We explore the link between stock returns and changes in market capital concentration across firms. Our theory uncovers a concentration risk factor driven by time-varying changes in the distribution of market capital. A powerful implication of our theory is the necessary existence of this...

This paper introduces new techniques to obtain a closed-form rank-by-rank characterization of the equilibrium distribution of wealth in a model in which finitely lived households face uninsurable idiosyncratic investment risk. A central result is that the extent of inequality is determined...

We use the demise of silver-based standards in the 19th century to explore price dynamics when a commodity-based money ceases to function as a global unit of account. We develop a general equilibrium model of the global economy with gold and silver money. Calibration of the model shows that...

We uncover a large and significant low-minus-high rank effect for commodities across two centuries. There is nothing anomalous about this anomaly, nor is it clear how it can be arbitraged away. Using nonparametric econometric methods, we demonstrate that such a rank effect is a necessary...