Intuition suggests that constraint investment strategies will result in losses due to a limited portfolio allocation. Two types of constrained assets have been particularly growing over the last few decades: Islamic Mutual Funds and Socially Responsible Mutual Funds. Although research regarding...

This paper studies portfolio optimization through improvements of ex-ante conditional covariance estimates. We use the cross-section of stock returns over a 52-year sample to analyze trading performance by implementing the machine learning algorithm of hierarchical clustering. We find that...

I build a price-ratio model based on the Campbell and Shiller (1988) decomposition to test which components of investor expectations best explains cross-sectional price differences. I evaluate the in- and out-of-sample performance of my model, which uses a higher-order expansion with an added...

In this paper, I examine the sources of momentum returns and uncover a list of intriguing features. I find that when the momentum returns are decomposed the contributions of the explained and the unexplained risk factors depend on the level of analysis, the risk factors used, and the lag...

Assuming a symmetric relation between returns and innovations in implied market volatility, Ang, Hodrick, Xing, and Zhang (2006) find that sensitivities to changes in implied market volatility have a cross-sectional effect on firm returns. Dennis, Mayhew, and Stivers (2006), however, find an...

We propose a novel factor model for option returns. Option exposures are estimated nonparametrically and factor risk premia can vary nonlinearly with states. The model is estimated using regressions, with minimal assumptions on factor and option return dynamics. Using index options, we...

We merge the literature on downside return risk and liquidity risk and introduce the concept of extreme downside liquidity (EDL) risks. The cross-section of stock returns reflects a premium if a stock's return (liquidity) is lowest at the same time when the market liquidity (return) is lowest....

Exploiting novel data from Guba forum in China, we analyze the return extrapolation in the cross-section comprehensively and relate it to return predictability and market quality. We find that investors extrapolate from past returns to form their beliefs with exponentially decaying weight and...

Conventional financial theory considers ex-ante that risk, generally measured by the volatility, has to be appropriately rewarded by expected returns. In modern financial markets, there are countless quantitative and systematic strategies which may test and eventually lead to excess returns when...