If yields are assumed to have an exact unit-root, it has previously been shown that the rational expectations hypothesis of the term structure (REHTS) has been rejected by single-equation tests. However, small deviations from exact unit-root produce substantial changes in the small sample...

We investigate whether the cap rate, that is, the rent-price ratio in commercial real estate incorporates information about future expected real estate returns and future growth in rents. Relying on transactions data spanning several years across fifty-three metropolitan areas in the U.S., we...

We introduce Mixed Data Sampling (henceforth MIDAS) regression models. The regressions involve time series data sampled at different frequencies. Technically speaking MIDAS models specify conditional expectations as a distributed lag of regressors recorded at some higher sampling frequencies. We...

Suppose that the equity premium is forecasted by dividend yields. Even if such a relationship does exist, there is so much noise in the equity premium that estimation, inference and forecasting cannot be carried out using the faint signal coming from the dividend yields. For analyzing...

Even if returns are truly forecasted by variables such as the dividend yield, the noise in such a predictive regression may overwhelm the signal of the conditioning variable and render estimation, inference and forecasting unreliable. Unfortunately, traditional asymptotic approximations are not...

We propose a novel approach to optimizing portfolios with large numbers of assets. We model directly the portfolio weight in each asset as a function of the asset’s characteristics. The coefficients of this function are found by optimizing the investor’s average utility of the...

We test the hypothesis that the gradual diffusion of information across asset markets leads to cross-asset return predictability. Using thirty-four industry portfolios and the broad market index as our test assets, we establish several key results. First, a number of industries such as retail,...

We find that the average excess return in the stock market is higher under Democratic than Republican presidents– a difference of 9 percent per year for the value-weighted portfolio and 16 percent for the equal-weighted portfolio. The difference is economically and statistically...

We analyze several ways of conducting long-horizon regressions, taken from the empirical literature. Asymptotic arguments are used to show that, in all cases, the t-statistics do not converge to well-defined distributions, thus explaining the tendency of long-horizon regressions to find...