This book proposes new methods to value equity and model the Markowitz efficient frontier using Markov switching models and provide new evidence and solutions to capture the persistence observed in stock returns across developed and emerging markets.

It is now a well-know fact that mergers and acquisitions activity comes in waves. The most recent wave, the 5th takeover wave of the 1990s, was characterized by an unprecedented number of corporate restructurings in terms of mergers and acquisitions (M&As), public-to-private transactions, spin-offs and divestitures, and leveraged recapitalizations. Following the collapse of the stock market in March 2000, M&A activity slumped dramatically, but this pause ended in the second half of 2004 when takeover deals occurred again quite frequently. Indeed, some observers wonder whether the 6th takeover wave has started. The takeover wave in the 1990s was particularly remarkable in terms of size and geographical dispersion. For the first time, Continental European firms were as eager to participate as their US and UK counterparts, and M&A activity in Europe hit levels similar to those experienced in the US. Due to its financial impact and the unprecedented activity in Continental Europe, the 5th takeover wave of the 1990s and recent takeover activity (in biotech, utilities, pharmaceuticals) have triggered a great deal of interesting academic research. This volume brings together a selection of insightful papers. An impressive group of international authors address the following themes: takeover regulation; the cyclical pattern of the M&A markets and probable causes and effects; methods to determine the performance of success of M&A actions; cross border deals; means of payment and its effects; studies of hostile bids; high leverage takeovers and delistings.
*A selection of the best and latest quantitative research on M&A activity worldwide
*Impressive collection of international authors
*Provides important insights and implications for practitioners

With about $450 billion in assets, funds of hedge funds are the most recent darling of investors. While hedge funds carry high risk for the promise of high returns they are designed for the very rich and for large institutional investors such as pension funds. A Fund of Hedge Funds (FOF) spreads investments among a number of hedge funds to reduce risk and provide diversification, while maintaining the potential for higher than average returns. Odds are that some pension fund of yours is invested heavily in these products, and more recently these FOFs have been opened to more and more individual investors in offshore jurisdictions with lower minimum entry levels. Since this is a new and extremely fast-moving financial phenomenon, academic research has just begun in earnest, and this is the first book to present rigorous academic research by some of the leading lights in academic finance, carefully analyzing the broad array of issues involved in FOFs.
* With over $450 billion in assets, hedge funds of funds are the darling of investors
* First book to present rigorous academic research about funds of funds
* Leading lights in academic finance from around the world analyze the broad array of issues involved in funds of funds

Although emerging market economies consist of 50% of the global population, they are relatively unknown. Filling this knowledge gap, Emerging Markets: Performance, Analysis and Innovation compiles the latest research by noteworthy academics and money managers from around the world. With a focus on both traditional emerging markets and new areas, such as the Balkan, Middle East, and North African regions, it looks at how these markets can serve as drivers of portfolios and a significant force over the long term. This noteworthy collection sheds some light on what lies ahead for emerging markets with the most up-to-date research from academics and practitioners. It covers general issues in emerging markets and provides in-depth studies of regional markets experiencing transition, including the European Union, Latin America, and the Middle East. The book also explores Asian and Indian markets as well as financial instruments, such as bonds and funds, relative to these markets. It concludes with chapters on regulations, corporate governance, and corruption.

Explores the Origin of the Recent Banking Crisis and how to Preclude Future Crises Shedding new light on the recent worldwide banking debacle, The Banking Crisis Handbook presents possible remedies as to what should have been done prior, during, and after the crisis. With contributions from well-known academics and professionals, the book contains exclusive, new research that will undoubtedly assist bank executives, risk management departments, and other financial professionals to attain a clear picture of the banking crisis and prevent future banking collapses. The first part of the book explains how the crisis originated. It discusses the role of subprime mortgages, shadow banks, ineffective risk management, poor financial regulations, and hedge funds in causing the collapse of financial systems. The second section examines how the crisis affected the global market as well as individual countries and regions, such as Asia and Greece. In the final part, the book explores short- and long-term solutions, including government intervention, financial regulations, efficient bank default risk approaches, and methods to evaluate credit risk. It also looks at when government intervention in financial markets can be ethically justified.

