0000000000003353
AUTHOR
Amado Peiró
Skewness in financial returns
Abstract In this paper the symmetry of daily returns is addressed in eight international stock markets and three spot exchange rates. Tests of symmetry with the sample skewness seem of little value, due to the non-normality of the returns. Under alternative non-normal distributions, the symmetry of the returns cannot be rejected for most markets. Distribution-free procedures do not detect strong asymmetries in most of the series either; however, some differences between returns below the mean and returns over the mean are observed in several markets
Cross-autocorrelations in European stock returns
This paper examines lead-lag relationships between monthly index returns from 18 European industries. Several interesting and clear relationships are found that call into question the efficiency of European stock markets. While the Automobiles & Parts sector lags more than half of the other sectors, the Financial Services, Technology, and Telecommunications sectors lead many others. In particular, the leadership of the Technology sector has strengthened in recent years.
Stock prices and macroeconomic factors: Some European evidence
Abstract This paper analyses the dependence of stock prices on macroeconomic variables in the three largest European economies: France, Germany and the United Kingdom. In recent decades, industrial production and long-term interest rates have been important significant variables accounting for approximately one half of annual movements in stock prices. Both factors seem to be equally important, but a closer examination reveals that the weight of these factors has clearly moved from interest rates to production. This evidence is common to all three of these European countries and is in sharp contrast with the results for the US.
The distribution of stock returns: international evidence
Although financial theory rests heavily on the normality assumption, daily stock returns display significant departures from normality. Different researchers have proposed alternative distributions. In this paper, the distribution of stock returns is examined in six stock markets. The empirical distributions present common features and are best represented by Student's t-distribution, while several alternative distributions are rejected.
Skewness in individual stocks at different investment horizons
Abstract This paper examines the (a)symmetry of several individual stock returns at different investment horizons: daily, weekly and monthly. While some asymmetries are observed in daily returns, they disappear almost completely in weekly and monthly returns. The explanation for this fact lies in the convergence to normality that takes place when the investment horizon increases. These features allow one to question several financial models; in particular, they question the preference for positive skewness as a factor for investments in stock markets.
MACROECONOMIC SYNCHRONIZATION BETWEEN G3 COUNTRIES
This paper studies the existence of a world business cycle by examining quarterly and annual comovements in production, prices, and interest rates in the three main world economies: Germany, Japan and the U.S. In accordance with earlier studies, contemporaneous relationships clearly dominate short-term dynamics. The evidence indicates that, in the last four decades, these comovements are clearly significant in all the variables, with the possible exception of short-term interest rates, and they are stronger for long-term interest rates; nevertheless, they are rather unstable over time. Este artículo estudia la existencia de un ciclo económico mundial mediante elexamen de movimientos comunes…
ECONOMIC COMOVEMENTS IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
This paper examines the existence of common movements in production, prices and interest rates in three countries: France, Germany and the United Kingdom. To analyse this issue, the usual approach of studying cross-correlations is extended. Though these European countries are closely linked to each other, the results obtained vary substantially over time, with the economic variables and in the countries under consideration. Este trabajo examina la existencia de movimientos comunes en la producción, en los precios y en los tipos de interés en tres países: Francia, Alemania y el Reino Unido. Para analizar este tema, se extiende el enfoque habitual del estudio de las correlaciones cruzadas. A …
Asymmetries and tails in stock index returns: are their distributions really asymmetric?
Abstract This paper examines the symmetry of the distribution of four major stock index returns: Standard and Poor's 500, Dow-Jones Industrial, Nikkei 225, and Financial Times 100, from the stock markets of New York, Tokyo and London. The symmetry of the whole distributions, of the different intervals, and of the tails, is analysed. Clear, strong asymmetries are not found. In particular, for different stock indexes and for different sample periods, the probabilities of occurrence of extreme downward and upward movements do not seem to be different.
Happiness, satisfaction and socio-economic conditions: Some international evidence
Abstract This paper examines the relationships between socio-economic conditions and happiness or satisfaction of individuals in 15 countries. In agreement with earlier studies, age, health and marital status are strongly associated with happiness and satisfaction. In seeming contrast with other studies, unemployment does not appear to be associated with happiness, although it is clearly associated with satisfaction. Income is also strongly associated with satisfaction, but its association with happiness is weaker. These results point to happiness and satisfaction as two distinct spheres of well-being. While the first would be relatively independent of economic factors, the second would be …
Unemployment, cycle and gender
Abstract This study analyzes the relationship between unemployment and the business cycle in the UK and the US. For both economies, a strong and definite association is found that shows that cyclical shocks extend their effect on unemployment over several quarters. This association is much more intense for male unemployment than for female unemployment, although some strength has been lost in the UK in the last few years.