Dr Fergal O'Connor

Back
Fergal O'Connor

Contact

Programme Co-director

AL 2.27
Aras Na Laoi
University College Cork
Cork University Business School

[email protected] ResearchGate Profile https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1675773 LinkedIn profile Twitter ORCID profile https://preciousmetalsresearch.wordpress.com/

Biography

Fergal is a senior lecturer in Financial Economics and has lectured in finance and economics since 2009. He holds a PhD in Finance from Trinity College Dublin which was funded by the London Bullion Market Association. He began lecturing at UCC and went on to work at Lancashire Business School and the York Management School in the UK. He rejoined the Economics Department in UCC in 2018. 

His research interests include: the financial economics of metals, particularly the London precious metals market, Financial History, and Sustainable Finance.

He is the programme director for the MSc. Finance (Banking and Risk Management) and his teaching focus on financial economics, capital markets and econometrics.

Externally he is an external examiner for finance at the University of Northampton (UK). He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Global Commodities Applied Research Digest (GCARD) in J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities at the University of Colorado, Denver Business School, and an Associate Editor at 2 peer-reviewed ABS ranked journals: "International Review of Financial Analysis" and "Research in International Business and Finance".

He has acted as an expert academic advisor to the London Bullion Market Association and the NASDAQ on London Precious Metals market liquidity issues in relation to Bassel Financial III banking regulations and currently advises the World Gold Council on gold price forecasting.

  1. Publications
  2. Grants and Honours
  3. Other Activities
  4. Pedagogic Experiences
  5. Research Domains
  6. Thesis

Grants and Honours

  • 02/09/2019 - Honorarium from the World Gold Council for study of the Gold Market, The World Gold Council
  • 04/06/2018 - Summer Research-Intern Grant, University of York
  • 04/09/2017 - Co-Supervisor of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) PhD Bursary Holder, London Bullion Market Association
  • 02/01/2017 - Gold Fixing Data Collection Project, The Rothschild Archive
  • 04/01/2016 - Students as Researcher Scheme, York St. John University
  • 05/09/2011 - PhD Bursary Holder, LBMA, London Bullion Market Association
Back to top

Other Activities

  • 23/02/2023 - Why would anyone want to invest in gold?, RTE
  • 10/11/2022 - Analysis of Price Break Points in the EU ETS, University of Southern Denmark
  • 15/06/2022 - What drives on versus off-trade beer consumption Internationally? A Panel Analysis of 107 countries Price, Income and Cross Price Elasticity of Demand, Trinity College Dublin
  • 16/03/2022 - Quoted in Bloomberg, The $140 Billion Question: Can Russia Sell Its Huge Gold Pile?, Bloomberg
  • 01/09/2021 - External Examiner for Finance, University of Northampton
  • 21/01/2021 - Exploring the LBMA Trade Data’, London Bullion Market Association
  • 05/10/2020 - Gold - Dr. Fergal O'Connor (UCC)
  • 01/09/2020 - Dr. Fergal O'Connor (UCC)’, At the Margin: An Irish Economics Podcast, Episode 34, At the Margin: An Irish Economics Podcast
  • 25/06/2020 - Gold's Place in a Portfolio post-COVID-19, London Bullion Market Association
  • 22/04/2020 - How has gold fared as a safe haven in the pandemic?, London Bullion Market Association
  • 01/09/2019 - Modelling Gold Prices through a Supply and Demand Framework, The World Gold Council
  • 10/07/2019 - The Economic Aand Social History Society Of Ireland Confernece 2019, Economic and Social History Society of Ireland
  • 06/06/2019 - London Gold Market Liquidity, London Bullion Market Association
  • 01/04/2019 - Head of Programme - MSc. Finance (Banking and Risk Management), University College Cork
  • 01/09/2018 - Chair of Committee - CUBS Workload Distribution Committee, University College Cork
  • 19/06/2018 - The efficiency of the London Gold Market using new daily data from 1919-1968
  • 04/06/2018 - Gold Hoarding by British Investors before World War II: Were they looking for a Hedge and Safe Haven, The York Management School
  • 01/06/2018 - What happened in the gold market before 1968?, London Bullion Market Association
  • 03/01/2018 - Gold Valuation Framework, The World Gold Council
  • 01/01/2018 - I am Associate Editor at Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier
  • 01/12/2017 - Associate Editor, Elsevier
  • 16/08/2017 - The Missing London gold Fixings data: Daily 1919-1968’, The European Association for Banking and Financial History
  • 02/01/2017 - Special Issue Editor, Elsevier
  • 01/03/2016 - The Future of Money, Institute of Technology Tralee
  • 01/11/2015 - The economic impact of the UK Snooker Championship on York’s Economy, BBC
  • 01/06/2015 - Gold Prices and Extraction Costs: Testing for Causality with Country and Company Data
  • 01/06/2014 - Fixing the Fix - the arguments around reform of our century-old way of valuing gold, BBC
  • 01/06/2014 - A behavioural examination of the Forward Rate Unbiasedness Hypothesis in Precious Metals Markets’
  • 01/06/2013 - Do Bubbles Occur in Gold Prices? Evidence from Gold Lease Rates and Markov Switching Models’
  • 01/06/2012 - Gold lease rates, Gold prices and Bubbles, Trinity College Dublin
  • 01/06/2010 - A Small Open Economy Perspective on Innovation Capacities in Advanced Economies, Dublin City University
Back to top