After the cooling off of IPOs since the dot com bubble, Google has rekindled the fire for IPOs. This IPO reader contains new articles exclusive to this reader by leading academics from around the world dealing with quantitative and qualitative analyses of this increasingly popular and important area of finance. Articles address new methods of IPO performance, international IPOs, IPO evaluation, IPO underwriting, evaluation and bookbuilding. Although numerous articles are technical in nature, with econometric and statistical models, particular attention has been directed towards the understanding and the applicability of the results as well as theoretical development in this area. This reader will assist researchers, academics, and graduate students to further understand the latest research on IPOs.
*Interest in IPOs is increasing again after the Google IPO, and IPOs are up significantly from last year
*Chapters by well known academics provide an international perspective, describing research results from IPO data in countries spanning the globe
*Research is based on real results from IPO data collected over the past 5-7 years

Until recently, only the United States had an active venture capital market. This is changing rapidly, as many other countries have experienced rapid growth in venture capital financing over the past five years. This book contains new scientific articles showcasing the latest research on venture capital in Europe. Venture capital investment remains a hot topic with portfolio managers, individual investors, academics worldwide. This book examines in detail all the major issues regarding venture capital investment: contracting, financing, regulation, valuation, etc. and identifies new trends in the venture capital arena.
Features a foreword by Josh Lerner.
*The only book in which academics from around the world present the latest research on venture capital in Europe
*Covers all of Europe as well as including overview papers about venture capital industry, public and private venture capital, valuation, financing, contracting, structuring, regulation, etc.
*Comprehensive, authoritative coverage

Contains incisive articles dealing with quantitative and qualitative analyses of hedge funds.

As pension fund systems decrease and dependency ratios increase, risk management is becoming more complex in public and private pension plans. Pension Fund Risk Management: Financial and Actuarial Modeling sheds new light on the current state of pension fund risk management and provides new technical tools for addressing pension risk from an integrated point of view.

Divided into four parts, the book first presents the correct measurement of risk in pension funds, fund dynamics under a performance-oriented arrangement, an attribution model for monitoring the performance and risk of a defined benefit (DB) pension fund, and an optimal investment problem of a defined contribution (DC) pension fund under inflationary risk. It also describes a pension plan from a dynamic optimization viewpoint, the optimal asset allocation of U.S. pension funds, the identification of stakeholders risks, value-at-risk (VaR) methodology, and various effects on the asset allocation of DB pension schemes.

The second section focuses on the effects of uncertainty on employer-provided DB private pension plan liabilities; wage-based lump sum payments by death, retirement, or dismissal by the employer; fundamental retirement changes; occupational pension insurance in Germany; and longevity risk securitization in pension schemes.

In the third part, the book examines employers risks, accountability rules and regulations, useful actuarial analysis instruments, risk-based solvency regime in the Netherlands, and the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis on pension participants.

The final part covers DB pension freezes and terminations of plans, the two-pillar social security system of Italy, the Greek social security system, the effect of a company s unfunded pension liabilities on its stock market valuation, and the returns of Spanish balanced pension plans and portfolio performance.

With contributions from well-known, international academics and professionals, this book will assist pension fund executives, risk managers, consultants, and academic researchers in attaining a clear picture of the integration of risks in the pension world. It offers a comprehensive, contemporary account of how to handle the risks involved with pension funds.

Explores the Origin of the Recent Banking Crisis and how to Preclude Future Crises

Shedding new light on the recent worldwide banking debacle, The Banking Crisis Handbook presents possible remedies as to what should have been done prior, during, and after the crisis. With contributions from well-known academics and professionals, the book contains exclusive, new research that will undoubtedly assist bank executives, risk management departments, and other financial professionals to attain a clear picture of the banking crisis and prevent future banking collapses.

The first part of the book explains how the crisis originated. It discusses the role of subprime mortgages, shadow banks, ineffective risk management, poor financial regulations, and hedge funds in causing the collapse of financial systems. The second section examines how the crisis affected the global market as well as individual countries and regions, such as Asia and Greece. In the final part, the book explores short- and long-term solutions, including government intervention, financial regulations, efficient bank default risk approaches, and methods to evaluate credit risk. It also looks at when government intervention in financial markets can be ethically justified.

