This paper studies if the consumption-based asset pricing model can explain the cross-section of expected returns. The CRRA model and several refinements (habit persistence and idiosyncratic shocks) all imply that the conditional expected return is linearly increasing in the asset's conditional...

Survey and option data are used to take a fresh look at the equity premium puzzle. Survey data on equity returns (Livingston survey) shows much lower expected excess returns than ex post data. At the same time, option data suggests that investors perhaps overestimate the volatility of equity...

A simple consumption-based two-period model is used to study the (theoretical) effects of disagreement on asset prices. Analytical and numerical results show that individual uncertainty has a much larger effect on risk premia than disagreement if (i) the risk aversion is reasonably high and (ii)...

Nominal and real U.S. interest rates (1997-2007) are combined with inflation expectations from the Survey of Professional Forecasters to calculate time series of "inflation risk premia." It is shown that survey data on inflation and output growth uncertainty, as well as a proxy for liquidity...

The out-of-sample forecasting performance of traditional stock return models (dividend yield, t-bill rate, etc.) is compared with the forecasting performance of the Livingston survey. The results suggest that the survey forecasts are much like a "too large" forecasting model: poor performance...

We study high-frequency exchange rate movements over the sample 1993-2006. We document that the (Swiss) franc, euro, Japanese yen and the pound tend to appreciate against the U.S. dollar when (a) S&P has negative returns; (b) U.S. bond prices increase; and (c) when currency markets become more...

The effect of monetary policy on financial risk premia is analysed in a simple general equilibrium model with sticky wages and an optimising central bank. Analytical results show that equity risk premia and term premia are higher under inflation targeting than under output targeting, and that...