Pedagogic Experiences

  • 2022 - Asset Pricing and Allocation, University College Cork, MSc Finance (Banking and Risk Management)
  • 2021 - Applied Econometrics, University College Cork, MSc Finance (Banking and Risk Management)
  • 2019 - Banking and Finance, University College Cork, BComm (Hons) Commerce
  • 2019 - Portfolio Analysis, University College Cork, BSc (Hons) Finance
  • 2019 - Banking and Finance, University College Cork, BComm (Hons) Commerce
  • 2018 - Portfolio Analysis, University College Cork, BSc (Hons) Finance
Back to top

Research Domains

  • Financial Economics of Precious Metals Markets
  • Financial Econometrics  
  • Behavioral Finance  
  • Alternative Investments  
  • Economic History
  • Finance  
  • Investment appraisal  
  • Valuation  
  • Share Price Behaviour  
  • Comodities
Back to top

Thesis

  • 2020 - Gold and Risk Free Assets, University of York (Thesis Primary Supervisor)
  • 2021 - Liquidity of the London Gold Market, Trinity Business School, TCD (Thesis Co-Supervisor)
  • 2018 - Financial Economics of White Precious metals, Trinity Business School, TCD (Thesis Co-Supervisor)
  • 2021 - Macroeconomic and Financial Leading Indicators of Economic Activity and Sovereign Bond Yields: A Practitioner Perspective, University College Cork (Thesis Jury member)
  • 2023 - The Role of Non-Bank Debt in the Irish SME Finance Sector, University College Cork (Thesis Reviewer)
  • 2023 - Milk Prices, University College Cork (Thesis Jury member)
  • 2026 - Interconnectedness of Global Carbon Trading Markets, University College Cork (Thesis Primary Supervisor)
Back to top

