Feb. 29, 2000

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GEOFFREY POITRAS

Professor, Faculty of Business Administration

Area of Specialization: Finance



Welcome to my Old Home Page

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The Poitras Family (1997)


Those wanting to contact me by email please use poitras@sfu.ca
I can also be reached by phone at 604-291-4071



  • This page contains some academic information about yours truly and links to other parts of my web page. Enjoy!?!



  • Here are links to academic parts of my Web Page

     Class Notes and Assignments

    Research Page

    Wendy's project

    Links to parts of my web page with a more recreational flavour can be found at the end of this document





  • Academic Qualifications and Contributions

  • Post-Secondary Degrees

    Columbia U., Ph.D., (Economics) 1986
    Columbia U., M.Phil. (Economics) 1981
    McMaster U., M.A. (Economics) 1979
    Dalhousie U., B.A. (First Class Honours, Economics) 1977.


    Published and Other Significant Completed Research:


  • Published Books


    Geoffrey Poitras, Risk Managment, Speculation and Derivative Securities New York: Academic Press, 2002.

    Geoffrey Poitras, The Early History of Financial Economics, 1478-1776: From Commercial Arithmetic to Life Annuities and Joint Stocks, Aldershot, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2000.


  • Refereed Publications


    Geoffrey Poitras, Trevor Wilkins and Y.S. Kwan, "Earnings Management and the Timing of Asset Sales", Journal of Business Finance and Accounting (2002) 29: 903-34.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Short Sales Restrictions and Rights Issues on the Stock Exchange of Singapore", Pacific Basic Journal of Finance , (2002) 10: 141-62.

    Geoffrey Poitras and John Heaney, "Skewness Preference, Mean-Variance and the Demand for Put Options", Managerial and Decision Economics 20 (1999): 327-342.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Robert Torrens and the Evolution of the Real Bills Doctrine", Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 20 (1998): 479-98.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Spread Options, Exchange Options and Arithmetic Brownian Motion", Journal of Futures Markets, 18 (June 1998): 487-517.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "TED Tandems: Arbitrage Configurations for the US Treasury Bill/Eurodollar Futures Spread", International Review of Economics and Finance 7 (1998): 255-76.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Turtles, Tails and Stereos: Arbitrage and the Design of Futures Spread Trading Strategies", Journal of Derivatives, (Winter 1997): 71-87.

    S. Vaidhya, G. Poitras and A. Talib, "International Accounting Implications of Bond-cum-Warrant Issues", International Journal of Accounting, (May 1995).

    John Heaney and Geoffrey Poitras, "Securities Markets, Diffusion State Spaces and the Implicit Preference Function", Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 29 (June 1994): 223-239.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Shareholder Wealth Maximization, Business Ethics and Social Responsibility", Journal of Business Ethics, 13 (1994): 125-134.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Hedging and Crop Insurance", Journal of Futures Markets, 13 (June 1993): 373-388.

    Dominic Rechner and Geoffrey Poitras, "Putting on the Crush: Further Evidence on the Soybean Complex Spread", Journal of Futures Markets, 13 (Feb. 1993): 61-76.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Long Term Covered Interest Parity and the International Swap Market", Asia Pacific Journal of Management, (April 1992): 39-50.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Testing Regression Disturbances for Normality with Stable Alternatives: Further Monte Carlo Evidence", Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, (1992) 41: 109-23.

    John Heaney and Geoffrey Poitras, "Estimation of the Optimal Futures Hedge, Expected Utility and Ordinary Least Squares Regression", Journal of Futures of Markets, 11 (Oct. 1991): 603-612.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "The When-Issued Market for Government of Canada Treasury Bills", Canadian Journal of Economics, 24 (Aug. 1991): 604-621.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "The Distribution of Gold Futures Spreads", Journal of Futures Markets, (Dec. 1990): 643-659.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "The Market Value of Government of Canada Debt: A Comment on the Valuation of Non-Marketable Debt", Canadian Journal of Economics, (April 1989): 395-405.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Optimal Futures Spread Positions", Journal of Futures Markets: (April 1989): 397-412.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Do Changes In Debt Maturity Composition Affect the Term Structure? Some Canadian Evidence", Applied Economics, (April, 1989): 553-66.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "TED's and Triggers: Fundamentals of Trading the Eurodollar/U.S. Treasury Bill Futures Spread", Selected Papers of the Fourth International Futures Conference and Research Seminar, Ed. Lloyd Besant, Toronto: Canadian Securities Institute, 1989, pp. 75-88.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Arbitrage Boundaries, Treasury Bills and Covered Interest Parity", Journal of International Money and Finance, (December 1988): 429-445.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Hedging Canadian Treasury Bill Positions with US Money Market Futures", Review of Futures Markets, (Spring 1988): 176-191.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Golden Turtle Tracks: In Search of Unexploited Profits in Gold Spreads", Journal of Futures Markets: 7 (Aug. 1987): 397-412.

