We investigate lead-lag relationships among country stock returns and identify a leading role for the United States: lagged U.S. returns significantly predict returns in numerous non-U.S. industrialized countries (after controlling for national economic variables and countries' own lagged...

This paper evaluates the impact of immigration on African American wages, unemployment, employment and incarceration rates using a relatively large cross-sectional data-set of 900 cities. An endemic problem potentially plaguing the cross-sectional metro approach to immigration has been...

Colorado is considering raising personal income taxes to fund a $950 million initiative. Are the increased benefits from educational attainment worth the revenue costs? This study surveys in-depth the economic literature on the impact of increased educational expenditure on future income,...

Major global events can lead to a change in the cross-country correlation of assets. Using stock prices from 25 economies, we test whether the terrorist attack in the U.S. on September 11, 2001, resulted in a contagion - an increase in correlation across global financial markets. Unlike prior...

Our study assesses the performance of portfolios formed using out-of-sample sector forecasts and past firm fundamental ratios. Portfolio allocations based on profitability measures - gross profit, operating pro fit, and EBITDA - generate performance substantially better than the benchmark....

We use machine learning tools to analyze industry return predictability based on theinformation in lagged industry returns from across the entire economy. Controlling forpost-selection inference and multiple testing, we nd significant in-sample evidence ofindustry return predictability. Lagged...

We document that several well known asset-pricing implications of accruals differ for investment and non-investment-related components. Exposure to an investment-accruals factor explains the cross-section of returns better than the accruals themselves, and this factor's returns are negatively...

Student managed portfolios offer a practical learning environment but often miss opportunities for outperformance. We provide several recommendations for structuring fund trades to enhance the pedagogical experience for the students in addition to generating alpha. A strategy that targets mid...

In this paper, we forecast industry returns out-of-sample using the cross-section of book-to-market ratios and investigate whether investors can exploit this predictability in portfolio allocation. Cash-flow and return forecasting regressions show that cross-industry book-to-market ratios...