Risk-averse expected utility maximization implies that the pricing kernel must be a non-increasing function of aggregate wealth. However, empirical research has found that the pricing kernel frequently displays a locally increasing portion in aggregate wealth. This is known as the pricing kernel...

This paper studies the long-run risk embedded in the news about future investment-specific technology (IST). The IST news shock, which reflects future technological improvements in the production of investment goods such as computers, machines, and equipment, causes persistent future consumption...

Standard representative-agent models fail to account for the weak correlation between stock returns and measurable fundamentals, such as consumption and output growth. This failing, which underlies virtually all modern asset-pricing puzzles, arises because these models load all uncertainty onto...

We show that geographical variation in the level of investor sophistication influences local asset prices. Investors in less sophisticated regions exhibit stronger trading correlations, and correspondingly, the returns of firms headquartered in less sophisticated areas are more strongly...

Contrarian investors attempt to buy low and sell high in stock markets. They may demand gold to secure their gains when they sell their winning portfolios, as they need marketable securities. On the other hand, when investors find an opportunity to buy stocks at lower prices, they may demand...

Four new prominent asset pricing factors have recently been proposed. We test whether these factors fulfill necessary conditions for qualifying those as risk factors. We show that the investment and betting-against-beta factors fulfill these conditions. However, the profitability and quality...

We examine the connection between tail risk — as measured in Kelly and Jiang (2014) — and the cross-section of expected returns. In conditional predictive regression systems and vector-autoregressions of the market portfolio and the long- and shoresides of the Fama-French factor portfolios,...

Short rebate fees are a strong predictor of the cross-section of stock returns, both gross and net of fees. We document a large "shorting premium": the cheap-minus-expensive-to-short (CME) portfolio of stocks has a monthly average gross return of 1.31%, a net-of-fees return of 0.78%, and a 1.44%...

We incorporate joint learning about state and parameter into a consumption-based asset pricing model with rare disasters. Agents are uncertain whether a negative shock signals the onset of a disaster or how much long-term damage a disaster will cause and they update their beliefs over time. The...