We provide empirical evidence for the incomplete information model advanced by Merton (1987), which shows that the relation between idiosyncratic volatility (IV) and expected return is conditional on the firm's investor base. Using four different proxies for investor base, we show that...

Previous research documents that risk-arbitrageurs earn positive abnormal returns. However, this research treats the sum of two risks, deal risk and liquidity risk, as a measure of deal risk alone. We employ a forward looking measure of liquidity risk – the VIX – and we show that...

Stock market variance-return or price relations are sometimes negative and sometimes positive. We explain these puzzling findings using a model with two ("bad" and "good") variances. In the model, conditional equity premium depends positively on bad variance and negatively on good variance....