This paper studies how expected returns interact with product market competition. The model predicts that (i) competition erodes markups, such that firms are more exposed to systematic risk; (ii) the threat of entry by new firms lowers exposure to systematic risk of incumbents; and (iii) higher...

We study whether, how, and why the investment of a firm depends on the investment of other firms in the same product market. Using an instrumental variable based on the presence of local knowledge externalities, we find a sizeable complementarity of investment among product market peers, holding...