IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/1340.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Opportunity cost and prudentiality : an analysis of futures clearinghouse behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Baer, Herbert L.
  • France, Virginia G.
  • Moser, James T.

Abstract

Margin deposits, which serve as collateral to protect the clearinghouse, are typically the most important tool for risk management. The authors develop a model that explains how creating a futures clearinghouse may allow traders simultaneously to reduce both the risk of default and the total amount of margin that members post. Optimal margin levels are determined by the need to balance the deadweight costs of default against the opportunity cost of holding additional margin. Both costs are a consequence of market participants'imperfect access to capital markets. The simultaneous reduction in default risk and in the opportunity cost of margin deposits is possible because the creation of the clearinghouse facilitates multilateral netting. The authors characterize the conditions under which multilateral netting will dominate bilateral netting. They also show that it is credible for the clearinghouse to expel members who default, further reducing the risk of default. Finally, they show that it may (but need not) be optimal for the clearinghouse to monitor the financial condition of its members. If monitoring occurs, it will reduce the amount of margin required, but need not affect the probability of default. The empirical tests run by the authors indicate that the opportunity cost of margin plays an important role in determining margin. The relationship between volatility and margins indicates that participants face an upward-sloping opportunity cost for margin, which appears to more than offset the effects that monitoring and expulsion would be expected to have on margin setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Baer, Herbert L. & France, Virginia G. & Moser, James T., 1994. "Opportunity cost and prudentiality : an analysis of futures clearinghouse behavior," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1340, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1340
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1994/08/01/000009265_3970716141602/Rendered/PDF/multi_page.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brennan, Michael J., 1986. "A theory of price limits in futures markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 213-233, June.
    2. Herbert L. Baer & Virginia G. France & James T. Moser, 1993. "Opportunity cost and prudentiality: a representative-agent model of futures clearinghouse behavior," Working Paper Series, Issues in Financial Regulation 93-18, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    3. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    4. Craine, Roger, 1992. "Are Futures Margins Adequate?," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt30c296g3, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    5. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    6. Bollerslev, Tim & Chou, Ray Y. & Kroner, Kenneth F., 1992. "ARCH modeling in finance : A review of the theory and empirical evidence," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1-2), pages 5-59.
    7. Calomiris, Charles W & Hubbard, R Glenn, 1995. "Internal Finance and Investment: Evidence from the Undistributed Profits Tax of 1936-37," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(4), pages 443-482, October.
    8. Roger Craine., 1992. "Are Futures Margins Adequate?," Economics Working Papers 92-192, University of California at Berkeley.
    9. Barone-Adesi, Giovanni & Whaley, Robert E, 1987. "Efficient Analytic Approximation of American Option Values," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(2), pages 301-320, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. James T. Moser, 1998. "Contracting innovations and the evolution of clearing and settlement methods at futures exchanges," Working Paper Series WP-98-26, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    2. Broussard, John Paul & Booth, G. Geoffrey, 1998. "The behavior of extreme values in Germany's stock index futures: An application to intradaily margin setting," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 393-402, February.
    3. James J. McAndrews & William Roberds, 1999. "Payment intermediation and the origins of banking," Staff Reports 85, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    4. Moser, James T, 1998. "Contracting Innovations and the Evolution of Exchange Clearinghouses," MPRA Paper 35202, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kuan, Chung-Ming & Yeh, Jin-Huei & Hsu, Yu-Chin, 2009. "Assessing value at risk with CARE, the Conditional Autoregressive Expectile models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 150(2), pages 261-270, June.
    6. Randall Kroszner, 2000. "Lessons from Financial Crises: The Role of Clearinghouses," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 18(2), pages 157-171, December.
    7. Broussard, John Paul, 2001. "Extreme-value and margin setting with and without price limits," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 365-385.
    8. Chen, Yan & Yu, Wenqiang, 2020. "Setting the margins of Hang Seng Index Futures on different positions using an APARCH-GPD Model based on extreme value theory," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 544(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cotter, John & Longin, Francois, 2004. "Margin setting with high-frequency data," MPRA Paper 3528, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2006.
    2. John Cotter & Francois Longin, 2011. "Margin Requirements with Intraday Dynamics," Working Papers 200519, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    3. Christian Keuschnigg & Evelyn Ribi, 2013. "Profit taxes and financing constraints," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(5), pages 808-826, October.
    4. Marco Becht & Carlos D. Ramírez, 2003. "Does Bank Affiliation Mitigate Liquidity Constraints? Evidence from Germany's Universal Banks in the Pre‐World War I Period," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(2), pages 254-272, October.
    5. David Bates & Roger Craine, 1998. "Valuing the Futures Market Clearinghouse's Default Exposure During the 1987 Crash," NBER Working Papers 6505, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Sofie Balcaen & Sophie Manigart & Hubert Ooghe, 2011. "From distress to exit: determinants of the time to exit," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 407-446, August.
    7. Oleksandr Shcherbakov, 2022. "Firm‐level investment under imperfect capital markets in Ukraine," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 227-255, February.
    8. Randall S. Kroszner & Philip E. Strahan, 1999. "Bankers on Boards: Monitoring, Conflicts of Interest, and Lender Liability," NBER Working Papers 7319, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Paul Mizen & Cihan Yalcin, 2006. "Monetary Policy, Corporate Financial Composition and Real Activity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 52(1), pages 177-213, March.
    10. Kenneth A. Carow & Edward J. Kane & Rajesh P. Narayanan, 2005. "Winners and Losers from Enacting the Financial Modernization Statute," NBER Working Papers 11256, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Gabriele Angori & David Aristei, 2020. "Heterogeneity and state dependence in firms’ access to credit: Microevidence from the euro area," SEEDS Working Papers 0220, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Feb 2020.
    12. Houston, Joel & James, Christopher & Marcus, David, 1997. "Capital market frictions and the role of internal capital markets in banking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 135-164, November.
    13. Kyoji Fukao & Kiyohiko Nishimura & Qing-Yuan Sui & Masayo Tomiyama, 2005. "Japanese Banks’ monitoring activities and the performance of borrower firms: 1981–1996," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 337-362, December.
    14. Lim, Terence & Lo, Andrew W. & Merton, Robert C. & Scholes, Myron S., 2006. "The Derivatives Sourcebook," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 1(5–6), pages 365-572, April.
    15. Bacchetta, Philippe & Caminal, Ramon, 2000. "Do capital market imperfections exacerbate output fluctuations?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 449-468, March.
    16. Peter M. Demarzo & Michael J. Fishman & Zhiguo He & Neng Wang, 2012. "Dynamic Agency and the q Theory of Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(6), pages 2295-2340, December.
    17. Mark Gertler, 1988. "Financial structure and aggregate economic activity: an overview," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 559-596.
    18. Antoine Faure- Grimaud & Roman Inderst, 2005. "Conglomerate Entrenchment under Optimal Financial Contracting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 850-861, June.
    19. Ramey, Valerie, 1993. "How important is the credit channel in the transmission of monetary policy?," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-45, December.
    20. Kashefi Pour, Eilnaz & Lasfer, Meziane, 2019. "Taxes, governance, and debt maturity structure: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 136-161.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1340. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.