In this paper we address three main objections of behavioral finance to the theory of rational finance, considered as “anomalies” the theory of rational finance cannot explain: (i) Predictability of asset returns; (ii) The Equity Premium; (iii) The Volatility Puzzle. We offer resolutions of...

We build an equilibrium model to explain why stock return predictability concentrates in bad times. The key feature is that investors use different forecasting models, and hence assess uncertainty differently. As economic conditions deteriorate, uncertainty rises and investors' opinions...

This paper tests the efficiency of macroeconomic forecasts, contributing to the existing literature using a rolling-event approach. We construct a monthly economic surprises index, aggregating several macroeconomic news surprises for the nine largest economic areas (G9), which we further analyze...

I use classification-based machine-learning methods to decompose 32 anomaly payoffsinto risk exposures and mispricing. The component driven by risk earns statistically insignificantreturns, despite its efficacy in explaining the time-series variation in anomaly payoffs.The mispricing component...

Average skewness, which is defined as the average of monthly skewness values across firms, performs well at predicting future market returns. This result still holds after controlling for the size or liquidity of the firms or for current business cycle conditions. We also find that average...

We compare the stock return forecasting performance of alternative payout yields. The net payout yield produces more accurate forecasts relative to alternatives, including the traditional dividend yield. This remains true even after excluding several years during the Great Depression when...

We investigate the prediction of excess returns and fundamentals by financial ratios – dividend-price ratio, earnings-price ratio, and book-to-market ratio – by decomposing financial ratios into a cyclical component and a stochastic trend component. We find both components predict excess...

This paper examines to what extent the momentum spread ratio (MSR) can predict momentum profits. The momentum spread ratio as a potential proxy of investor underreaction can significantly predict the momentum, industry momentum, and residual momentum, especially after 1994, suggesting that...

This paper studies the effect of new fund flows on investment behavior and the resulting equilibrium price of risk. The Small Fund Industry model shows equilibria with overinvestment in unprofitable and underinvestment in profitable investment opportunities. The Large Fund Industry model derives...

The existence of a premium to momentum portfolios, formed by buying recent winners and selling recent losers is widely accepted, although the source of the returns remains controversial. It remains a focus of behavioural finance. We focus on one set of explanations, based on prospect theory,...