We show that time-variation in macroeconomic uncertainty affects asset prices. Consumption volatility is a negatively priced source of risk for a wide variety of test assets. At the firm level, exposure to consumption volatility risk predicts future returns, generating a spread across quintile...

We embed a structural model of credit risk inside a dynamic continuous-time consumption-based asset pricing model, which allows us to price equity and corporate debt in a unified framework. Our key economic assumptions are that the first and second moments of earnings and consumption growth...

I provide new evidence on the failure of the Q-theory. The Q-theory implies the state-by-state equivalence of stock and investment returns -- a important implication of many asset pricing models. Using aggregate US data, I find there exists a realistic parameterization of the aggregate...

We study the impact of time-varying macroeconomic conditions on optimal dynamic capital structure and the aggregate dynamics of firms in a cross-section. Our structural-equilibrium framework embeds a contingent-claim corporate financing model within a standard consumption-based asset-pricing...

We show that labor search frictions are an important determinant of the cross-section of equity returns. Empirically, we find that firms with low loadings on labor market tightness outperform firms with high loadings by 6% annually. We propose a partial equilibrium labor market model in which...

This paper shows that standard disaster risk models are inconsistent with the behavior of stock market volatility and credit spreads during disasters. We resolve this shortcoming by incorporating persistent macroeconomic crises into a structural credit risk model. The model successfully captures...