In this paper we address three main objections of behavioral finance to the theory of rational finance, considered as “anomalies” the theory of rational finance cannot explain: (i) Predictability of asset returns; (ii) The Equity Premium; (iii) The Volatility Puzzle. We offer resolutions of...

This paper determines whether the world market risk, country-specific total risk, and country-specific idiosyncratic risk are priced in an international capital asset pricing model (ICAPM). The paper also tests if the price of risk associated with each factor is common across countries....

This paper tests whether and to what extent the value premium is induced by financial inflexibility risk. In this context, financial flexibility refers to the ability of a firm to alter investment expenditure to mitigate exogenous shocks, so as to generate a smooth dividend stream. Consistent...

In this paper, we examine value and momentum effects in 18 emerging stock markets. Using stock level data from January 1990 to December 2011, we find strong evidence for the value effect in all emerging markets and the momentum effect for all but Eastern Europe. We investigate size patterns in...

In this paper, we revisit the equity premium puzzle reported in 1985 by Mehra and Prescott. We show that the large equity premium that they report can be explained by choosing a more appropriate distribution for the return data. We demonstrate that the high-risk aversion value observed by Mehra...

Monthly returns are used to estimate the single-index market model (SIMM). Binary variables are used to determine if the alpha intercept and beta slope coefficients are stable through alternating bull markets and bear markets. The results suggest that some investment analysts have fallen into...

Interest rate changes typically affect the value of equities. However, the slow movement of investment capital may delay the transmission of this information from interest rate markets to stocks. Using a century of data from sixty countries, we demonstrate that yield curve shifts predict future...

Prior research uses the basic one-period European call-option pricing model to compute default measures for individual firms and concludes that both the size and book-to-market effects are related to default risk. For example, small firms earn higher return than big firms only if they have...

This paper uses a new data set of quarterly portfolio holdings of 769 all-equity pension funds between 1985 and 1989 to evaluate the potential effect of their trading on stock prices. We address two aspects of trading by money managers: herding, which refers to buying (selling) the same stocks...