We examine a simple measure of operating leverage: the ratio of fixed costs (measured by depreciation and amortization plus selling, general, and administrative expenses) to the market (or book) value of assets. We find that this measure of operating leverage positively predicts returns....

Stock pledged loans have become prevalent among large shareholders of listed firms in China. The largest shareholder pledges a greater fraction of her holdings as collateral for credit when the firm is in growth industries, less profitable, not state owned, and has higher leverage. Stock...

We propose that general purpose technologies (GPTs) — a class of technologies that have pervasive impacts on the economy and spill over across countries — are a source of non-diversifiable technology risk in international stock markets. We construct an empirical GPT factor from patent data...