The volume includes two contributions on hedge funds. One evaluates the performance of hedge funds in market environments that are conducive to active management versus environments that are not. The other provides an empirical study of the market timing skills of hedge fund managers. Additionally, we have two contributions in the area of options. One extends the real options approach to options in which the underlying assets are information items such as seismic databases (rather than tangible real assets), opening the way for a complete analysis of investments along the so-called "Virtual Value Chain." Another offers a significant improvement in the estimation of implied volatility by developing a least-squared-error approach to the problem of "smiles and frowns." We also have an analysis of whether a firm's founders can create an artificial dividend without adversely affecting the value of the firm to other investors. From Canada, we have an empirical analysis of the current uneasy case for adding real estate investments to a portfolio. From Spain is an empirical analysis of whether earnings management activities by companies lead to an increase in qualified audit reports.

During the 1980s, and particularly since the market crash of 1987, corporations and entrepreneurs have been seeking new ways to finance the establishment and growth of new businesses. One of the outcomes of these efforts has been the hybrid security, generically called dequity because it is neither a bond nor a stock. In this work, Andrew Chen and John Kensinger examine the various forms of dequity, describing its characteristics, how it evolved, how it's being used, and what the future may hold for it.

In looking at the many financial innovations that blended the traits of debt and equity, Chen and Kensinger find three revolutionary changes that took place in the '80s: the use of debt to increase equity ownership by employees; the transfer of control over corporate resources from managers to lenders; and the shift from owning assets indirectly through corporate stock toward direct ownership of production assets by investors. They fully explore the increased specialization of roles that has resulted in employee control of companies, as well as detailing such practical issues as the tax advantage of leveraged ESOP, the value of organizational capital, innovative methods for reducing the cost of going public, and the benefits of R&D limited partnerships. This is the first book to fully analyze the development of dequity, and will be an important reference source for a variety of individuals, including investment bankers, corporate financial executives, institutional investors, and students of finance and banking.