Motivated by a central banker with a symmetric but non-quadratic loss function, we show in this note that the approximations of two plausible loss functions of this type will include a quartic term. For skewed distributions, we establish that such a loss function implies a systematic inflation...

We examine whether real output forecasts obtained from the Survey of Professional Forecasters efficiently embody information in the term structure spread. To this end, we employ revised data as well as real-time vintage data, and we also allow for the possible impact of asymmetric loss...

We exploit wrinkles of a contracting framework to show how access to collateral shapes the composition of corporate borrowing and the demographics of credit access. France's Ordonnance 2006-346 repudiated the 200-year old Napoleonic security code, easing the pledge of hard assets in a country...

In this paper, we decompose return premia into day and night components based on a sample of more than 48,000 stocks from 35 countries including the United States. Day returns are higher than night returns, but have similar volatility. Payoffs to value- or equally-weighted investment strategies...

France's Ordonnance 2006-346 repudiated the notion of possessory ownership in the Napoleonic Code, easing the pledge of physical assets in a country where credit was highly concentrated. Using a differences-test strategy, we show that firms operating newly-pledgeable assets significantly...

Recent empirical studies show that statistical forecasts of a stock's return skewness negatively price stocks, apparently consistent with recent theoretical studies. While the theoretical studies, however, focus on skewness over long return horizons, the empirical studies focus on skewness over...