122 research outputs found
Stress Tests of Capital Requirements
No full textThis paper examines the performance of the leading methods for setting capital requirements for securities firms' trading books. Tests are conducted on a large sample of UK equity market makers' books over a substantial number of periods of equity market stress from 1985 to 1995. The comprehensive and building-block approaches, favoured by US and European regulators, fail to provide effective cover. Only portfolio-based, value-at-risk type models are efficient in providing appropriate levels of capital to cover the position risk of equity trading books. This paper was presented at the Financial Institutions Center's October 1996 conference on "
Ex-Post: The Investment Performance of Collectible Stamps
No full textThis paper investigates the returns on British collectible postage stamps over the very long run, based on stamp catalogue prices. Between 1900 and 2008, we find an annualized return on stamps of 6.7% in nominal terms, which is equivalent to an average real return of 2.7% per annum. Prices have increased much faster in the second half of the 1960s, the late 1970s, and the current decade. However, we also record prolonged periods of real depreciation, for example in the 1980s. As a financial investment, stamps have outperformed bonds, but underperformed stocks. After unsmoothing the returns on stamps, we find that the volatility of stamp prices approaches that of equities. There is mixed evidence that stamps are a good hedge against inflation. Once the problem of non-synchronous trading is taken into account, stamp returns seem impacted by movements in the equity market.Alternative investments;Indexes;Long-term returns;Market model;Stamps
Foreign exchange markets and currency speculation: historical perspectives
No full textThis chapter presents a short history of currency speculation and examines currency returns over the long run. I first review the main institutional developments in foreign exchange markets from the Middle Ages to the modern period. Next, I discuss the existing evidence on the long-run profitability of currency speculation strategies. Finally, I examine selected historical case studies of currency investors. The historical evidence suggests that foreign exchange traders can generate high profits but that any trading strategy also involves substantial risk. This is consistent with the view that the returns to currency speculation compensate investors for risk-taking
- …
