We observe less efficient capital allocation in countries whose banking systems are more thoroughly controlled by tycoons or families. The magnitude of this effect is similar to that of state control over banking. Unlike state control, tycoon or family control also correlates with slower...

In lower-income economies, stocks exhibit less idiosyncratic volatility and business groups are more prevalent. This study connects these two findings by showing that business group affiliated firms' stock returns exhibit less idiosyncratic volatility than do the returns of otherwise similar...

Within countries, state-run banks' lending correlates with prior money growth; otherwise similar private-sector banks' lending does not. Aggregate credit and investment growth correlate with prior money growth more where banking systems are more state-run. Size and liquidity differences between...

Savings increasingly flow to low-cost index funds, which simply buy and hold the stocks in a major index, such as the S&P 500. Increased indexing impedes incorporation of idiosyncratic information into stock prices. We limit endogeneity bias by showing that exogenous idiosyncratic currency...

In Merton (1987), idiosyncratic risk is priced in equilibrium as a consequence of incomplete diversification. We modify this model to allow the degree of diversification to vary with average idiosyncratic volatility. This simple recognition results in a state-dependent idiosyncratic risk premium...

The VIX index is not traded on the spot market. Hence, in contrast to other futures markets, the VIX futures contract and spot index are not linked by a no-arbitrage condition. We examine (a) whether predictability in the VIX index carries over to the futures market, and (b) whether there is...