Using the Baker, Bloom, and Davis (2013) news-based measure to capture economic policy uncertainty (EPU) in the United States, we find that EPU positively forecasts log excess market returns. A one-standard deviation increase in EPU is associated with a 1.5% increase in forecasted 3-month...

We show that global political uncertainty, measured by the U.S. election cycle, on average, leads to a fall in equity returns in fifty non-U.S. countries. At the same time, market volatilities rise, local currencies depreciate, and sovereign bond returns increase. The effect of global political...

This paper examines whether shareholder litigation contributes to the decline in U.S. stock market listings. We find that higher litigation risk induces firms to delist. We establish causality by exploiting a 1999 decision by the Ninth Circuit Court that reduced litigation risk. The effect is at...

We study performance and competition among high-frequency traders (HFTs). We construct measures of latency and find that differences in relative latency account for large differences in HFTs' trading performance. HFTs that improve their latency rank due to colocation upgrades see improved...

How do economic agents perceive risk? We address this question through the neurosciencetheory of adaptive normalization, which predicts that after prolonged exposure to highvolatility, people perceive moderate volatility as lower than the actual level (and vice versa)due to adaptation to the...