Ho Kin Fai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-73). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Motivation --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Chapter Layout --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4 --- Summary --- p.7 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Implied Asset Return Distribution --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Jarrow-Rudd Skewness and Kurtosis-Adjusted Model --- p.16 / Chapter 2.3 --- Implied Moments in Asset Return Distribution --- p.24 / Chapter 2.4 --- Summary --- p.26 / Chapter 3 --- Methodology --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1 --- Application to the Nikkei Index Options --- p.28 / Chapter 3.2 --- In-Sample Parameters Estimation --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3 --- Out-Sample Prediction Error Evaluation --- p.34 / Chapter 3.4 --- Time-Series Movements of Higher Moments --- p.35 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.37 / Chapter 4 --- Empirical Results --- p.38 / Chapter 4.1 --- In-Sample Parameters Estimation --- p.38 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Out-Sample Prediction Error Evaluation --- p.43 / Chapter 4.3 --- Time Series Movements of Higher Moments --- p.45 / Chapter 4.4 --- Implications --- p.55 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.57 / Chapter 5 --- Conclusions --- p.59 / Chapter A --- Additional Figures --- p.62