A financial instrument is a contract between individuals/parties that holds a monetary value and can be traded in the market. It is defined as a contract that gives rise to a financial asset of one entity and a financial liability or equity instrument of another entity. Most types of financial instruments provide efficient flow and transfer of capital throughout the world’s investors. Financial instruments come in many forms, which are stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), real estate investment trusts (REITs), derivatives contracts (such as options, futures, and swaps), checks, certificates of deposit (CDs), bank deposits, and loans. Lately, more new financial instruments such as floating rate bonds, deep discount bonds, revolving underwriting finance facilities, differential shares, securitized paper, collateralized debt obligations, inverse float bonds, perpetual bonds, Islamic stocks and bonds, and ethical investments such as environmental, social, and (corporate) governance (ESG) stocks and green bonds, and crypto assets have been introduced.   

Papers submitted to the Financial Instruments Section generally cover both empirical and theoretical studies analyzing any type of financial instrument and provide new contributions to the literature either through their methods or findings. Contribution can be in the form of an empirical study that scrutinizes certain feature(s) of financial instrument(s) using time series, cross-sectional, or panel datasets. Theoretical studies could cover new proposals for financial instruments or comparative analysis of currently available instruments based on an economic model or simulation analysis. The Financial Instruments section of the Forum for Economic and Financial Studies‎ aims to be a leading source of reference that provides its readers with the latest innovation in the field of Financial Instruments through publishing informative works using new empirical methodologies and theoretical models. Both research and review articles that focus on the application of the latest econometric techniques, mathematical methods, simulation, or computation are welcome.