The focus of this dissertation is the European Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) market. CDSs are the most popular credit derivative products. Three issues are discussed, the first, which is covered in chapter 2, is the investigation of non-diversifiable jump risk in iTraxx sector indices based on a multivariate model that explicitly admits discrete common jumps for an index and its components. Our empirical research shows that both the iTraxx Non-Financials and their components experience jumps during the sample period, which means that the jump risks in the iTraxx sector index are not diversifiable. The second issue, which is covered in chapter 3 is the component structure of credit default swap spreads and their determinants. We firstly extract a transitory component and a persistent component from two different maturities of the Markit iTraxx index and then regress these components against proxies for several commonly used explanatory variables. Our results show that these explanatory variables have significant but differing impacts on the extracted components, which indicates that a two-factor formulation may be needed to model CDS options. The last issue, which is covered in chapters 4, 5 and 6 is the investigation of the linkage between the credit default swap market and the equity market within the European area. We innovatively calibrate the CDS option with the Heston Model to get the implied volatility in the CDS market, which allows us to investigate both the characteristic of implied volatility in the CDS market and the relationship of the two markets not only on the level of daily changes but also with regard to its second moment. Our analysis shows that the stock market weakly leads the CDS market on daily changes but for implied volatility, the stock market leads the CDS market. A VECM analysis shows that only the stock market contributes to price discovery. For sub-investment grade entities, the interactivities between the implied volatility of the CDS market and the implied volatility of the stock market are stronger, especially during the recent credit crunch period. All these results have important implications for the construction of portfolios with credit-sensitive instruments.

The focus of this dissertation is the European Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) market. CDSs are the most popular credit derivative products. Three issues are discussed, the first, which is covered in chapter 2, is the investigation of non-diversifiable jump risk in iTraxx sector indices based on a multivariate model that explicitly admits discrete common jumps for an index and its components. Our empirical research shows that both the iTraxx Non-Financials and their components experience jumps during the sample period, which means that the jump risks in the iTraxx sector index are not diversifiable. The second issue, which is covered in chapter 3 is the component structure of credit default swap spreads and their determinants. We firstly extract a transitory component and a persistent component from two different maturities of the Markit iTraxx index and then regress these components against proxies for several commonly used explanatory variables. Our results show that these explanatory variables have significant but differing impacts on the extracted components, which indicates that a two-factor formulation may be needed to model CDS options. The last issue, which is covered in chapters 4, 5 and 6 is the investigation of the linkage between the credit default swap market and the equity market within the European area. We innovatively calibrate the CDS option with the Heston Model to get the implied volatility in the CDS market, which allows us to investigate both the characteristic of implied volatility in the CDS market and the relationship of the two markets not only on the level of daily changes but also with regard to its second moment. Our analysis shows that the stock market weakly leads the CDS market on daily changes but for implied volatility, the stock market leads the CDS market. A VECM analysis shows that only the stock market contributes to price discovery. For sub-investment grade entities, the interactivities between the implied volatility of the CDS market and the implied volatility of the stock market are stronger, especially during the recent credit crunch period. All these results have important implications for the construction of portfolios with credit-sensitive instruments.

Yes / We find a negative relation between firm-level political risk and future delta-hedged equity option returns. A quasi-natural experiment based on Brexit corroborates this finding since after the referendum there is a decrease in the option returns of the positive-Brexit exposure firms. The predictability is driven by the jump risk component of political uncertainty, is more pronounced in periods of high intermediary constraints and is stronger among high-demand pressure options but weaker among politically active firms. Finally, consistent with a risk-based explanation, investors of options on politically risky firms get compensated with high returns when major unexpected political shocks take place.

