We develop a finite-sample procedure to test for mean-variance efficiency and spanning without imposing any parametric assumptions on the distribution of model disturbances. In so doing, we provide an exact distribution-free method to test uniform linear restrictions in multivariate linear...

We formalize the idea that the financial sector can be a source of non-fundamental risk. Households' desire to hedge against price volatility can generate price volatility in equilibrium, even absent fundamental risk. Fearing that asset prices may fall, risk-averse households demand safe assets...

Trust companies generate leverage cycle dynamics by intermediating less regulated credit to the financial markets in China. We find that the leverage factor constructed from trust companies can explain the time-series and cross-sectional asset returns. The leverage factor derived from securities...

In this paper we introduce a discrete time pricing model for a European call option when the log-return of the underlying stock (asset) is subject to discontinuous market regime type of shifts in its mean or volatility whose risk can be priced in the market. The paper shows how to estimate this...

There is a myriad of financial anomalies in the cross-section of equity returns. They have been widely studied in the literature, which gives investors a large choice in terms of investment styles. In this paper, the authors show a perhaps unappreciated quality of financial anomalies: they...

We study the problem of detecting structural instability of factor strength in asset pricing models for financial returns. We allow for strong and weaker factors, in which the sum of squared betas grows at a rate equal to and slower than the number of test assets, respectively: this growth rate...

We structurally estimate a model in which agents' information processing biases can cause predictability in firms' asset returns and investment inefficiencies. We generalize the neoclassical investment model by allowing for two biases -- overconfidence and over-extrapolation of trends -- that...

The dissertation examines the effect of counterparty risk on the price difference between defaulted US bond prices (market-based recovery) and the corresponding final CDS auction prices (auction-based recovery) during the CDS auction day for the period of 2008-2015. The counterparty risk is...

I mathematically derive, economically motivate and empirically confirm a new anomaly in credit markets based on the premise that excessive fear of default leads to an undervaluation and overvaluation of credit and duration risk, respectively. To quantify this anomaly, I introduce a new value...