In this paper we exploit a fundamental difference between positive and negative rare events to explain the value premium. We show that if booms are expected but do not occur, average in-sample returns will be lower for assets that are exposed to booms than for those that are not. We build a...

After laying dormant for more than two decades, the rare disaster framework has emerged as a leading contender to explain facts about the aggregate market, interest rates, and financial derivatives. In this paper we survey recent models of disaster risk that provide explanations for the equity...