The output gap, a production-based macroeconomic variable, is a strong predictor of U.S. stock returns. It is a prime business cycle indicator that does not include the level of market prices, thus removing any suspicion that returns are forecastable due to a “fad” in prices being washed...

Within a broad sample of US manufacturing firms, we find that, controlling for investment opportunities and financial constraints, increased governance quality is associated with higher levels of investment. Increased governance quality is also associated with greater responsiveness of...

The output gap, a production based macroeconomic variable, is a strong predictor of stock and bond returns. It is a prime business cycle indicator that does not include the level of market prices, thus removing any suspicion that returns are forecastable due to a fad in prices being washed away....

The advent of the single currency within the European Union provides a natural experiment to measure how the cost of equity changes as globalization takes place. This is because the launch of the single currency has led to the elimination of currency-related restrictions on the composition of...

This paper shows that during the 1990s the process of gradual economic and monetary integration, which eventually led to EMU, also resulted in a reduction in the equity cost of capital. A similar reduction was not present in the three EU countries which chose not to enter the Eurozone. There was...

We analyze the dividend behavior of the aggregate stock market. We propose a model that assumes managers minimize the costs of adjustment associated with being away from their target dividend payout. The target is expressed as a function of lagged stock prices and permanent earnings,...

This paper introduces a novel consumption-based variable, cyclical consumption, and examines its predictive properties for stock returns. Future expected stock returns are high (low) when aggregate consumption falls (rises) relative to its trend and marginal utility from current consumption is...

The output gap, a production based macroeconomic variable, is a strong predictor of US stock returns. It is a prime business cycle indicator that does not include the level of market prices, thus removing any suspicion that returns are forecastable due to a quot;fadquot; in prices being washed...

Rapach, Ringgenberg and Zhou (2016) claim that for the sample period 1973 to 2014 "short interest is arguably the strongest known predictor of aggregate stock returns", that it "outperforms a host of popular predictors", and that it represents "informed traders who are able to anticipate changes...

Discount rate variation is driven by a short run business cycle component and a longer run trend component. This leads to state variable hedging of these two components and ICAPM logic implies a three factor model for expected returns. The factors represent cash ow news, short term discount rate...