We empirically show across several broad asset classes that sectoral wealth shares do not positively correlate with their risk premia---a first-order prediction of canonical equilibrium models. We then analyze the roles mean-variance and hedging demand play in accounting for sectoral shifts...

How do restrictions on labor mobility affect economic growth? We quantitatively answer this question with a dynamic agency model that jointly accounts for investment in intangible capital, knowledge spillovers, and the allocation of rents among investors and agents. Our calibration is...

Exchange rate volatility falls after a trade deal, driven by a decline in the systematic component of risk. The average trade deal increases trade by 50 percent over five years, reducing systematic risk by a third of a standard deviation across countries. We examine this connection in an...

The decade prior to the Great Recession saw a boom in global trade and rising transportation costs. High-yielding commodity exporters' currencies appreciated, boosting carry trade profits. The Global Recession sharply reversed these trends. We interpret these facts with a two-country general...

Persistent differences in interest rates across countries account for much of the profitability of currency carry trade strategies. "Commodity currencies'' tend to have high interest rates while low interest rate currencies belong to exporters of finished goods. This pattern arises in a...

I argue that intangible assets promote agency conflicts between outside investors and inside specialists. Their opacity and specialized nature provide a microfoundation for why highly intangible firms underinvest despite great valuations and profitability---a challenge for standard theories....

We develop an equilibrium model where cash holdings, costly refinancing policies, and managerial incentives are jointly determined to quantify the market's influence on management's ex ante behavior. We also derive a general formula that shows how agency and financing distortions shape payouts...