From tools to theories: The emergence of modern financial economics

It is shown that early research in modern financial economics had substantially been driven by the application of the research strategy of economics and the use of newly developed mathematical methods. For this purpose the professionalization of business education as a consequence of changes in the U.S. economy after Word War II is presented. The emergence of professional Journals in financial economics, similar to the academic culture including the trend of applying abstract mathematical reasoning and during the war developed methods like linear programming are highlighted. Also the meaning of Milton Friedman's 1953 essay The Methodology of Positive Economics for the dominance of abstract and prediction driven research in modern financial economics gets discussed. Finally, the emergence of Harry Markowitz's paper Portfolio Selection (1952) is used to substantiate the hypothesis. --history of finance,portfolio theory,business schools,modern financial economics,modelling,theories of modern financial economics,risk management,positivism,professionalization,methodology of finance

Spurious Regressions in Financial Economics?

Even though stock returns are not highly autocorrelated, there is a spurious regression bias in predictive regressions for stock returns related to the classic studies of Yule (1926) and Granger and Newbold (1974). Data mining for predictor variables interacts with spurious regression bias. The two effects reinforce each other, because more highly persistent series are more likely to be found significant in the search for predictor variables. Our simulations suggest that many of the regressions in the literature, based on individual predictor variables, may be spurious

Reciprocity as a foundation of financial economics

This paper argues that the subsistence of the fundamental theorem of contemporary financial mathematics is the ethical concept ‘reciprocity’. The argument is based on identifying an equivalence between the contemporary, and ostensibly ‘value neutral’, Fundamental Theory of Asset Pricing with theories of mathematical probability that emerged in the seventeenth century in the context of the ethical assessment of commercial contracts in a framework of Aristotelian ethics. This observation, the main claim of the paper, is justified on the basis of results from the Ultimatum Game and is analysed within a framework of Pragmatic philosophy. The analysis leads to the explanatory hypothesis that markets are centres of communicative action with reciprocity as a rule of discourse. The purpose of the paper is to reorientate financial economics to emphasise the objectives of cooperation and social cohesion and to this end, we offer specific policy advice

PUBLIC POLICY EDUCATION ON INFLATION

Financial Economics,

ANTI-INFLATIONARY POLICIES: ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

Financial Economics,

INFLATION: HOW TO LOOK AT IT

Financial Economics,

CAPITAL MARKETS AND THE STABILITY OF THE GROWTH PROCESS

Financial Economics,

Culpability and Willingness to Pay to Reduce Negative Externalities: A Contingent Valuation and Experimental Economics Study

Financial Economics,