G - Financial Economics
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The Equity Premium and the Volatility Spread: The Role of Risk-Neutral Skewness
We introduce the Homoscedastic Gamma [HG] model where the distribution of returns is characterized by its mean, variance and an independent skewness parameter under both measures. The model predicts that the spread between historical and risk-neutral volatilities is a function of the risk premium and of skewness. -
Testing for Financial Contagion with Applications to the Canadian Banking System
The author proposes a new test for financial contagion based on a non-parametric measure of the cross-market correlation. The test does not depend on the assumption that the data are drawn from a given probability distribution; therefore, it allows for maximal flexibility in fitting into the data. -
Price Movements in the Canadian Residential Mortgage Market
The authors empirically analyze the price-setting behaviour of the major Canadian banks in the residential mortgage market over the period 1991–2007. They use weekly posted prices of the major mortgage providers to study the degree of competition in mortgage price setting. -
Complex Ownership and Capital Structure
This paper investigates the impact of pyramid ownership structure and multiple controlling shareholders on firm leverage. Pyramids, having at least one controlling shareholder and a subsidiary, rely significantly more on debt financing than non-pyramid firms. -
Comparison of Auction Formats in Canadian Government Auctions
Using a rich sample of Canadian government securities auctions, we estimate the structural parameters of a share-auction model accounting for asymmetries across bidders. We find little evidence of asymmetries between participants at Canadian government nominal bond auctions. -
Uninsurable Investment Risks and Capital Income Taxation
This paper studies the capital accumulation and welfare implications of reducing capital income taxation in a general equilibrium economy with uninsurable investment risks. -
The Impact of Market Timing on Canadian and U.S. Firms' Capital Structure
This paper studies the impact of market timing on Canadian firms' capital structure and makes a comparison with U.S. firms. -
Futures Markets, Oil Prices and the Intertemporal Approach to the Current Account
The intertemporal approach to the current account suggests modeling movements in the current account in a forward-looking, dynamic framework. In this framework, the current account reflects consumption smoothing of agents that lend and borrow from the rest of the world in the face of transitory shocks to income. -
How Important Is Liquidity Risk for Sovereign Bond Risk Premia? Evidence from the London Stock Exchange
This paper uses the framework of arbitrage-pricing theory to study the relationship between liquidity risk and sovereign bond risk premia. The London Stock Exchange in the late 19th century is an ideal laboratory in which to test the proposition that liquidity risk affects the price of sovereign debt.