We empirically examine the effect of exposure to temporary and persistent cash flow shocks on firm investment and its link with cash holdings. Theoretical models demonstrate that an expectation channel drives a wedge between the investment effects of temporary and persistent cash flow shocks,...

Testing portfolio alpha against a linear factor model can be interpreted as a mean-variance efficiency test of the optimal portfolio of factors. For ambiguity neutral investor, adding active portfolio with statistically significant alpha always implies efficiency gain relative to the optimal...

We investigate how debt financing responds to exposure to long-lived and temporary cash flow shocks. We identify these shocks using filtering methods that we demonstrate are highly effective for corporate finance data using Monte-Carlo simulations. The long-lived and temporary shocks we identify...

The proliferation of novel preference theories in financial economics is hampered by a lack of non-experimental evidence and by the theories` additional complexity which has not been shown to be critical in applications. In this article I present arguments in support of preferences with rank...

I investigate the possibility of estimating expected return on a stock from a linear equation with known coefficients using only risk-neutral variance of return and reach a negative conclusion. The formula is not viable because: (i) its coefficients are indeterminate (unknown) and are not...

In this paper I study the implications of limited stock market participation for the equity premium. If all agents are receiving labor income and there is a small fixed cost of trading equities, then those agents with relatively low labor income choose not to participate in equity market....

This article explores the implications of additive and endogenous habit formation preferences in the context of a life-cycle model of an investor who has stochastic uninsurable labor income. To solve the model, I analytically derive the habit-wealth feasibility constraints and show that they...

When capital market is imperfect, an entrepreneur has to invest substantial personal funds to start a firm and has to bear large firm-specific risk. Furthermore, if a typical entrepreneur is risk averse, private equity should earn a premium for idiosyncratic risk. In this paper I explore the...

If an individual with expected utility and a reasonable level of wealth rejects a small actuarially favorable gamble, it implies a very high degree of risk aversion. It also predicts (counterfactually) the rejection of more sizable and very attractive bets. If additional background uncertainty...