We can only estimate the distribution of stock returns but from option prices we observe the distribution of state prices. State prices are the product of risk aversion – the pricing kernel – and the natural probability distribution. The Recovery Theorem enables us to separate these so as to...

This paper develops a technique to decompose price distributions into contributions from markups and marginal cost. The estimators are then used as a laboratory to measure the relationship between increasing Chinese competition and the components of U.S. import prices. The estimates suggest that...

This paper studies the pricing of commonly used systematic risk factors across investment horizons of up to five years. In a classical one-period asset-pricing model, high expected returns are achieved only by accepting high levels of systematic risk. However, allowing for heterogeneous...

Empirical evidence shows that, in equity options markets, the slope of the skew is largely independent of the volatility level. Single-factor stochastic volatility models are not flexible enough to account for the stochastic behavior of the skew. On the other hand, multifactor stochastic...

Social and environmental ratings provided by social rating agencies are multidimensional. Using the six sub-ratings provided by the Vigeo rating agency, we perform a principal component analysis and we highlight three main socially responsible (SR) dimensions related to (1) the direct...

Fama's (1970) efficient market hypothesis (EMH) and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) jointly ascribed to Markowitz (1952), Treynor (1961), Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965) and Mossin (1966) remain the foundation of most finance and investment courses. This is surprising, given the sustained...

This study addresses the question whether the Feri Trust Rating, the Finanztest-Bewertung and the FondsNote are able to predict the future performance of German equity mutual funds. Moreover, this study analyzes whether predictability is improved significantly when combining the three fund...

We experimentally explore how common knowledge provided by accounting systems affects investors' decision and shapes the formation of security prices over time. We design alternative accounting structures and run experiments in artificial security markets framed by these structures. In sessions...

We investigate whether the effect of liquidity on equity returns can be attributed to the liquidity level, as a stock characteristic, or a market wide systematic liquidity risk. We develop a CAPM liquidity-augmented risk model and test the characteristic hypothesis against the systematic risk...

A common method for constructing equilibrium price processes in finance is to assume a price process, and then solve for the time-varying expected return. We argue that this method is potentially inconsistent with present value computations. In particular, this approach may imply that the...