Top Research Papers on Quantitative Finance

Quant GANs is introduced, a data-driven model which is inspired by the recent success of generative adversarial networks (GANs), and results highlight that distributional properties for small and large lags are in an excellent agreement and dependence properties such as volatility clusters, leverage effects, and serial autocorrelations can be generated by the generator function of Quant GAns, demonstrably in high fidelity.

FISH-quant v2, a highly modular tool accessible for both experts and non-experts, was validated and applied on large-scale smFISH image data sets, revealing diverse subcellular RNA localization patterns and a surprisingly high degree of cell-to-cell heterogeneity.

Abstract Biodiversity conservation will supersede climate change risk mitigation and adaptation as the next grand challenge for sustainable finance. Closing the financing gap between what is currently spent and what is needed to be spent over the next 10 years to mobilize private investment to maintain ecosystem integrity and biodiversity, and the services they provide, is estimated to exceed hundreds of billions per year. Yet there are no studies in the top tier journals in finance that have framed the risks related to biodiversity loss, how those risks might be priced, or how the private fin...

ABSTRACT DeFi (‘decentralized finance’) has joined FinTech (‘financial technology’), RegTech (‘regulatory technology’), cryptocurrencies, and digital assets as one of the most discussed emerging technological evolutions in global finance. Yet little is really understood about its meaning, legal implications, and policy consequences. In this article we introduce DeFi, put DeFi in the context of the traditional financial economy, connect DeFi to open banking, and end with some policy considerations. We suggest that decentralization has the potential to undermine traditional forms of accountabili...

In this article, we review the literature studying interactions between climate change and financial markets. We first discuss various approaches to incorporating climate risk in macrofinance models. We then review the empirical literature that explores the pricing of climate risks across a large number of asset classes, including real estate, equities, and fixed income securities. In this context, we also discuss how investors can use these assets to construct portfolios that hedge against climate risk. We conclude by proposing several promising directions for future research in climate finan...

Abstract Financial market imperfections can have significant impact on employment decisions of firms. We illustrate the economic importance of this channel by showing that employment decisions are constrained by firms’ financial health and liquidity. Our main analysis uses a collage of three “quasi-experiments” to trace the effects of finance on employment. The results suggest that financial constraints and the availability of credit play an important role in firm-level employment decisions, as well as aggregate unemployment outcomes.

Household financial decisions are complex, interdependent, and heterogeneous, and central to the functioning of the financial system. We present an overview of the rapidly expanding literature on household finance (with some important exceptions) and suggest directions for future research. We begin with the theory and empirics of asset market participation and asset allocation over the life cycle. We then discuss household choices in insurance markets, trading behavior, decisions on retirement saving, and financial choices by retirees. We survey research on liabilities, including mortgage choi...

Abstract Sustainable finance—the integration of environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) issues into financial decisions—is an increasingly important topic. Within companies, sustainability is no longer an ancillary issue confined to corporate social responsibility departments, but a CEO-level issue fundamental to the core business. Within the investment industry, sustainability used to be the exclusive domain of “socially responsible investors” who had social as well as financial objectives, but is now mainstream and includes investors with purely financial goals. This article introduces...

We review an empirical literature that studies the role of social interactions in driving economic and financial decision-making. We first summarize recent work that documents an important role of social interactions in explaining household decisions in housing and mortgage markets. This evidence shows, for example, that there are large peer effects in mortgage refinancing decisions and that individuals’ beliefs about the attractiveness of housing market investments are affected by the recent house price experiences of their friends. We also summarize recent work showing that social interactio...

The classical techniques used by the financial industry is outlined and the potential advantages and limitations of quantum techniques are discussed, as well as challenges that physicists could help tackle.

Using the panel data of A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020, we demonstrate that the WW index can characterize the level of enterprise financing constraints in China more effectively. We investigate the effect of regional digital finance (DF) development on enterprise financing constraints. This study found that DF can significantly alleviate enterprise financing constraints, and the effect is greater for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and private enterprises. DF can partially correct the size discrimination and ownership discrimination of traditional finance on private SMEs,...

