The predictability of the market return and dividend growth is addressed in an equilibrium model with two regimes. A state variable that drives the conditional means of the aggregate consumption and dividend growth rates follows different time-series processes in the two regimes. In linear...

We document that leverage-adjusted returns on S&P 500 index call and put portfolios are decreasing in their strike-to-price ratio over 1986-2010, contrary to the prediction of the Black-Scholes-Merton model. We test a large number of plausible unconditional factor models and find that only...

We present evidence that the equity premium and the premium of value stocks over growth stocks are explained in the 1982 1996 period with a stochastic discount factor (SDF) calculated as the weighted average of individual households' marginal rate of substitution with low and economically...

The puzzle that the market-wide price-dividend ratio predicts neither the market return nor dividend growth in linear regressions is addressed in an equilibrium model with two regimes where the process of the conditional mean of dividend growth is more predictable in one regime than in the...

We show that shocks to household consumption growth are negatively skewed, persistent, countercyclical, and drive asset prices. We construct a parsimonious model where heterogeneous households have recursive preferences. A single state variable drives the conditional cross-sectional moments of...

I estimate welfare benefits of eliminating idiosyncratic consumption shocks in the US unrelated to the business cycle as 50-59% of household utility and benefits of eliminating idiosyncratic shocks related to the business cycle as lower than 3% of utility. Estimates of the former exceed earlier...

Previous research finds correlation between sentiment and future economic growth, but disagrees on the mechanism that explains this result. In this paper, we shed new light on this issue by exploiting cross-country variation in sentiment and market efficiency. We find that sentiment shocks in G7...

Proposals that portion of the Social Security Trust Fund assets be invested in equities entail the possibility that a severe decline in equity prices renders the Fund assets insufficient to provide the currently mandated level of benefits. In this event, existing taxpayers may be compelled to...

The predictability of the market return and dividend and consumption growth is addressed in an equilibrium model with two regimes. A state variable that drives the conditional means of the aggregate consumption and dividend growth rates follows different time-series processes in the two regimes....