Thesis advisor: Ronnie Sadka / This dissertation is comprised of three essays which examine the ramifications of executive compensation incentive structures on corporate outcomes. In the first essay, I present evidence which suggests that executive compensation convexity, measured as the sensitivity of managerial equity compensation portfolios to stock volatility, predicts firm-specific crashes. I find that a bottom-to-top decile change in compensation convexity results in a 21% increase in a firm's unconditional ex-post idiosyncratic crash risk. In contrast, I do not find robust evidence of a symmetric relation between compensation convexity and a firm's idiosyncratic positive jump risk. Finally, I exploit exogenous variation in compensation convexity, arising from a change in the expensing treatment of executive stock options, in buttressing my interpretations within a natural experiment setting. My results suggest that managerial equity compensation portfolios do not augment a firm's future idiosyncratic crash risk because they link managerial wealth to equity prices, but rather because they tie managerial wealth to the volatility of a firm's equity. In the second essay, I exploit an exogenous negative shock to CEO compensation convexity in examining the differential ramifications of option pay and risk-taking incentives on the systematic and idiosyncratic volatility of the firm. I find new evidence that is largely consistent with the notion that compensation convexity, stemming from option convexity, predominantly incentivizes under-diversified risk-averse CEOs to increase the value of their option portfolios by increasing the systematic volatility of the firms they manage. I hypothesize that this effect manifests as systematic volatility is readily more hedgeable than idiosyncratic volatility from the perspective of risk-averse executives who are overexposed to the idiosyncratic risk of their firms. If managers use options as a conduit through which they can gamble with shareholder wealth by overexposing them to suboptimal systematic volatility, options are not serving their intended contracting function. Instead of decreasing agency costs of risk, by encouraging CEOs to adopt innovative positive NPV projects that may be primarily characterized by idiosyncratic risk, option pay may have contributed to the same frictions it was intended to reduce. In the third essay, I present evidence that is consistent with the notion that certain managerial debt-like remuneration structures decrease the likelihood of firm-specific positive stock-price jumps. Namely, I find that a bottom-to-top decile increase in the present value of CEO pension pay leads to a roughly 25\% decrease in a firm's unconditional ex-post jump probability. However, I do not find that CEO deferred compensation decreases firm jump risk. Finally, I find that information in option-implied volatility smirks does not appear to reflect these dynamics. Together, these results suggest that not all debt-like compensation mechanisms decrease managerial risk-taking equally. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

This dissertation investigates the volatility of the relationships between exchange rates and interest rates. The first part of the paper explores the transmission relationship between these two markets using a time-series model. Previous studies have assumed that covariance was constant in both markets. However, if the volatilities of the exchange rate and interest rate markets are correlated over time, the interaction and spillover effects between the two markets may be affected by time-varying covariance. Hence, this paper utilizes the BEKK-GARCH model developed by Engle and Kroner (1995) to capture the dynamic relationship between the exchange rates and interest rates. This study uses the returns data for G7 members¡¦ exchange rates and interest rates to test whether these markets exhibited volatilities spillover from 1978 to 2009. The results show bi-directional volatility spillovers in the markets of the UK, the Euro countries, and Canada, where the volatilities of the two markets were interrelated. The second part of the paper explores the relationship between exchange rates and interest rates using a jump diffusion model. Previous studies assumed that the dynamic processes of exchange rates and interest rates follow a diffusion process with a continuous time path, but an increasing number of empirical studies have shown that a continuous diffusion stochastic model does not capture the dynamic process of these variables. Thus, this paper investigates the discontinuous variables of exchange rates and interest rates and assumes that these variables follow a jump diffusion process. The UIRP model is employed to explore the relationship between both variables and to divide the systematic risk into systematic continuous risk and systematic jump risk. The returns data for G7 members¡¦ exchange rates and interest rates from 2005 to 2010 were analyzed to test whether the expected exchange rate is affected by jump components when the interest rate market experiences a jump. The results show that the jump diffusion model has more explanatory power than the pure diffusion model does, and, when the interest rate market experiences a jump risk, the systematic jump risk has a significant relationship with the expected exchange rates in some G7 countries.

Most of the derivative pricing models are developed in the jump diffusion models, and many literatures assume those jumps are diversifiable. However, we find many risk cannot be avoided through diversification. In this paper, we extend the Jarrow and Yildirim model to consider the existence of systematic jump risk in nominal interest rate, real interest rate and inflation rate to derive the no-arbitrage condition by using Esscher transformation. In addition, this study also derives the value of TIPS and TIPS European call option. Furthermore, we use the econometric theory to decompose TIPS market price volatility into a continuous component and a jump component. We find the jump component contribute most of the TIPS market price volatility. In addition, we also use the TIPS yield index to obtain the systematic jump component and systematic continuous component to find the systematic jump beta and the systematic continuous beta. The results show that the TIPS with shorter time to maturity are more vulnerable to systematic jump risk. In contrast, the individual TIPS with shorter time to maturity is more vulnerable to systematic jump. Finally, the sensitive analysis is conducted to detect the impacts of jumps risk on the value of TIPS European call option.

