Options are believed to contain unique information on the risk-neutral moment generating function (MGF) or the risk-neutral probability density function (PDF) of the underlying asset. This paper applies the wavelet method to approximate the implied risk-neutral MGF from option prices. Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to show how the risk-neutral MGF can be obtained using the wavelet meth...

Pre-tax car prices are particularly low in EU countries with high registration taxes but no car production, meaning that the tax is equivalent to an import tariff and induces international price discrimination. The paper develops a theorectical model to analyse the European Commission's policy of facilitating arbitrage and thereby reducing car price differences. The effects on prices, quantitie...

Exclusive Quality – Why Exclusive Distribution May Benefit the TV Viewers* Sports organizations, Hollywood studios and TV channels grant satellite and cable networks exclusive rights to televise their matches, movies and media contents. Exclusive distribution prevents viewers from watching attractive programs, and reduces the TV-distributors incentives to compete in prices. This paper demonstra...

We propose a model of posted prices in networks. The model maps traditional concepts of market power, competition and double marginalization into networks, allowing for the study of pricing in complex structures of intermediation, such as supply chains, transportation and communication networks and financial brokerage. We provide a complete characterization of equilibrium prices. Our experiment...

It has been widely debated how much nonsynchronous trading drives asymmetric portfolio cross-autocorrelations: lagged returns on a portfolio of larger-capitalization stocks are far more heavily correlated with current returns on a portfolio of smallercapitalization stocks than the converse. This paper proposes a new method to generate precise estimates of the extent to which nonsynchronous trad...

We study the role of communication within a cartel. Our analysis is carried out in Stigler’s (1964) model of repeated oligopoly with secret price cuts. Firms observe neither the prices nor the sales of their rivals. For a fixed discount factor, we identify conditions under which there are equilibria with "cheap talk" that result in near-perfect collusion, whereas all equilibria without such com...

This paper investigates the nature of the causal relationship between stock prices and macroeconomic aggregates in the foreign sector in India. By applying the techniques of unit–root tests, cointegration and the long–run Granger non–causality test recently proposed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995), we test the causal relationships between the BSE Sensitive Index and the three macroeconomic variable...

Circularity arises in regulation if the value of a company’s assets used to set prices is itself determined by future earning capacity. The view that it is not possible to determine values and prices in these circumstances has become well established in the literature. In this paper we formalise this precise circularity result. We then show that if there is a possibility of future review and th...

I study the conversion of 13,000 miles of railroad track in the U.S. South to standard gauge on May 31 and June 1, 1886 as a large-scale natural experiment in compatibility. Using route-level freight traffic data, I find a large redistribution of traffic from steamships to railroads that declines with distance, with no effect on prices or aggregate shipments due to carriers’ anticompetitive con...