Using multiple U.S. and European data sources, we show that observed physical attributes are related to participation in financial markets. Specifically, we find that individuals who are relatively tall and of normal weight are more likely to hold stocks in their financial portfolios. We...

We examine whether the decision to participate in the stock market and other related portfolio decisions are influenced by income hedging motives. Economic theory predicts that the market participation propensity should increase as the correlation between income growth and stock market returns...

This study examines whether state-level economic conditions affect the liquidity of local firms. We find that liquidity levels of local stocks are higher (lower) when the local economy has performed well (poorly). This relation is stronger when local financing constraints are more binding, the...

Following Gabaix (2011), we identify locally-dominant firms that have a strong impact on their local macroeconomic environment, but are not among the largest 100 U.S. firms. Idiosyncratic shocks to these locally-dominant firms also propagate nationally and explain a significant portion of...

We examine the relation between cryptocurrency returns and two blockchain characteristics, computing power and network size. We show that cryptocurrency prices are cointegrated with computing power and network. Further, cryptocurrency returns have positive and significant risk exposures to...