Finite Dimensional Affine Realisations of HJM Models in Terms of Forward Rates and Yields

Finite dimensional Markovian HJM term structure models provide ideal settings for the study of term structure dynamics and interest rate derivatives where the flexibility of the HJM framework and the tractability of Markovian models coexist. Consequently, these models became the focus of a series of papers including Carverhill (1994), Ritchken and Sankarasubramanian (1995), Bhar and Chiarella (1997), Inui and Kijima (1998), de Jong and Santa-Clara (1999), Björk and Svensson (2001) and Chiarella and Kwon (2001a). However, these models usually required the introduction of a large number of state variables which, at first sight, did not appear to have clear links to the market observed quantities, and the explicit realisations of the forward rate curve in terms of the state variables were unclear. In this paper, it is shown that the forward rate curves for these models are affine functions of the state variables, and conversely that the state variables in these models can be expressed as affine functions of a finite number of forward rates or yields. This property is useful, for example, in the estimation of model parameters. The paper also provides explicit formulae for the bond prices in terms of the state variables that generalise the formulae given in Inui and Kijima (1998), and applies the framework to obtain affine representations for a number of popular interest rate models.     

Money and exchange rates in the Grossman-Weiss-Rotemberg model

We analyze the impact of monetary policy on inflation, interest rates and exchange rates in a model with segmented asset markets developed by Grossman and Weiss (1983) and Rotemberg (1984, 1985). We find parameters for which real and nominal exchange rates in this model are (1) much more volatile than interest rates, inflation rates, and money growth rates, (2) highly correlated with each other, and (3) highly persistent. While this model fails to match the data in other important respects, it illustrates a potentially useful approach to modelling exchange rate behavior.     

我国金融工程发展的市场环境与制度框架

金融工程具有对风险的规避和放大效应。金融工程的发展不仅需要强大的技术手段支持,更需要政府从制度层面进行合理配置。本文分析了金融工程在经济运行中的负面作用,根据当前我国利率、汇率市场化改革的宏观环境,并结合当前国外金融制度建设的基本特征和我国基本国情,提出了我国金融工程发展的制度框架。其中,近期制度建设构想为:加强法规制度建设,优化金融环境,严防金融欺诈;加强监管机构管理,确保其独立性和公平性;加强二级市场管理建设。远期制度建设构想为:进一步强化对产品发行人、合作投资计划、市场中介机构和行业自律等方面的制度约束。     

基于政策目标的存款利息得税的有效性分析

我国1999年开征的存款利息所得税是一次典型意义上的相机调控行为,短期内达到了预期的调控目标。但随着政策持续时间的延长,政策刚性对社会公平和经济长期增长的负面影响也在逐步增强。而且相机性财政政策仅仅是一项短期政策,不应该被长期实施。相机性政策的长期实施不仅会使短期的政策效应丧失,而且政策刚性产生的负面影响将会不断扩大。对利息所得税而言,如果不能将其纳入个人所得税改革的整体框架内统筹安排,则应考虑尽快退出。     

利率互换定价存在的障碍及解决办法

根据我国利率互换市场现状，着重分析我国利率互换定价目前存在的障碍，阐述一种可行的定价方法，通过拟合交易所国债的利率期限结构计算出远期利率代替未来浮动端的参考利率确定浮动端现金流，令利率互换固定端现金流与之相等，得出固定利率。定价结果表明本文阐述的方法能够提供一种较为有效的对利率互换定价的方法，可以作为实际交易过程中的定价参考。     

制度偏好差异与电力产业规制放松的困境--"厂网分开"引发的深层思考

本文利用“芝加哥”学派利益集团理论的基本假设，对我国电力产业内部人势力的形成、强化及其行为对市场交易的扭曲进行了详尽的分析，从而为当前电力产业规制困境的发生提出了一个基于制度偏好和企业行为的解释。结果表明，在缺乏有效规制的背景下．对自然垄断产业实施等同于一般产业的“放权让利”武改革，为利益集团的成长提供了制度条件和资金支持。由于管制权力分散在诸多的“条块”之间。“厂网分开”后也没有建立权威性的专业机构．不同利益取向的参与者之间的博弈使电力产业的规制放松陷入困境。     