本研究利用GARCH動態過程的優點捕捉匯率報酬率之異質變異與波動度叢聚性質，並以GARCH動態過程為基礎，考慮跳躍風險服從Lévy過程，再利用特徵函數與快速傅立葉轉換方法推導出GARCH-Lévy動態過程下的歐式匯率選擇權解析解。以日圓兌換美元(JPY/USD)之歐式匯率選擇權為實證資料，比較基準GARCH選擇權評價模型與GARCH-Lévy選擇權評價模型對市場真實價格的配適效果與預測能力。實證結果顯示，考慮跳躍風險為無限活躍之Lévy過程，即GARCH-VG與GARCH-NIG匯率選擇權評價模型，不論是樣本內的評價誤差或是在樣本外的避險誤差皆勝於考慮跳躍風險為有限活躍Lévy過程的GARCH-MJ匯率選擇權評價模型。整體而言，本研究發現進行匯率選擇權之評價時，GARCH-NIG匯率選擇權評價模型有較小的樣本內及樣本外評價誤差。 / In this thesis, we make use of GARCH dynamic to capture volatility clustering and heteroskedasticity in exchange rate. We consider a jump risk which follows Lévy process based on GARCH model. Furthermore, we use characteristic function and fast fourier transform to derive the currency option pricing formula under GARCH-Lévy process. We collect the JPY/USD exchange rate data for our empirical analysis and then compare the goodness of fit and prediction performance between GARCH benchmark and GARCH-Lévy currency option pricing model. The empirical results show that either in-sample pricing error or out-of-sample hedging performance, the infinite-activity Lévy process, GARCH-VG and GARCH-NIG option pricing model is better than finite-activity Lévy process, GARCH-MJ option pricing model. Overall, we find using GARCH-NIG currency option pricing model can achieve the lower in-sample and out-of sample pricing error.

本研究使用美國、德國、英國股票指數期貨之日內交易資料，從報酬率中分離出連續波動度與跳躍項，再以MLE法估計Hawkes相互激勵過程之參數，衡量跨市場跳躍傳染現象。擴展文獻中僅兩市場的分析至三市場模型，更能從整體的角度解釋市場間的關係及跳躍傳染途徑。實證結果顯示，美國能直接影響其他市場，而其他市場反過來不易干涉美國，呈現非對稱影響效果。歐洲兩國能互相傳染，英國對德國的影響較大，也更有能力影響美國，稱英國為歐洲的影響輸出國，德國為歐洲的影響輸入國。

本研究以Lévy過程為模型基礎，考慮Merton Jump及跳躍強度服從Hawkes Process的Merton Jump兩種跳躍風險，利用Particle Filter方法及EM演算法估計出模型參數並計算出對數概似值、AIC及BIC。以S&P500指數為實證資料，比較隨機波動度模型、Variance Gamma模型及兩種不同跳躍風險對市場真實價格的配適效果。實證結果顯示，隨機波動度模型其配適效果勝於Variance Gamma模型，且加入跳躍風險後可使模型配適效果提升，尤其在模型中加入跳躍強度服從Hawkes Process的Merton Jump，其配適效果更勝於Merton Jump。整體而言，本研究發現，以S&P500指數為實證資料時，SVHJ模型有較好的配適效果。 / This paper, based on the Lévy process, considers two kinds of jump risk, Merton Jump and the Merton Jump whose jump intensity follows Hawkes Process. We use Particle Filter method and EM Algorithm to estimate the model parameters and calculate the log-likelihood value, AIC and BIC. We collect the S&P500 index for our empirical analysis and then compare the goodness of fit between the stochastic volatility model, the Variance Gamma model and two different jump risks. The empirical results show that the stochastic volatility model is better than the Variance Gamma model, and it is better to consider the jump risk in the model, especially the Merton Jump whose jump intensity follows Hawkes Process. The goodness of fit is better than Merton Jump. Overall, we find SVHJ model has better goodness of fit when S&P500 index was used as the empirical data.

