We show in two ways that, ceteris paribus, investors require a positive return premium for taking aggregate distress risk. First, aggregate distress risk correlates positively with future excess stock market returns. Second, stocks that provide a poor hedge against aggregate distress risk have...

Accruals correlate closely with the determinants of conditional equity premium at both the firm and the aggregate levels. The common component of firm-level accruals, which cannot be diversified away by aggregation, explains the positive relation between aggregate accruals and future stock...

As a colossal developing economy, irrational, and inefficient trades broadly exist in China's stock market and are intensified by the once-in-a-century COVID-19 pandemic. This atypical but prominent event enhances systemic risk and requires a more effective analysis tool that adapts to the...