We derive the optimal portfolio of longevity products during the retirement phase. The households health state moves stochastically and the longevity products are priced consistent with equilibrium in the insurance market. The household has recursive preferences, which allows us to study the...

bond markets calibrated to match the increase in foreign ownership of U.S. Treasury and agency debt from 2000-2007 generates an increase in national price-rent ratios comparable to that observed in U.S. data over this period. Moreover, in a simulated transition for the period 2000-2009, the...

A contentious debate in finance revolves around whether investment managers add any value for their clients. Presumably, households delegate the investment decision because these managers are able to process information and use it efficiently to generate additional return. The raises the...

Evidence of stock return predictability by financial ratios is still controversial, as documented by inconsistent results for in-sample and out-of-sample regressions and by substantial parameter instability. This paper shows that these seemingly incompatible results can be reconciled if the...

In a model with housing collateral, the ratio of housing wealth to human wealth shifts the conditional distribution of consumption growth. In the model, a decrease in house prices reduces the collateral value of housing, increases household exposure to idiosyncratic risk, reduces the amount of...

We develop a pair of risk measures for the universe of health and longevity products that includes life insurance, annuities, and supplementary health insurance. Health delta measures the differential payoff that a policy delivers in poor health, while mortality delta measures the differential...

We show that firms' idiosyncratic volatility in returns and cash flows obeys a strong factor structure. We find that the stocks of firms with large, negative common idiosyncratic volatility (CIV) factor betas earn high average returns. The CIV beta quintile spread is 6.4% per year. To explain...