We model portfolio weights as a function of latent factors that summarize the information in a large number of economic variables. This approach (hereafter diffusion index approach) offers the opportunity to exploit a much richer information base to improve portfolio selection. We use factor...

We propose a nonlinear filter to estimate the time-varying default risk from the term structure of credit default swap (CDS) spreads. Based on the numerical solution of the Fokker–Planck equation (FPE) using a meshfree interpolation method, the filter performs a joint estimation of the...

This paper finds that a model with sticky information is less successful than a standard model featuring nominal rigidities, inflation indexation, and habits in generating the dynamics triggered by technology shocks, as estimated by a vector autoregression using U.S. macroeconomic data. The real...

We introduce a dynamic banking-macro model, which abstains from conventional mean-reversion assumptions and in which—similar to Brunnermeier and Sannikov (2010)—adverse asset-price movements and their impact on risk premia and credit spreads can induce instabilities in the banking sector. To...

Empirical observations raise interesting questions regarding the sources of the excessive volatility in the R&D sector as well as the nature of the relation between the sector and aggregate fluctuations. Using US data for the period 1959–2007, we identify sectoral technology and capital...

This paper studies alternative distributions for the size of price jumps in the S&P 500 index. We introduce a range of new jump-diffusion models and extend popular double-jump specifications that have become ubiquitous in the finance literature. The dynamic properties of these models are tested...

This paper extends the forestry maximum principle of Heaps (1984) to allow the benefits of harvesting to be the utility of the volume of the wood harvested as in Mitra and Wan (1985, 1986). Unlike those authors, however, time is treated as a continuous rather than as a discrete variable....

We develop in this paper a novel portfolio selection framework with a feature of double robustness in both return distribution modeling and portfolio optimization. While predicting the future return distributions always represents the most compelling challenge in investment, any underlying...

As recent experience suggests, the most significant economic fluctuations are those that combine real and financial factors. This paper works out a simple model that couples a version of Goodwin׳s (1967) growth cycle model of real fluctuations with insights drawn from a model of financial...

In the literature, econometricians typically assume that household income is the sum of a random walk permanent component and a transitory component, with uncorrelated permanent and transitory shocks. Using data on realized individual incomes and individual expectations of future incomes from...