In this paper I investigate the relation between macroeconomic risk and higher-moment risk premia. I use existing methodology on higher-moment swaps and estimate the excess returns for variance and skewness swaps. I also introduce new methodology for kurtosis swaps. The expected excess returns...

A large literature suggests that the expected equity risk premium is countercyclical. Using a variety of different measures for this risk premium, we document that it also exhibits growth asymmetry, i.e. the risk premium rises sharply in recessions and declines much more gradually during the...

The paper investigates the determinants of the idiosyncratic volatility puzzle by allowing linkages across asset returns. The first contribution of the paper is to show that portfolios sorted by increasing indegree computed on the network based on Granger causality test have lower expected...

This paper studies the long-run risk embedded in the news about future investment-specific technology (IST). The IST news shock, which reflects future technological improvements in the production of investment goods such as computers, machines, and equipment, causes persistent future consumption...

We propose new systematic tail risk measures constructed using two different approaches. The first extends the canonical downside beta and co-moment measures, while the second is based on the sensitivity of stock returns to innovations in market crash risk. Both tail risk measures are associated...

I document that US financial uncertainty shocks, measured by an unexpected increase in VIX, have a substantial impact on the output of emerging market economies (EMEs) without material impact on US output during the last two decades. To understand this puzzling phenomenon, I propose an...

I develop a framework of the build-up and outbreak of financial crises in an asymmetric information setting. In equilibrium, two distinct economic states arise endogenously: normal times – periods of modest investment, and booms – periods of expansionary investment. Normal times occur when...

Human capital embodies the knowledge, skills, health and values that contribute to making people productive. These qualities, however, are hard to measure, and quantitative studies of human capital are typically based on the valuation of the lifetime income that a person generates in the labor...

We constructed a new index of global uncertainty using the first principal component of the stock market volatility for the largest 15 economies. We evaluate the impact of global uncertainty on the global economy using the new global database from Global Economic Indicators (DGEI), Federal...

This paper analyzes how the risks of nominal and inflation-indexed Treasury bonds vary with the presence of supply and demand shocks through the lens of a small-scale New Keynesian model with habit formation preferences, where investors become more risk averse following adverse economic shocks....