We find that stocks exhibiting high dispersion in analysts’ earnings forecasts do not onlyunderperform in the U.S. but also in many European countries. Testing for the dispersioneffect in many countries calls for adequate multiple testing controls and we show that theU.S. dispersion effect...

A large literature studies the predictability of stock returns by other lagged nancialvariables in a predictive regression setting. A common feature of widely used testingprocedures is a failing robustness, which may lead to misleading conclusions determinedby the particular features of a small...

This paper analyzes the relation between correlation risk and the cross-section of hedge fund returns.Legal framework and investment mandate imply that hedge funds can be severely exposed tocorrelation risk: Hedge funds ability to enter long-short positions can be useful to reduce marketbeta,...

In a Lucas orchard with heterogeneous beliefs, we study the link between market-wide uncertainty, difference of opinionsand co-movement of stock returns. We show that this link plays an important role in explaining the dynamics of equilibriumvolatility and correlation risk premia. In our...

A random variable dominates another random variable with respectto the covariance order if the covariance of any two monotone increasingfunctions of this variable is smaller. We characterize completely thecovariance order, give strong sufficient conditions for it, present a numberof examples in...

We study how the interaction of agents with different beliefs about a firm’s future cash flows determines the jointbehavior of credit spreads, option implied volatilities, and stock returns. Beliefs heterogeneity influences the pricing kernelin a way that supports more realistic credit spreads...

We propose a new continuous time framework to study asset prices under learning and ambiguity aversion. In a partial information Lucas economy with time additive power utility, a discount for ambiguity arises if and only if the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS) is above one. Then,...

We study the optimal policies and mean-variance frontiers (MVF) of a multiperiod mean-variance optimization of assets and liabilities (AL). Our model allows for a contemporaneous optimization of the balance-sheet as a whole. This makes the analysis more challenging than in a setting based on...

We study in a general perspective the partial equilibrium incentives and the general equilibrium asset pricing implications of Value-at-Risk (VaR) regulation in continuous time economies with intermediate consumption, stochastic opportunity set, and heterogenous attitudes to risk. Our findings...

We present a geometric approach to discrete time multiperiod mean variance portfolio opti-mization that largely simplifies the mathematical analysis and the economic interpretation of such model settings. We show that multiperiod mean variance optimal policies can be decom-posed in an orthogonal...