On January 9th 2009, Terry Odean and Betty Simkins interviewed Vernon L. Smith for this issue of the Journal of Applied Finance. Vernon Smith is widely regarded as the "father of experimental economics" for his pathbreaking work in this area. After decades of research, the once novel field of...

This article presents a modification of Merton's (1976) ruin option pricing model to estimate the implied probability of default from stock and option market prices. To test the model, we analyze all global financial firms with traded options in the U.S. over the period December 1996 through...

We examine the relationship between the gender and ethnic minority diversity of the board of directors and the financial performance of the firm. The research is unique because we analyze the diversity of important board committees to gain greater insight into the way diversity affects board...

We examine the relationship between the gender and ethnic minority diversity of the board of directors and the financial performance of the firm, i.e. the economic case for a diverse board of directors. The research is unique because we analyze both the diversity of the board and the diversity...

We investigate analyst forecasts in a unique setting, the natural gas storage market, and study the contributions of analysts in facilitating price discovery in futures markets. Using a high frequency database of analyst storage forecasts, we show that the market appears to strongly condition...

This empirical study of the exchange rate exposure management of Danish non-financial companies shows that decisions on whether or not to financially hedge an exchange rate exposure is affected by the possibility to react to changes in exchange rates by undertaking various forms of real actions...

This paper describes an innovative Excel spreadsheet model, referred to as the Retrospective Method Spreadsheet, that has been successfully used in risk management and insurance, and personal finance courses to demonstrate the retrospective life insurance method. There are numerous pedagogic...

This paper examines the usage of synthetic fixed-rate financing (SFRF) with interest rate swaps (i.e. borrowing short-term and using swaps to hedge interest rate risk, instead of selecting conventional fixed-rate financing) by Fortune 500 and Samp;P 500 nonfinancial firms over the period 1991...

Set in June 2001, the case places the student in the role of Scott Topping, Director of Corporate Finance at Southwest Airlines. Scott is responsible for the airline's fuel hedging program. The case describes the importance of jet fuel hedging in the airline industry, the volatility of jet fuel...

This paper investigates the fuel hedging behavior of firms in the US airline industry during 1994-2000 to examine whether such hedging is a source of value for these companies. The investment climate in the airline industry conforms well to the theoretic framework of Froot, Scharfstein, and...