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Futures Hedging Policies for the South African Gold Mining Industry", South African Journal of Economics, 54 (Dec. 1986): 395-405.



  • Contributions to Papers and Proceedings

    Geoffrey Poitras, "Recent Indian Financial Market Reforms: Lessons from the North American Experience", Keynote Speech, Proceedings of the Fifth Conference of the Association of Indian Management Schools, Aug. 25-27, 1993.

    Geoffrey Poitras, Forrest Young and Amin Talib, "What Determines Audit Fees? Evidence from Singapore and Malaysia", Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Sept. 9-11, 1993, 747-56.

  • Published Book Reviews and Other Publications:

    Review of Johnson and Pazderka, "It's No Gamble: The Economic and Social Benefits of Stock Markets", Canadian Public Policy (1996): 195-6.

    Geoffrey Poitras, Trevor Wilkins and Y.S. Kwan, "Earnings Management Implications of Timed Asset Sales", The Asian Manager (forthcoming 2000).

  • Refereed (Competitive Selection) Program Appearances:

    Paper presented to the 2000 Meetings of the Canadian Economics Association in Vancouver, B.C., June 2-4, "Currency Swaps, Fully Hedged Borrowings and Long Term Forward Exchange Rates"

    Paper presented to the 1999 Meetings of the Canadian Economics Association in Toronto, Ont., May 27-30, "From Commercial Arithmetic to Life Annuities and Joint Stocks, a Chapter in the History of Financial Economics"

    Paper presented (with Trevor Wilkins) to the First Annual Research Forum, Joint Doctoral Program in Business Administration, at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, July 1, 1996 and to the Association of Deans of Southeast Asian Graduate Schools of Management Research Conference, Manilla, Phillipines, Aug. 29-31, 1996 and at the July 1997 Meetings of the Asia Pacific Finance Association in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, "The Timing of Asset Sales: Evidence of Earnings Manipulation?".

    Paper presented (with S. Vaidhya and A. Talib) to the Second Conference on Pacific Basin Business, Economics and Finance, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on May 27-8, 1994, "International Accounting Implications of Bond-cum-warrant Issues".

    Paper presented (with F. Young and A. Talib) to the 1995 Conference on Business Dynamics and Management Challenges in East Asia, at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, Nov. 24-6, 1995, "Evidence on the Determination of Audit Fees for Firms Lists on the Stock Exchange of Singapore".

    Paper presented (with F. Young and Ameen Talib) to the 1993 Conference on Asian-Pacific Financial Markets, National University of Singapore, Singapore, "What Determines Audit Fees? Evidence from Singapore and Malaysia".

    Paper presented (with John Heaney) at the 1993 Meetings of the Canadian Economics Association, Ottawa, Ont., "Semigroup Properties of Financial Valuation Operators".

    Paper presented at the 1993 Meetings of the Canadian Economics Association, Ottawa, Ont., "Public Choice, Government of Canada Debt Management and the Minimization of Interest Costs".

    Paper presented (with John Heaney) at the 1991 Meetings of the Northern Finance Asso., Montreal, Que., "Algebraic Properties of Financial Pricing Operators".

    Paper presented at the Fourth International Futures Conference and Research Seminar, Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 31, 1988, "TEDs and Triggers: Fundamentals of Trading the Eurodollar/U.S. Tbill Futures Spread."

    Paper presented to the Chicago Board of Trade, Spring Research Seminar, May 1988. Paper titled: "Hedging Canadian Treasury Bill Positions with US Money Market Futures."

    Paper presented to the meetings of the Canadian Economics Association, 1984, "Real Bills, Forced Currency and the Restriction Period in Britain".

  • Invited Program and Seminar Appearances:

    Paper presented to the Centre for Financial Engineering, National University of Singapore, Faculty Research Seminar, Feb. 18, 2000. Paper titled: "Spread Options, Exchange Options and Arithmetic Brownian Motion: Some Empirical Evidence."

