of exogenous processes on the implied moments of endogenous variables in the context of the consumption-based asset pricing model. For this purpose, we model the endowment process alternatively as a linear...

This paper develops a novel approach to simultaneously test for market timing in stock index returns and volatility. The tests are based on the estimation of a system of regression equations with indicator variables and provide detailed information about the statistical significance of...

It is now an accepted fact that the majority of financial markets worldwide are neither normal nor constant, and South Africa is no exception. One idea that can be used to understand such markets and has been gaining popularity recently is that of regimes and regime-switching models. In this...

The most popular method of calculating asset prices is the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). What is the appropriate amount of years to use in the estimation and which variation of the capital asset pricing beta provides the best results? This research looks at the out of sample forecasting...