This paper investigates the effects of financing constraints on prompting green innovations using a sample of Chinese listed firms in the period 2001–2017. Also, we explore how green finance policies resolve financing constraints of firms to green innovation. The capability of green innovation is found to be impaired when firms face higher financing constraints, and privately owned enterprises tend to be more vulnerable than state-owned ones in this regard. Although green finance policies can effectively ease financing restraints on green innovation overall, green credits are less likely to be...

This book introduces machine learning methods in finance. It presents a unified treatment of machine learning and various disciplines in quantitative finance, with an emphasis on how theory and hypothesis tests inform the choice of algorithm for financial data modeling and decision making.

To date, scholars working in the area of behavioral finance have mostly focused on asset pricing and portfolio theory, but less so in corporate finance. In this paper, I propose a conceptual framework for applying behavioral ideas to the main topics which comprise corporate finance, and call the approach “behavioral corporate finance.” There are two key behavioral impediments to the process of value maximization, one internal to the firm and the other external. I call the first impediment behavioral costs. In this respect, the behavioral corporate approach deals with four cases or categories, ...

Abstract We study how countries’ financial structure affects their transition to low-carbon growth. Using global industry-level data, we document that carbon-intensive industries reduce emissions faster in economies with deeper stock markets. The main channel underpinning this stylised fact is that stock markets facilitate green innovation in carbon-intensive sectors, resulting in lower carbon emissions per unit of output. More tentative evidence indicates that stock markets also help to reallocate investment towards more energy-efficient sectors. Cross-border spillovers are limited: less than...

ABSTRACT Several papers argue that financial economics faces a replication crisis because the majority of studies cannot be replicated or are the result of multiple testing of too many factors. We develop and estimate a Bayesian model of factor replication that leads to different conclusions. The majority of asset pricing factors (i) can be replicated; (ii) can be clustered into 13 themes, the majority of which are significant parts of the tangency portfolio; (iii) work out‐of‐sample in a new large data set covering 93 countries; and (iv) have evidence that is strengthened (not weakened) by th...

Textual analysis, implemented at scale, has become an important addition to the methodological toolbox of finance. In this review, given the proliferation of papers now using this method, we first provide an updated survey of the literature while focusing on a few broad topics—social media, political bias, and detecting fraud. We do not attempt to survey the various statistical methods and instead initially focus on the construction and use of lexicons in finance. We then center the discussion on readability as an attribute frequently incorporated in contemporaneous research, arguing that its ...

Planning and Control Techniques (N. Hill). Financial Forecasting (G. Parker). Financial Statement Analysis (M. Fridson & M. Marocco). Return on Investment as a Dynamic Management Process (J. Weston). An Options Approach to Corporate Finance (W. Kester). Small Business Finance: Sources of Capital (S. Appel). Cash Management (B. Stone). Management of Accounts Receivable and Payable (R. Johnson & J. Kallberg). Capital Budgeting (H. Bierman, Jr.). Mergers and Acquisitions Analysis (A. Rappaport). Leasing (J. Martin). Long-Term Sources of Funds and the Cost of Capital (T. Copeland). Dividend Policy...

We show how real and financial frictions amplify, prolong, and propagate the negative impact of uncertainty shocks. We use a novel instrumentation strategy to address endogeneity in estimating the impact of uncertainty by exploiting differential firm exposure to exchange rate, policy, and energy price volatility. We show that financially constrained firms cut investment more than unconstrained firms following an uncertainty shock. We then build a general equilibrium heterogeneous firms model with real and financial frictions, finding that financial frictions (i) amplify uncertainty shocks by d...

We develop a model in which a start-up firm issues tokens to finance a digital platform, which creates agency conflicts between platform developers and outsiders. We show that token financing is preferred to equity financing unless the platform expects strong cash flows, has large financing needs, or faces severe agency conflicts. Tokens are characterized by their utility features, facilitating transactions, and security features, granting cash flow rights. While security features trigger endogenous network effects and spur platform adoption, they also dilute developers’ equity stake and incen...