This article empirically studies the pricing kernel implicit in option prices. Based on the cross-sectional fits alone, no significant difference can be detected between models with different factor dynamics. A cubic pricing kernel provides almost perfect fits in the sample. Nonlinearity in the...

With a view to providing economic interpretations of temporal changes in Risk-Neutral Probability Distributions (RNPDs), this article estimates RNPDs from option prices, then studies the expected excess returns on a fixed-strategy reference portfolio constructed from RNPD-defined contingent...