Two broad classes of consumption dynamics - long-run risks and rare disasters - have proven successful in explaining the equity premium puzzle when used in conjunction with recursive preference. We show that bounds a-la Gallant, Hansen and Tauchen (1990) that restrict the volatility of the...

The stock wealth-consumption ratio reflects expected stock returns and consumption growth. Because consumption growth is mostly unpredictable, much of the variation in this ratio likely reflects changing expected stock returns. In contrast, isolating expected stock return information from other...

The Baker and Wurgler (2006) sentiment index purports to measure irrational investor sentiment, while the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is designed to largely reflect fundamentals. Removing this fundamental component from the Baker and Wurgler index creates an index of investor...

Gaussian affine term structure models attribute time-varying bond risk premia to changing risk prices driven by the conditional means of the risk factors, while structural models with recursive preferences credit it to stochastic volatility. We reconcile these competing channels by introducing a...