This paper proposes tests of unconditional mean-variance efficiency using bootstrap method that does not depend on specific distributional assumptions. We reject the mean-variance efficiency of the CRSP value-weighted stock index for five of the seven consecutive ten-year subperiods from 1926 to...

In the three-factor model of Fama and French (1993), portfolio returns are explained by the factors Small Minus Big (SMB and High Minus Low (HML) which capture returns related to firm capitalization (size) and the book-to-market ratio (B/M). In the standard approach of the model, both the test...

Hundreds of papers and hundreds of factors attempt to explain the cross-section of expected returns. Given this extensive data mining, it does not make any economic or statistical sense to use the usual significance criteria for a newly discovered factor, e.g., a t-ratio greater than 2.0....

We build a macroeconomic model for Switzerland, the Euro Area, and the USA that drives the dynamics of several asset classes and the liabilities of a representative Swiss (defined-contribution) pension fund. This encompassing approach allows us to generate correlations between returns on assets...

This paper shows that market breadth, i.e. the difference between the average number of rising stocks and the average number of falling stocks within a portfolio, is a robust predictor of future stock returns on market and industry portfolios for 64 countries for the period between 1973 and...

Many financial instruments are designed with embedded leverage such as options and leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs). Embedded leverage alleviates investors' leverage constraints and, therefore, we hypothesize that embedded leverage lowers required returns. Consistent with this hypothesis,...