Although emerging market economies consist of 50% of the global population, they are relatively unknown. Filling this knowledge gap, Emerging Markets: Performance, Analysis and Innovation compiles the latest research by noteworthy academics and money managers from around the world. With a focus on both traditional emerging markets and new areas, such as the Balkan, Middle East, and North African regions, it looks at how these markets can serve as drivers of portfolios and a significant force over the long term.

This noteworthy collection sheds some light on what lies ahead for emerging markets with the most up-to-date research from academics and practitioners. It covers general issues in emerging markets and provides in-depth studies of regional markets experiencing transition, including the European Union, Latin America, and the Middle East. The book also explores Asian and Indian markets as well as financial instruments, such as bonds and funds, relative to these markets. It concludes with chapters on regulations, corporate governance, and corruption.

Corporate Governance and regulatory presssures have been much in the news lately. How they affect the bottom line of corporations has been difficult to quantify, and research is just beginning to be published that addresses this crucial question. This book is the first collection for new research about the impact of takeover regulation and corporate governance on M&A financial results. It will be essential reading to any M&A specialist, an investment banker, a hedge fund manager, a private equity director, or a venture capitalist. Also a must read for financial analysts who follow M&A targets. The book presents research from around the world so it provides a global perspective on this important topic.
*The first and only book of research on takeover regulation and corporate governance affecting M&A results
*Stands out from all the "How to" books on M&A and M&A disaster books because it provides solid high-quality research on what works and how different decisions affect company and shareholder value
*Research provides a guideline for decisionmakers in investment banks, private equity companies, and for financial analysts

Up-to-Date Research Sheds New Light on This Area Taking into account the ongoing worldwide financial crisis, Stock Market Volatility provides insight to better understand volatility in various stock markets. This timely volume is one of the first to draw on a range of international authorities who offer their expertise on market volatility in developed, emerging, and frontier economies. The expert contributors cover stock market volatility modeling, portfolio management, hedge fund volatility, and volatility in developed countries and emerging markets. They present some of the vocational aspects, emphasizing the equity markets. The book approaches the material from the practitioner's viewpoint and familiarizes readers with how volatility is linked to speculation, trading volume, and information arrival. It also discusses recent trends in forecasting volatility, along with the newly cultivated trading platform of volatility derivatives. Given the current state of high levels of volatility in global stock markets, money managers, financial institutions, investment banks, financial analysts, and others need to improve their understanding of volatility. Examining key aspects of stock market volatility, this comprehensive reference offers novel suggestions for accurately assessing the field.

Up-to-Date Research Sheds New Light on This Area

Taking into account the ongoing worldwide financial crisis, Stock Market Volatility provides insight to better understand volatility in various stock markets. This timely volume is one of the first to draw on a range of international authorities who offer their expertise on market volatility in developed, emerging, and frontier economies.

The expert contributors cover stock market volatility modeling, portfolio management, hedge fund volatility, and volatility in developed countries and emerging markets. They present some of the vocational aspects, emphasizing the equity markets. The book approaches the material from the practitioner's viewpoint and familiarizes readers with how volatility is linked to speculation, trading volume, and information arrival. It also discusses recent trends in forecasting volatility, along with the newly cultivated trading platform of volatility derivatives.

Given the current state of high levels of volatility in global stock markets, money managers, financial institutions, investment banks, financial analysts, and others need to improve their understanding of volatility. Examining key aspects of stock market volatility, this comprehensive reference offers novel suggestions for accurately assessing the field.

Essential Reading on an Expanding Phenomenon The recent growth in mergers and acquisitions worldwide has been accompanied by a resurgence in insider trading on a scale not witnessed since the 1980s takeovers boom. Given the greater emphasis on insider trading in the global securities markets, this text combines the latest law and finance research on this ever-intriguing area with timely, expert perspectives to comprehensively cover the established US, European, and Asia-Pacific securities markets, as well as the key emerging markets of Brazil and the greater China region. Addresses These Fundamental Questions: What are the relative costs and benefits of insider trading? What is the rationale for criminalizing insider trading? Should insider trading that causes security prices to rise be subjected to harsher criminal and civil sanctions than trading that decreases securities costs? Examines Newsworthy and Recent Case Histories This text brings together econometric analysis of insider trading with qualitative papers that focus on insider trading regulation. This combination of legal and economic perspectives makes Insider Trading: Regulation and Analysis a useful reference not only for financial academics, but also securities attorneys and managers and those involved with corporate governance. Recently, the SEC Chairman called insider trading a major risk for US financial markets - a public acknowledgement that the prosecution of insider trading is a priority for the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This speaks to the need for this publication as a guide to the wide-reaching and highly relevant area of insider trading. .

