2 Basic Theory 4 2.1 Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2 Arbitrage, State Prices, and Martingales . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.3 Individual Agent Optimality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.4 Habit and Recursive Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.5 Equilibrium and Pareto Optimality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.6 Equilibrium ...

This paper evaluates the specification errors of several empirical asset pricing models that have been developed as potential improvements on the CAPM. We use the methodology of Hansen and Jagannathan (J. Finance 51 (1997) 3), and the test assets are the 25 Fama-French (J. Financial Econom. 52 (1997) 557) equity portfolios sorted on size and book-to-market ratio, and the Treasury bill. We allow...

A significant problem in modern finance theory is how to price assets whose payoffs are outside the span of marketed assets. In practice, prices of assets are often assigned by using the Capital Asset Pricing Model. If the market portfolio is efficient, the price obtained this way is equal to the price of an asset whose payoff, viewed as a vector in a Hilbert space of random variables, is proje...

We find that past stock market variance forecasts excess stock market returns and that its predictive ability is greatly enhanced if the consumption-wealth ratio is also included in the forecasting equation. While the risk-return tradeoff is found negative if we use the latter as the instrumental variable for the conditional moments, the former suggests a positive one. We argue that the consump...

In this paper we derive the finite-sample distribution of the estimated weights of the tangency portfolio when both the population and the sample covariance matrices are singular. These results are used in the derivation of a statistical test on the weights of the tangency portfolio where the distribution of the test statistic is obtained under both the null and the alternative hypotheses. More...

We consider a simple CAPM with heterogenous expectations on assets’ mean returns and homogenous expectations on the covariance of returns. In this model alpha-opportunities naturally arise in a financial market equilibrium. We show that that the hunt for alpha-opportunities is a zero-sum game and that alpha-opportunities erode with the assets under management. Moreover, it is shown that a posit...

This paper explores the ability of theoretically-based asset pricing models such as the CAPM and the consumption CAPM referred to jointly as the (C)CAPM to explain the cross-section of average stock returns. Unlike many previous empirical tests of the (C)CAPM, we specify the pricing kernel as a conditional linear factor model, as would be expected if risk premia vary over time. Central to our a...

In this paper we propose a new approach to estimating systematic risk (the beta of an asset). The proposed method is based on a wavelet multiscaling approach that decomposes a given time series on a scale-by-scale basis. The empirical results from different economies show that the relationship between the return of a portfolio and its beta becomes stronger as the wavelet scale increases. Theref...

We investigate the risk-return relation in international stock markets using realized variance constructed from MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) daily stock price indices. In contrast with the capital asset pricing model, realized variance by itself provides negligible information about future excess stock market returns; however, we uncover a positive and significant risk-return tra...

Cloud computing is an emerging technology which promises to bring with it great benefits to all types of computing activities including business support. However, the full commitment to Cloud computing necessary to gain the full benefit is a major project for any organisation, since it necessitates adoption of new business processes and attitudes to computing services in addition to the immedia...