In this article we formulate and solve the optimal design problem of a defined contribution public pension fund, in a highly stylized but still rather general non stationary framework. We adopt the viewpoint of a benevolent social planner who aims at treating in a fair manner the successive...

We investigate the effect of including variance derivatives as calibration and hedging instruments for pricing and hedging exotic structures. This is studied empirically using market data for SPX and VIX derivatives applied in a stochastic volatility jump diffusion model

We derive the total variance risk premium for an index in the stochastic environment of Driessen, Maenhout and Vilkov (2009) and correct the previous authors omission of certain components which contribute significantly to index option expected returns. This study provides a mathematically...

Households that contemplate moving to different cities or trading up/down in the future are exposed to substantial housing risk. In order to mitigate this risk, we derive optimal portfolios using CME housing futures. Housing investment risk is hedged by selling housing futures amounting to the...

We examine the pricing of volatility risk in the cross-section of equity Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) stock returns over the 1996 – 2010 period. We consider both aggregate (systematic) volatility and firm-specific (idiosyncratic) volatility. In contrast to the negative and significant...

The term structure of equity risk has been shown to be downward sloping. We capture this feature using return dynamics driven by both a transitory and a permanent component. We study the asset allocation and portfolio performance when transitory and permanent components cannot be observed and...

We examine whether climate change news risk is priced in corporate bonds. We estimate bond covariance with climate change news index and find that bonds with a higher climate change news beta earn lower future returns, consistent with the asset pricing implications of demand for bonds with high...

The high cost of capital for firms conducting medical research and development (R&D) has been partly attributed to the government risk facing investors in medical innovation. This risk slows down medical innovation because investors must be compensated for it. We propose new and simple financial...

We show that inflation risk is priced in stock returns and that inflation risk premia in the cross-section and the aggregate market vary over time, even changing sign as in the early 2000s. This time variation is due to both price and quantities of inflation risk changing over time. Using a...

Because levered equity is an option on the firm, variations in asset idiosyncratic risk (ivol) induces a negative relationship between equity ivol and expected returns. We show that the effect is caused by the nonlinear payoff of equity and the law of one price, and is present in all but...