We develop and implement methods for determining whether introducing new securities or relaxing investment constraints improves the investment opportunity set for prospect investors. We formulate a new testing procedure for prospect spanning for two nested portfolio sets based on subsampling and...

Assuming that probabilities (capacities) of events are random, this paper introduces a novel model of decision making under ambiguity, called Shadow probability theory, a generalization of the Choquet expected utility. In this model, probabilities of observable events in a subordinated...

We investigate whether alternative asset classes should be included in optimal portfolios of the most prominent investor personae in the Behavioral Finance literature, namely, the Cumulative Prospect Theory, the Markowitz and the Loss Averse types of investors. We develop a stochastic spanning...

Realized divergence gauges the distinct realized moments associated with time-varying uncertainty and is tradeable with divergence swaps engineered from delta-hedged option portfolios. Consistently with established notions of symmetry in arbitrage-free option markets, implied divergence...

This paper deals with the use of the CAPM for capital budgeting purposes. Four different measures are deductively drawn from this model: the disequilibrium Net Present Value, the equilibrium Net Present Value, the disequilibrium Net Future Value, the equilibrium Net Future Value. While all of...

The “market” is too complex to model deterministically, and as a result it is impossible to deterministically and accurately price assets within the market. Nevertheless, the vast majority of financial asset pricing models, such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), are employed as...

We provide a data-driven adjustment for estimated betas that leads to material improvements in the accuracy of weights and risk forecasts for minimum variance portfolios. Like the widely used Blume 2/3 rule and Vasicek correction developed in the 1970s, our beta adjustment operates by shrinking...

The paper compares three portfolio optimization models. Modern portfolio theory (MPT) is a short-horizon volatility model. The relevant time horizon is the sampling interval. MPT is myopic and implies that investors are not concerned with long-term variance or mean-reversion. Intertemporal...

We build regression trees to determine which firm characteristics are most likely to drive future returns. Out of 30 attributes, those related to momentum appear to have, by far, the most marked impact. This prominence is verified at the sector level as well. The second order effects are...