Concentration and public policies in the broadcasting industry: the future of television

New technologies are deeply transforming the broadcasting industry. What we have seen so far is only the beginning of a long story. Inevitably, industry regulations must adapt, which means that a wide-ranging rethink of current practices is required. In order to assess the likely evolution of the industry, this article decomposes it into a number of components, from conception of programmes to their broadcasting, including distribution, storage and licensing. Contrary to popular expectations, the analysis suggests that the current high degree of concentration will, if anything, increase. The policy implication is that regulation, so far driven by now obsolete technological constraints, should increasingly emphasize promoting competition.     

When do improved covariance matrix estimators enhance portfolio optimization? An empirical comparative study of nine estimators

The use of improved covariance matrix estimators as an alternative to the sample estimator is considered an important approach for enhancing portfolio optimization. Here we empirically compare the performance of nine improved covariance estimation procedures using daily returns of 90 highly capitalized US stocks for the period 1997–2007. We find that the usefulness of covariance matrix estimators strongly depends on the ratio between the estimation period T and the number of stocks N, on the presence or absence of short selling, and on the performance metric considered. When short selling is allowed, several estimation methods achieve a realized risk that is significantly smaller than that obtained with the sample covariance method. This is particularly true when T/N is close to one. Moreover, many estimators reduce the fraction of negative portfolio weights, while little improvement is achieved in the degree of diversification. On the contrary, when short selling is not allowed and T?>?N, the considered methods are unable to outperform the sample covariance in terms of realized risk, but can give much more diversified portfolios than that obtained with the sample covariance. When T?<?N, the use of the sample covariance matrix and of the pseudo-inverse gives portfolios with very poor performance.     

The impact of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 repo ‘safe harbor’ provisions on investors

ABSTRACT

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005 significantly expanded the exemptions from the normal workings of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Using a large sample of U.S. banks, we study investors’ reaction to news about the promulgation of the BAPCPA repo ‘safe harbor’ provisions and the influence extending such exemptions to repos collateralized by riskier collateral had on equity market information asymmetry. We find a negative market reaction to news events about the promulgation of BAPCPA, which subsequent cross-sectional analysis suggests is at least partly driven by repo exposure. This finding suggests that investors perceived the increase in finance risk from the extension of the ‘safe harbor’ provisions as dominating the perceived gain from accessing cheaper finance. Further, we find that the promulgation of BAPCPA gave rise to increased information asymmetry for banks with repo exposure.     

Challenges in approximating the Black and Scholes call formula with hyperbolic tangents

Decisions in Economics and Finance - In this paper, we introduce the concept of standardized call function and we obtain a new approximating formula for the Black and Scholes call function through...