A recent literature in finance concerns a curious recurring feature of estimated pricing kernels. Classical theory dictates that the pricing kernel { defined loosely as the ratio of Arrow security prices to an objective probability measure { should be a decreasing function of aggregate...

We study the dependence properties of stationary Markov chains generated by Archimedean copulas. Under some simple regularity conditions, we show that regular variation of the Archimedean generator at zero and one implies geometric orgodicityof the associated Markov chain. We verify our...

We consider writing a derivative contract on some underlying asset in such a way that the derivative contract and underlying asset yield the same payo� distribution after one time period. Using the Hardy-Littlewood rearrangement inequality, we obtain an explicit solution for the cheapest...

We study the asymptotic properties of a class of statistics used for testing the null hypothesis that an ordinal dominance curve is concave. The statistics are based on the Lp-distance between the empirical ordinal dominance curve and its least concave majo- rant, with 1 ≤ p ≤...

This paper proposes a nonparametric test for conditional independence that is easy to implement, yet powerful in the sense that it is consistent and achieves root-n local power. The test statistic is based on an estimator of the topological "distance" between restricted and unrestricted...

This paper examines a contractual settingwith unverifiable investment and a durable trading opportunity, in which trade can take place in any one of an infinite number of periods. The contractual setting features cross-investment, meaning that the seller’s investment affects the...

In the classic Arrow-Debreu model, the existence of money is not accommodated. However, using trading post market segmentation and requiring budget balance in each pair-wise transaction the model can converge to monetary equilibrium. Uniqueness of the common medium of exchange (commodity money)...

This paper examines a class of contractual relationships with specific investment, a non-durable trading opportunity, and renegotiation. FurtheringWatson’s (2007) line of analysis, trade actions are modeled as individual and trade-action-based option contracts are explored. Simple tools...

The paper develops the Öxed-smoothing asymptotics in a two-step GMM framework. Under this type of asymptotics, the weighting matrix in the second-step GMM criterion function converges weakly to a random matrix and the two-step GMM estimator is asymptotically mixed normal. Nevertheless, the Wald...

The federal government offers an array of tax-based aid student aid programs designed to lower the cost of postsecondary attendance. Many taxpayers are eligible for more than one program, yet they are limited to one program per student per year. Analyzing a unique panel dataset of individual...