This paper deals with the estimation of the risk-return trade-off. We use a MIDAS model for the conditional variance and allow for possible switches in the risk-return relation through a Markov-switching specification. We find strong evidence for regime changes in the risk-return relation. This...

We formalize the idea that the financial sector can be a source of non-fundamental risk. Households' desire to hedge against price volatility can generate price volatility in equilibrium, even absent fundamental risk. Fearing that asset prices may fall, risk-averse households demand safe assets...

From 2004 to 2015, the market perception of the sovereign risks of the Euro area government bonds experienced several different phases, reflected in a clear time structure of the correlation matrix between the yield changes. "Core" and "peripheral" bonds cluster in a bloc-like structure, but the...

From 2004 to 2015, the market perception of the sovereign risks of the euro area government bonds experienced several different phases, reflected in a clear time structure of the correlation matrix between the yield changes. “Core” and “peripheral” bonds cluster in a bloc-like structure,...

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 evaluate the impacts of tax policy on asset returns using the U.S. municipal bond market. In theory, tax-induced ownership segmentation limits risk-sharing, creating downward-sloping regions of the aggregate demand curve for the asset. In the data, cross-state variation in tax privilege...

We estimate consumption based asset pricing models using consumption and equity market data for fifteen countries from 1900 to 2008 in a setting where investors have recursive utility. We find strong evidence that a long-run risk consumption CAPM that prices international stock returns via their...

We test the existence of a time-series relationship between the aggregate idiosyncratic volatility and the market index return at the global level by introducing various global measures of aggregate idiosyncratic volatility. We offer four definitions of aggregate global idiosyncratic volatility...

This paper presents presents presents a fractionally cointegrated vector autoregression (FCVAR) (FCVAR) (FCVAR) (FCVAR) model to examine to examine to examine to examine to examine to examine to examine various relations between stock returns and downside risk. Evidence from major advanced...