    Keynote Speaker at 1993 Association of Indian Management Schools, Trivandrum, India.
    Session Chair at June 1991 Meetings of the Canadian Economics Association, Kingston, Ont.
    Discussant on paper at September 1990 Meetings of Northern Finance Association, Banff, Alta.

    Numerous workshop appearances at Indian Institute of Management--Calcutta (1993), Narsee Monjee Institute of Management--Bombay (1993), National U. of Singapore Faculty of Business Administration (1996), National University of Singapore Department of Economics and Statistics (1995, 1996, 1997), Columbia University Department of Economics (1982, 1983), St. John's U. Department of Finance and Economics (1984), Simon Fraser University Department of Mathematics and Statistics (1992), Simon Fraser University Faculty of Business Administration (1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1999), U. of Manitoba Department of Economics (1985), York University Department of Economics (1985), U. of British Columbia Department of Finance (1989), and the Bank of Canada Securities Department (1985-88).

    Other Significant Research Activities:

    Geoffrey Poitras, "A Study of Gold Futures Price Spreads", unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University, 1986.

    Geoffrey Poitras, Derivative Security Analysis, Vancouver: TK Books, 1992, 1994, 1997.



    Articles Currently in the Refereeing Process

    More information on the following can be found in my Research Page


  • Geoffrey Poitras and John Heaney, "Skewness Preference, Mean-Variance and the Optimal Demand for Options"

  • Geoffrey Poitras, Forrest Young and Amin Talib, "The Efficiency of Audit Fees? Evidence from Singapore and Malaysia"

  • John Heaney and Geoffrey Poitras, "Semigroup Properties of Financial Valuation Operators",

  • Geoffrey Poitras, "Fully Hedged Borrowing, Currency Swaps and Long-Term Covered Interest Arbitrage"

  • Geoffrey Poitras, Trevor Wilkins, and Yoke Shan Kwan, "The Timing of Asset Sales: Evidence of Earnings Manipulation?"

  • Geoffrey Poitras and Jose Tongzon, "Measuring Port Efficiency: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis"

    Current Research Projects in Preparation

  • Geoffrey Poitras, "Public Choice, Government of Canada Debt Management and the Minimization of Interest Costs",
  • Geoffrey Poitras and John Heaney, "Exogenous Variable Specification and the Small Sample Properties of Least Squares Regression Residuals"
  • Geoffrey Poitras, "Normality Testing in Small Samples: Some Monte Carlo Evidence"
  • Geoffrey Poitras, "Distribution of Financial Variables: A Monte Carlo Approach".
  • John Heaney and Geoffrey Poitras, "Pricing Crop Insurance".



  • Full-time Academic Experience


    Current Positions:


    Sept. 1998- , Professor, Faculty of Business Administration, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada

    Sept. 1991-1998 , Associate Professor, Faculty of Business Administration, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada

    May 1989-Sept. 1991, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Business Administration, Simon Fraser University

  • Courses taught:Futures and Options (DMBA and U/G), Managerial Finance (EMBA), Advanced Corporate Finance, International Financial Management, Investments, Theory of Finance (Ph.D.).

  • Previous Full-time Positions:

    Jan.-Apr. 2000, Visiting Professor of Finance, Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand.

    June 1995-1997, Senior Fellow, Department of Economics and Statistics, National University of Singapore.

    January 1995-April 1995: Visiting Professor of Finance, Joint Doctoral Program in Business Administration, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

    June 1991- May 1992: Visiting Senior Fellow, Department of Finance and Banking, Faculty of Business Administration, National University of Singapore, Singapore.

    Jan.- June 1989: Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance, Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.

    Sept. 1981- July 1985: Lecturer/Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics and Finance, College of Business Administration, St. John's U., New York City, N.Y.

  • Courses taught included: Investments, Capital and Money Markets, Money and Banking, Econometrics, Forecasting, Corporate Finance, Principles of Economics, Economic History.

  • Part-time Academic Experience

    January 1995-May 1995: part-time faculty member, Bachelor of Business Administration (English), Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand.
    Jan.-April 1988, part-time faculty member, Graduate Faculty of Administration, University of Ottawa, teaching MBA Finance.
    Sept. 1986-May 1987, part-time faculty member, Economics Dept., University of Ottawa teaching advanced undergraduate Macro/ Microeconomics.
    Summer 1982 and 1983, Summer session appointments at Columbia U.; course of instruction was 'History of Economic Thought'.

  • Significant Full-time Professional Experience

    From July 1985-December 1988, Securities Analyst, Securities Department, Bank of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.






  • Here are the links to the less academic parts of my Web page


    A warped resume

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