Publications

Journal article

Year Publication
2013 DOYLE, E., O'CONNOR, F. (2013). Innovation capacities in advanced economies: Relative performance of small open economies. Research in International Business and Finance. doi:10.1016/j.ribaf.2012.08.005. Details
2018 HE, Z., O'CONNOR, F., THIJSSEN, J. (2018). Is gold a Sometime Safe Haven or an Always Hedge for equity investors? A Markov-Switching CAPM approach for US and UK stock indices. International Journal of Financial Studies. doi:10.1016/j.irfa.2018.08.010. Details
2016 LUCEY, M. E., O'CONNOR, F. A. (2016). Mind the gap: Psychological barriers in gold and silver prices. Finance Research Letters. doi:10.1016/j.frl.2016.03.009. Details
2016 O'CONNOR, F., LUCEY, B. M., BAUR, D. G. (2016). Do gold prices cause production costs? International evidence from country and company data. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money. doi:10.1016/j.intfin.2015.11.001. Details
2015 O'CONNOR, F. A., LUCEY, B. M., BATTEN, J. A., BAUR, D. G. (2015). The financial economics of gold — A survey. International Journal of Financial Studies. doi:10.1016/j.irfa.2015.07.005. Details
2014 O'CONNOR, F. (2014). Rationality in precious metals forward markets: Evidence of behavioural deviations in the gold markets. Journal of Multinational Financial Management. doi:10.1016/j.mulfin.2014.06.001. Details
2014 LUCEY, B. M., LARKIN, C., O'CONNOR, F. (2014). Gold markets around the world – who spills over what, to whom, when? Applied Economics Letters. doi:10.1080/13504851.2014.896974. Details
2013 LUCEY, B. M., O'CONNOR, F. A. (2013). Do bubbles occur in the gold price? An investigation of gold lease rates and Markov Switching models. Details
2013 LUCEY, B. M., LARKIN, C., O'CONNOR, F. A. (2013). London or New York: where and when does the gold price originate? Applied Economics Letters. doi:10.1080/13504851.2012.748175. Details
2017 VIGNE, S. A., LUCEY, B. M., O'CONNOR, F., YAROVAYA, L. (2017). The financial economics of white precious metals — A survey. International Review of Financial Analysis. doi:10.1016/j.irfa.2017.04.006. Details
2020 CORBET, S., O'CONNOR, F. (2020). Where was the global price of silver established? Evidence from London and New York (1878–1953). Finance Research Letters. doi:10.1016/j.frl.2020.101626. Details
2016 LUCEY, B. M., O'CONNOR, F. (2016). Are gold bugs coherent? Applied Economics Letters, 24 (2), 90-94. doi:10.1080/13504851.2016.1164813. Details
2022 O'CONNOR, F., HE, Z., THIJSSEN, J. (2022). Identifying proxies for risk-free assets: Evidence from the zero-beta capital asset pricing model. Research in International Business and Finance, 63. doi:10.1016/j.ribaf.2022.101775. Details

Book chapter

Year Publication
2015 O'CONNOR, F., LUCEY, B. M. (2015). World Metal Markets. The World Scientific Handbook of Futures Markets. World Scientific Publishing Co. Details
2021 O'CONNOR, F., LUCEY, M. (2021). The incomplete history of “My Big Coin”. Understanding cryptocurrency fraud. De Gruyter. Details

Data set

Year Publication
2019 O'CONNOR, F. (2019). Daily London Gold Price Data – 1919-1968. Rothschild Archive.
2020 O'CONNOR, F. (2020). Monthly Silver Price (New York and London) and Dollar Sterling Exchange rate (1878-1953). Mendeley Data. Details

Magazine article

Year Publication
2019 O'CONNOR, F. (2019). What Happened in the London Gold Market during the Gold Standard: 1925 - 1931. London Bullion Market Association.
2018 O'CONNOR, F. (2018). The Formerly Missing Gold Price Data: 1919-1925. London Bullion Market Association.
2013 O'CONNOR, F. (2013). The Behaviour of the Spot and Forward Market.
2019 BLAGG, M., O'CONNOR, F. (2019). After the War is Over, The London Gold Market Reopens: 1954 – 1968. The Alchemist.
2019 O'CONNOR, F. (2019). Gold Investing/Hoarding in the Free 1930’s London Market (1931-39). The Alchemist.

Newsletter article

Year Publication
2016 O'CONNOR, F. (2016). India’s golden quest to tackle ‘black money’ and the lessons from a century ago.
2016 O'CONNOR, F. (2016). Gold Mining Costs don’t provide a floor for gold prices..
2014 O'CONNOR, F., TANKARD, W., LUCEY, B. (2014). Do extraction costs drive gold prices? The Alchemist.
2013 O'CONNOR, F., LUCEY, B. (2013). Bubbles in Gold? The Alchemist.
2012 O'CONNOR, F., LUCEY, B. (2012). Gold’s negative relationship to the US dollar. The Alchemist.
2012 LUCEY, B., LARKIN, C., O'CONNOR, F. (2012). London or New York: Where does the gold price come from? The Alchemist.
2011 O'CONNOR, F., LUCEY, B. (2011). The real price of gold. The Alchemist.

Online resource

Year Publication
2014 O'CONNOR, F. (2014). Fixing the Fix - the arguments around reform of our century-old way of valuing gold..

Report

Year Publication
2017 O'CONNOR, F. (2017). Is Inflation Hedging a reason to save in Gold? Retrieved from http://www.jpmcc-gcard.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/GCARD-Spring-2017-042017-1.pdf
Back to top