We propose an alternative approach to the linear factor model to estimate and decompose asset risk premia in empirical asset pricing. To resolve the high-dimensional sort difficulty in forming characteristic-based benchmark portfolios, we introduce a benchmark combination model (BCM) that...

We introduce a class of interpretable tree-based models (P-Tree) for analyzing (unbalanced) panel data, with iterative and global (instead of recursive and local) split criteria. We apply P-Tree to split the cross section of asset returns under the no-arbitrage condition, generating a stochastic...

We develop a new class of tree-based models (P-Tree) for analyzing (unbalanced) panel data utilizing global (instead of local) split criteria that incorporate economic guidance to guard against overfitting while preserving interpretability. We grow a P-Tree top-down to split the cross section of...