Abstract
With the daily and minutely data of the German DAX and Chinese indices, we investigate how the return-volatility correlation originates in financial dynamics. Based on a retarded volatility model, we may eliminate or generate the return-volatility correlation of the time series, while other characteristics, such as the probability distribution of returns and long-range time correlation of volatilities etc., remain essentially unchanged. This suggests that the leverage effect or anti-leverage effect in financial markets arises from a kind of feedback return-volatility interactions, rather than the long-range time correlation of volatilities and asymmetric probability distribution of returns. Further, we show that large volatilities dominate the return-volatility correlation in financial dynamics.