This study examines how the effect of uncertainty on capital investment varies between focused firms and conglomerate segments. One advantage of conglomeration is that it gives segments access to the conglomerate's internal capital market, making them less likely to be financially constrained....

A deep-ingrained doctrine in asset pricing says that if an empirical characteristic-return relation is consistent with investor “rationality,” the relation must be “explained” by a risk (factor) model. The investment approach questions the doctrine. Factors formed on characteristics are...

We provide robust empirical evidence that uncovers the reason for the observed closer relationship between the bond market versus the equity market and the macroeconomy. Our results indicate that the tight bond market-macroeconomy link is not due to differences in the investor base, but instead...

A deep-ingrained doctrine in asset pricing says that if an empirical characteristic-return relation is consistent with investor “rationality,” the relation must be “explained” by a risk (factor) model. The investment approach questions the doctrine. Factors formed on characteristics are...

This paper explores the impact of risky asset holdings by U.S. nonfinancial firms. From the early 1990s to 2017, the share of risky securities surged from 28% to over 40% of firms' financial assets. Using a business-cycle heterogeneous firms model, I show that declining real interest rates since...