Essential Reading on an Expanding Phenomenon The recent growth in mergers and acquisitions worldwide has been accompanied by a resurgence in insider trading on a scale not witnessed since the 1980s takeovers boom. Given the greater emphasis on insider trading in the global securities markets, this text combines the latest law and finance research on this ever-intriguing area with timely, expert perspectives to comprehensively cover the established US, European, and Asia-Pacific securities markets, as well as the key emerging markets of Brazil and the greater China region. Addresses These Fundamental Questions: What are the relative costs and benefits of insider trading? What is the rationale for criminalizing insider trading? Should insider trading that causes security prices to rise be subjected to harsher criminal and civil sanctions than trading that decreases securities costs? Examines Newsworthy and Recent Case Histories This text brings together econometric analysis of insider trading with qualitative papers that focus on insider trading regulation. This combination of legal and economic perspectives makes Insider Trading: Regulation and Analysis a useful reference not only for financial academics, but also securities attorneys and managers and those involved with corporate governance. Recently, the SEC Chairman called insider trading a major risk for US financial markets - a public acknowledgement that the prosecution of insider trading is a priority for the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This speaks to the need for this publication as a guide to the wide-reaching and highly relevant area of insider trading. .

Asia'smiraculous recovery from the 1997 crisis ushered in unexpected transformations to its economies and financial sectors. Thereasonsmany Asian countries are growing above 6%, with double-digit growth for a year or two in-between, are investigated by this extensive research collection.The "Handbook of Asian Finance" covers the most interesting issues raised by these growth rates. From real estate prices and the effects of trading technologies for practitioners to tax evasion, market manipulation, and corporate governance issues, expert scholars analyze the ways that the region is performing. Offering broader and deeper coverage than other handbooks, the "Handbook of Asian Finance" explains what is going on in Asia today.
Devotes significant attention to the systematic risk created by banks exposure to links between real estate and other sectors Explores the implications implicit in the expansion of sovereign funds and the growth of the hedge fund and real estate fund management industries Investigates the innovations in technology that have ushered infaster capital flow and larger trading volumes"

This comprehensive examination of short selling, which is a bet on stocks declining in value, explores the ways that this strategy drives financial markets. Its focus on short selling by region, its consideration of the history and regulations of short selling, and its mixture of industry and academic perspectives clarify the uses of short selling and dispel notions of its destructive implications. With contributions from around the world, this volume sheds new light on the ways short selling uncovers market forces and can yield profitable trades.
Combines academic and professional research on short selling in all major financial marketsEmphasizes details about strategies, implementations, regulation, and tax advantagesChapters provide summaries for readers who want up-to-date maps of subject landscapes

Handbook of Frontier Markets: Evidence from Asia and International Comparative Studies provides novel insights from academic perspectives about the behavior of investors and prices in several frontier markets. It explores finance issues usually reserved for developed and emerging markets in order to gauge whether these issues are relevant and how they manifest themselves in frontier markets. Frontier markets have now become a popular investment class among institutional investors internationally, with major financial services providers establishing index-benchmarks for this market-category. The anticipation for frontier markets is optimistic uncertainty, and many people believe that, given their growth rates, these markets will be economic success stories. Irrespective of their degrees of success, The Handbook of Frontier Markets can help ensure that the increasing international investment diverted to them will aid in their greater integration within the global financial system.

This book proposes new methods to value equity and model the Markowitz efficient frontier using Markov switching models and provide new evidence and solutions to capture the persistence observed in stock returns across developed and emerging markets.

The Handbook of Investors' Behavior during Financial Crises provides fundamental information about investor behavior during turbulent periods, such the 2000 dot com crash and the 2008 global financial crisis. Contributors share the same behavioral finance tools and techniques while analyzing behaviors across a variety of market structures and asset classes. The volume provides novel insights about the influence and effects of regional differences in market design. Its distinctive approach to studies of financial crises is of key importance in our contemporary financial landscape, even more so since the accelerated process of globalization has rendered the outbreak of financial crises internationally more commonplace compared to previous decades.