Optimal portfolio choice in the bond market

We consider the Merton problem of optimal portfolio choice when the traded instruments are the set of zero-coupon bonds. Working within a Markovian Heath–Jarrow–Morton model of the interest rate term structure driven by an infinite-dimensional Wiener process, we give sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of an optimal trading strategy. When there is uniqueness, we provide a characterization of the optimal portfolio as a sum of mutual funds. Furthermore, we show that a Gauss–Markov random field model proposed by Kennedy [Math. Financ. 4, 247–258(1994)] can be treated in this framework, and explicitly calculate the optimal portfolio. We show that the optimal portfolio in this case can be identified with the discontinuities of a certain function of the market parameters.     

Differences in the Cost of Trade Execution Services on Floor-Based and Electronic Futures Markets

This paper provides new evidence on the impact of electronic trading on brokerage commissions by investigating a sample period that covers the period of transition from floor to electronic trading on the Sydney Futures Exchange. After controlling for liquidity, volatility and broker identity, the introduction of electronic trading remains to be associated with lower brokerage commissions relative to floor markets. The study also provides new evidence on brokerage commissions in futures markets finding that commission fees charged on futures trades average 0.002% of transaction value. This is up to 120 times smaller than the magnitude of brokerage fees charged in stock markets, and considerably lower than the magnitude of brokerage fees assumed for futures markets in previous research. Consistent with existing studies based on stock markets, commissions charged per contract decrease with order size reflecting economies of scale in the provision of brokerage services in futures markets. Commission rates are positively related to bid-ask spreads and price volatility, which proxy for the probability of execution error costs and execution difficulty, respectively. Finally, the identity of the broker is found to be a significant determinant of commissions reflecting different pricing schedules across brokers.     

Evidence on the efficacy of interest-rate risk disclosures by commercial banks

This paper documents evidence on the efficacy of maturity-gap disclosures of commercial banks in indicating their net interest income that is exposed to interest-rate risk. For the large sample of banks that filed call reports from 1990 to 1997, a period that includes a wide range of interest rate movements, we find that (i) one-year maturity gap measures are significantly related to the one-year- and three-years-ahead change in net interest income, (ii) fixed-rate and variable-rate instruments differ in explanatory ability, and (iii) the one-to-five-year aggregate gap measures also have some power in explaining three-year-ahead changes in net interest income. These findings hold after controlling for the ex post growth in assets as well as the amount of rate-sensitive assets and liabilities (a competing set of explanatory variables). Because the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s [Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), (1997). Disclosure of accounting policies for derivative financial instruments and derivative commodity instruments and disclosure of qualitative and quantitative information about market risk inherent in derivative financial instruments, other financial instruments, and derivative commodity instruments. Release Nos. 33-7386; 3438223; IC-22487; FR-48; International Series No. 1047; File No. S7-35-95 (January 31, 1997), Washington, DC] tabular disclosures are finer than maturity-gap data, our findings mitigate concerns about the usefulness of the SEC's market-risk-disclosure requirements. Furthermore, they suggest contrary to the claims of certain banks that the omission of prepayment and early withdrawal risk from gap measures does not totally compromise the ability of gap data to indicate interest-risk exposures.     

Pricing default swaps: Empirical evidence

In this paper we compare market prices of credit default swaps with model prices. We show that a simple reduced form model outperforms directly comparing bonds' credit spreads to default swap premiums. We find that the model yields unbiased premium estimates for default swaps on investment grade issuers, but only if we use swap or repo rates as proxy for default-free interest rates. This indicates that the government curve is no longer seen as the reference default-free curve. We also show that the model is relatively insensitive to the value of the assumed recovery rate.