The Journal of Finance

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.

AFA members can log in to view full-text articles below.

View past issues


Search the Journal of Finance:






Search results: 2.

The Sampling Error in Estimates of Mean‐Variance Efficient Portfolio Weights

Published: 12/17/2002   |   DOI: 10.1111/0022-1082.00120

Mark Britten‐Jones

This paper presents an exact finite‐sample statistical procedure for testing hypotheses about the weights of mean‐variance efficient portfolios. The estimation and inference procedures on efficient portfolio weights are performed in the same way as for the coefficients in an OLS regression. OLS t‐ and F‐statistics can be used for tests on efficient weights, and when returns are multivariate normal, these statistics have exact t and F distributions in a finite sample. Using 20 years of data on 11 country stock indexes, we find that the sampling error in estimates of the weights of a global efficient portfolio is large.


Option Prices, Implied Price Processes, and Stochastic Volatility

Published: 12/17/2002   |   DOI: 10.1111/0022-1082.00228

Mark Britten‐Jones, Anthony Neuberger

This paper characterizes all continuous price processes that are consistent with current option prices. This extends Derman and Kani (1994), Dupire (1994, 1997), and Rubinstein (1994), who only consider processes with deterministic volatility. Our characterization implies a volatility forecast that does not require a specific model, only current option prices. We show how arbitrary volatility processes can be adjusted to fit current option prices exactly, just as interest rate processes can be adjusted to fit bond prices exactly. The procedure works with many volatility models, is fast to calibrate, and can price exotic options efficiently using familiar lattice techniques.