本論文目的在於探討「異質期望」(heterogeneous expectations)、「資訊密度」(information arrival intensity)、以及「跳躍風險」(jump risk) 這些因素對於期貨價格的影響，並且透由「跨期模型」(intertemporal models) 的建立，推導出具有封閉解形式的期貨價格理論公式。 誠如 Harrison and Kreps (1978) 所言：除非所有市場參與者的行為方式完全相同、而且他們都打算抱著股票直到永遠，否則「投機交易」(speculation transactions) 與「異質期望」就不可能自市場當中滅絕。有鑑於此，本論文在第二章中討論「異質期望」對於期貨價格的影響；同時為了反映交易者看法可能會隨時間演進而發生改變的可能性，「調整效果」(adjustment effects) 是本章另一個討論重點；第三、為了區別期貨契約與遠期契約的基本差異，「利率」這個隨機因子也被納入模型當中。由「部分均衡」(partial equilibrium) 觀點下具有封閉解形式的期貨價格公式來觀察，這三個重要因素以及彼此間存在著的複雜交互作用，可以協助解釋一些實證現象與重要變數之間的關係。 第三章主要是借用Clark (1973) 與Chang et al. (1988) 「資訊時間」(information time) 的概念，取代一般模型所使用的「日曆時間」(calendar time) 設定方法，並且額外納入「利率」與「便利所得」(convenience yield) 這兩個廣為一般期貨定價文獻所認定的重要隨機因素，推導出「部分均衡」觀點下的期貨價格封閉解。根據1998/7/21 至 2003/12/31 台灣期交所「台灣證券交易所總加權股價指數期貨」的實證結果來看，本章模型的定價績效不僅勝過「持有成本模型」(the cost of carry model)，也比同時考慮「利率」與「便利所得」兩個隨機因子的「日曆時間」模型要來的好。 第四章則是嘗試結合Hemler and Longstaff (1991) 的「無偏好模型」(preference-free model) 以及Merton (1976) 的「跳躍」(jumps) 設定，重新推導「一般均衡」(general equilibrium) 模型下、考慮「跳躍風險」(jump risk) 後的期貨價格封閉解。根據本章各種比較靜態與模擬分析的結果顯示，整個經濟體系或是「狀態變數」(state variables) 的安定程度，決定了市場變數間的關係；另一方面，這些關聯會因為「跳躍風險」規模的遞增 — 不管是肇因於「發生機率」(occurring probability) 或是「衝擊效果」(impulse effect) — 而變的更加不可預測。 / The dissertation contains three essays on intertemporal futures pricing models allowing for heterogeneous expectations, information-time based setting, and jump risk. As Harrison and Kreps (1978) have noted, unless traders are all identical and obliged to hold a stock forever, speculation would not extinguish in market, and heterogeneity in expectations yields whereby. The first essay develops intertemporal futures pricing formulas accounting for such reality, adjustment effect, and stochastic interest rate in a partial-equilibrium sense. The closed-form solutions show that the three factors complicated with each others can help to explain some existing empirics on relationships between futures prices and other important market variables such as indeterminate converging pattern. The second essay extends Chang et al. (1988) option pricing model to derive futures prices with information-time based processes. Stochastic interest rate and convenience yield are also taken into account to derive closed-form formulas. According to empirical results of transaction data of TAIEX index and its corresponding TFETX futures contract through 1998/7/21 to 2003/12/31, the analytic solution performs better than the cost of carry model and its calendar-time based counterpart, especially when information arrival intensity estimates become larger. The last essay combines Hemler and Longstaff’s (1991) preference-free model and Merton’s (1976) jump setting to measure effects from jump risk and a futures pricing formula is derived in its closed-form as well. According to miscellaneous comparative static and simulation results, the bounded degrees of state variables, or economy, affect co-varying extents among variables, while the increasing jump risk, including the size of occurring probability and its corresponding impulse effect, makes them un-tractable.