We show that the term structure of dividend risk premia and discount rates implied by equity strip yields are downward sloping in recessions and upward sloping in expansions, a finding which is statistically significant and robust across the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Our results are based on the...

We decompose the squared VIX index, derived from US S&P500; options prices, into the conditional variance of stock returns and the equity variance premium. We evaluate a plethora of state-of-the-art volatility forecasting models to produce an accurate measure of the conditional variance. We then...