To determine whether negative shocks to specialized human capital are priced in the cross section of stock returns, this study measures shocks to industry-specific human capital by employment growth in that industry. In industries in which employment contracts, exposure to the value factor is...

The analysis in this paper shows that unpredictable variations in economic productivity may have a positive or negative effect on the average growth rate of output. This theoretical ambiguity result is not solely determined by the value of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (of...

How does risk or uncertainty in the productivity of research affect the growth rate of the economy? To answer this question, a model of endogenous technological change is used where sustained growth stems from intentional investments in R&D from profit-maximizing firms. The uncertainty arises...