Handbook of Frontier Markets: The European and African Evidence provides novel insights from academic perspectives about the behavior of investors and prices in several frontier markets. It explores finance issues usually reserved for developed and emerging markets in order to gauge whether these issues are relevant and how they manifest themselves in frontier markets. Frontier markets have now become a popular investment class among institutional investors internationally, with major financial services providers establishing index-benchmarks for this market-category. The anticipation for frontier markets is optimistic uncertainty, and many people believe that, given their growth rates, these markets will be economic success stories. Irrespective of their degrees of success, The Handbook of Frontier Markets can help ensure that the increasing international investment diverted to them will aid in their greater integration within the global financial system.

International taxation is evolving in response to globalization, capital mobility, and the increased trade in services, and introduces international tax practitioner, student and researcher to the theory, practice, and international examples of the changing landscape.
Models of tax competition in a flat and connected world are very different than those necessary to ensure compliance in a world dominated by cross-border flows of goods and repatriation of profits. Taxes on consumption, e-commerce, and services are looming innovations in future of international taxation. Tax coordination and standardization are immense challenges in a world in which the movement of value is increasingly subtle and hard to detect. And as corporations and individuals become more sophisticated in the internationalization of flows of capital, our models must become more sophisticated in their scope and inclusion.
In the era when trade was dominated by the exchange of manufactured goods, international taxation was designed to protect domestic industries, create tax revenue, prevent evasion, and promote compliance. The traditional toolbox of customs duties, tariffs, and taxes on repatriated profits must be augmented as the movement of goods across borders represents a much smaller fraction of trade and as international taxation policy is increasingly used to attract foreign corporations rather than discourage branch offices. International taxation models that can better tax services, track international flows of capital, and allow a nation to compete in a world market for capital formation are the tools of the modern tax practitioner.
International tax policy is now viewed as an integral part of economic policy. This approach is bound to accelerate as the world becomes increasingly flat and better connected. Economic progress is more and more influenced by the movement of services and information, movements that are no longer through ports but through fiber optic lines.
This book contributes to the growing literature on international taxation by bringing together theory and experience, current practices and innovation, and our current understanding of some of the challenges now facing and arguably frustrating current international taxation policy. The book will create new avenues of research for scholars, a new awareness for students of International Taxation, and new possibilities for international tax practitioners. The models and examples presented here suggest that there are serious problems with measurability of flows of services and information, and points to an increasingly need for greater harmonization of international taxation, perhaps through coordinated consumption-tax oriented approaches.

* Describe the rapidly evolving role of International Taxation in a globalizing information economy
* Present theoretical models that act as the basis for successful international tax competition
* Describe the experiences and innovations of representative internationalized countries
* Discuss some new approaches to International Taxation
* Makes the case for new models of international taxation in an increasingly global information world

This comprehensive examination of high frequency trading looks beyond mathematical models, which are the subject of most HFT books, to the mechanics of the marketplace. In 25 chapters, researchers probe the intricate nature of high frequency market dynamics, market structure, back-office processes, and regulation. They look deeply into computing infrastructure, describing data sources, formats, and required processing rates as well as software architecture and current technologies. They also create contexts, explaining the historical rise of automated trading systems, corresponding technological advances in hardware and software, and the evolution of the trading landscape. Developed for students and professionals who want more than discussions on the econometrics of the modelling process, The Handbook of High Frequency Trading explains the entirety of this controversial trading strategy.

The use of financial concepts and tools to shape development is hardly new, but their recent adoption by advocates of sustainable environmental management has created opportunities for innovation in business and regulatory groups. The Handbook of Environmental and Sustainable Finance summarizes the latest trends and attitudes in environmental finance, balancing empirical research with theory and applications. It captures the evolution of environmental finance from a niche scholarly field to a mainstream subdiscipline, and it provides glimpses of future directions for research. Covering implications from the Kyoto and Paris Protocols, it presents an intellectually cohesive examination of problems, opportunities, and metrics worldwide.