Search

We present a tentative estimate of a common risk free rate for the Eurozone (EZ) countries from January 2004 to November 2009. In a first stage, we analyse the determinants of EZ sovereign yield spreads and find significant effects of the credit quality, macro, correlation, liquidity, and interaction variables. Based on these results we estimate the yield a common EZ bond would provide. Finally, we compute potential savings in financing costs for countries participating in the scheme under a number of different scenarios. Although positive on average, these savings are dependent on market conditions and present substantial variation over time and across countries.

This paper analyses the role of liquidity in the price discovery process. Specifically, we focus on the credit derivatives markets in the context of the subprime crisis. We present a theoretical price discovery model for the asset swap packages (ASPs), bond and credit default swap (CDS) markets and then we test the model with data from 2005 to 2009 on Euro-denominated non-financial firms. Our empirical results show that the ASP market clearly leads the bond market in the price discovery process in all cases, while the leadership between ASPs and CDSs is very sensitive to the appearance of the subprime crisis. Before the crisis, the CDSs market leads the ASP market, but during the crisis, the ASP market leads the CDS market. The liquidity, measured as the relative number of market participants, helps to explain these results. Publicado

Standard models of moral hazard predict a negative relationship between risk and incentives; however, empirical studies on mutual funds present mixed results. In this article, we propose a behavioral principal–agent model in the context of professional managers, focusing on active and passive investment strategies. Using this general framework, we evaluate how incentives affect the risk-taking behavior of managers, considering the standard moral hazard model as a special case, and solve the previous contradiction. Empirical evidence, based on a comprehensive world sample of 4584 mutual funds, gives support to our theoretical model.