The Journal of Finance publishes leading research across all the major fields of finance. It is one of the most widely cited journals in academic finance, and in all of economics. Each of the six issues per year reaches over 8,000 academics, finance professionals, libraries, and government and financial institutions around the world. The journal is the official publication of The American Finance Association, the premier academic organization devoted to the study and promotion of knowledge about financial economics.
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Option‐Implied Risk Aversion Estimates
Published: 11/27/2005 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.2004.00637.x
Robert R. Bliss, Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou
Using a utility function to adjust the risk‐neutral PDF embedded in cross sections of options, we obtain measures of the risk aversion implied in option prices. Using FTSE 100 and S&P 500 options, and both power and exponential‐utility functions, we estimate the representative agent's relative risk aversion (RRA) at different horizons. The estimated coefficients of RRA are all reasonable. The RRA estimates are remarkably consistent across utility functions and across markets for given horizons. The degree of RRA declines broadly with the forecast horizon and is lower during periods of high market volatility.
Arbitrage‐Based Estimation of Nonstationary Shifts in the Term Structure of Interest Rates
Published: 07/01/1989 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1989.tb04380.x
ROBERT R. BLISS, EHUD I. RONN
The purpose of this paper is to provide a test of a state‐dependent multinomial model of intertemporal changes in the term structure of interest rates. The theoretical background for the model comes from Ho and Lee (1986). The current paper extends their model in several significant ways. First, we perform diagnostic tests on the data to demonstrate that the empirical results reject a binomial model in favor of a trinomial one. After theoretically deriving the appropriate trinomial model, the current paper extends their model to allow for state‐dependent shifts which are determined by the set of ex ante observable state variables. The methodology for the study utilizes OLS regressions to identify the exogenous explanatory variables which drive the hypothesized trinomial process of term structure evolution. The empirical tests indicate that the set of state variables explains a significant portion of the variability in the shifts of the term structure over time. The model also identifies and quantifies a set of variables which impact on changes in the term structure of interest rates.