ASJA BOSNIC
PHD CANDIDATE IN FINANCE, BI NORWEGIAN BUSINESS SCHOOL
Welcome!
I am a PhD candidate in Finance, currently working on uncertainty factor models. My areas of interest include international finance, behavioral and household finance.
CV UPDATED JAN 2024
RESEARCH
WORKING PAPER
➤ Global Uncertainty and the Cross-Section of FX Returns, 2024
I use the GEPU (global economic policy uncertainty) of Baker, Bloom and Davis (2016) in a two-factor model, and successfully price the cross-section of 6 currency portfolios sorted on forward discounts.
The factor-mimicking GEPU has a statistically significant premium of -13.8% p.a. in a sample of 48 currencies from 1990-2016, and there is a monotonic increase in the beta loadings on the portfolios. Additionally, beta-sorted portfolios have monotonically decreasing forward rates and mean excess returns. I.e., when uncertainty is high, returns are low. This is consistent with a risk-based explanation of FX returns.
Presented at the Nordic Finance Network PhD Seminar 2022
MASTER THESIS
We propose a two-factor model that uses investor uncertainty proxied by News Implied Volatility innovations (NVIX) and the dollar factor to explain the profitability of the carry trade strategy. Our model explains 86% of the variation in currency returns. The NVIX innovations factor commands a negative risk premium of 12.9% per annum. In addition, we use NVIX’s forecasting ability in carry trade returns to hedge the downside risk and improve the profitability of the carry trade strategy.
Winner of the 2020 NFI Master Thesis Award
OTHER PROJECTS
FINTECH BUSINESS PITCH
During the first Fintech class at BI Norwegian Business School, I was part of a team that developed and idea for a TaxAble app, designed to ease and simplify the process of calculating and filing household tax returns. We successfully pitched an in-depth business plan to a panel of executives and investors, who encouraged us to pursue the development of this project.