To price assets with a parsimonious set of factor mimicking portfolios, one typically identifies and weights well-diversified basis portfolios. Traditional weightings lead to factor mimicking portfolios that are unlikely to price even the basis portfolios they are formed from. We offer a method...

This paper examines the ability of beta and size to explain cross-sectional variation in average returns in twelve European countries. We find that average stock returns are positively related to beta and negatively related to firm size. The beta premium is in part due to the fact that high beta...