We examine asset prices in a representative-agent model of general equilibrium. Assuming only that individuals are risk … averse, we determine conditions on the changes in asset risk that are both necessary and sufficient for the asset price to … incomplete in the sense of containing an uninsurable background risk, such as a risk on labor income. We extend our model to show …

degree of pessimism of the representative agent is the mean of the individual ones weighted by their index of absolute risk …