Security Baskets and Index-Linked Securities

Stock Index Futures the Case for Markets in Baskets of Securities

We provide an explanation for the explosive growth in the popularity of Stock Index Futures contracts. In our economy there are three broad classes of traders that place orders with a competitive market maker that sets a bid-ask spread arising from adverse selection. Informed traders trade on the basis of their private information about the value of particular securities. Liquidity traders trad...

Mortality-Linked Securities and Derivatives

Bidding with Securities: Auctions and Security Design

We study security-bid auctions in which bidders compete for an asset by bidding with securities whose payments are contingent on the asset’s realized value. In formal security-bid auctions, the seller restricts the security design to an ordered set and uses a standard auction format (e.g., first or secondprice). In informal settings, bidders offer arbitrary securities and the seller chooses the...

Efficiency in Index Options Markets and Trading in Stock Baskets

Researchers have reported mispricing in index options markets. This study further examines the efficiency of the S&P 500 index options market by testing theoretical pricing relationships implied by no-arbitrage conditions. The effect of a traded stock basket, Standard and Poor’s Depository Receipts (SPDRs), on the link between index and options markets is also examined. Pricing efficiency withi...

Valuing Callable and Putable Revenue-performance-linked Project Backed Securities

Public owners face a constant demand for developing new projects and for funding the renewal, maintenance and operation of existing infrastructure projects. One way to raise capitals to provide new financial resources to constrained budgets is to securitize a stream of revenue cash flows from a portfolio of mature infrastructure projects. We present a new type of PBS, the revenue performance-li...