Front cover -- Research in Finance -- Copyright page -- Contents -- List of Contributors -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Competition in IPO Underwriting: Time Series Evidence -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Sample Description -- 3. Trends in IPO Characteristics -- 4. IPO Underwriting Spreads -- 5. Conclusions -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 2. Can Delegating Bank Regulation to Market Forces Really Work? -- 1. The model -- 2. The Bank's Quality Decision with no Monitoring -- 3. The Bank's Quality Decision with Direct Monitoring -- 4. The Bank's Quality Decision in the Absence of Direct Monitoring -- 5. An Alternative Mechanism: Solving the Moral Hazard Problem -- 6. Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 3. Internal Model-Based Capital Standard and the Cost of Deposit Insurance -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The Model -- 3. Numerical Analysis -- 4. Conclusion -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 4. Lead Lenders and Loan Pricing -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Bank, Borrower, Non-Price Loan Characteristics -- 3. Data -- 4. Empirical Results -- 5. Conclusions -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 5. Regional Economic Conditions and Aggregate Bank Performance -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Literature Review -- 3. Data -- 4. Traditional Micro-Level View -- 5. Aggregate Evidence of a Relationship -- 6. Forecasts of Relative State Rankings of Bank Condition -- 7. Conclusion -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 6. Who Benefits More from Global Diversification? an Over-Time Perspective -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Literature Reviews -- 3. Measures of the Global Diversification Benefits -- 4. Data -- 5. Empirical Results -- 6. Constraints of Weighting and Feasibility of Strategies -- 7. Conclusions -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- References.

Chapter 7. Overreaction and Seasonality in Asian Stock Indices: Evidence from Korea, Hong Kong and Japan -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Background -- 3. Analysis of Overreaction -- 4. Analysis of Seasonality Patterns -- 5. Summary and Conclusions -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 8. A Mean-Gini Approach to Asset Allocation Involving Hedge Funds -- The Gini coefficient -- Data -- Methodology -- Hedge funds -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 9. Incentive Stocks and Options with Trading Restrictions: Not as Restricted as we Thought -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Optimal Consumption-Portfolio Strategy with a Hedging Index -- 3. Undoing the Holding Restrictions Using the Hedging Index -- 4. Conclusion -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Appendix -- Chapter 10. Board Size and Firm Performance in the Property-Liability Insurance Industry -- Introduction -- Theory and Literature Review -- Hypotheses Development, Alternative Explanations, and Control Variables -- Sample Selection, Methods, and Results -- Conclusions and limitations -- Note -- References -- Chapter 11. The Role of Higher Oil Prices: A Case of Major Developed Countries -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Changes in Inflation Expectations -- 3. Oil Prices and Inflation Expectations -- 4. Stock Market Impacts -- 5. Summary -- References -- Chapter 12. The Futures Hedging Effectiveness with Liquidity Risk Under Alternative Settlement Specifications -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The Basic Framework -- 3. Bivariate Lognormal Distributions -- 4. Hedging Under Liquidity Risk -- 5. Numerical Results -- 6. Conclusion -- Acknowledgments -- References.