We propose a consumption-based capital asset pricing model in which the representative agent’s preferences display state-dependent risk aversion. We obtain a valuation equation in which the vector of excess returns on equity includes both consumption risk as well as the risk associated with variations in preferences. We develop a simple model that can be estimated without specifying the functio...

I investigate empirically the ability of financial market incompleteness to help explaining the equity premium puzzle. I estimate the non-diversifiable component of the cross-sectional volatility of income and examine its cyclical properties. Equipped with these estimates, I compute the implied equilibrium Sharpe-ratio of excess returns and evaluate the ability of idiosyncratic risk to improve ...

In this paper we test for the inclusion of the bid-ask spread in the consumption CAPM, in the UK stock market over the time period of 1980-2000. Two econometric models are used; first, Fisher’s (1994) asset pricing model is estimated by GMM, and secondly, the VAR approach proposed by Campbell and Shiller is extended to include the bid-ask spread. Overall the statistical tests are unable to reje...

I review recent research efforts in the area of empirical cross-sectional asset pricing. I start by summarizing the evidence on cross-sectional return predictability and the failure of standard (consumption) CAPM models and their conditional versions to explain these predictability patterns. One response in part of the recent literature is to focus on adhoc factor models, which summarize the cr...

This paper examines option pricing in a universe in which it is assumed that markets are incomplete. It derives multiperiod discrete time option bounds based on stochastic dominance considerations for a risk-averse investor holding only the underlying asset, the riskless asset and (possibly) the option for any type of underlying asset distribution, discrete or continuous. It then considers the ...

This paper develops a nonparametric option pricing theory and numerical method for European, American and path-dependent derivatives. In contrast to the nonparametric curve fitting techniques commonly seen in the literature, this nonparametric pricing theory is more in line with the canonical valuation method developed Stutzer (1996) for pricing options with only a sample of asset returns. Unli...

The CAPM as the benchmark asset pricing model generally performs poorly in both developed and emerging markets. We investigate whether allowing the model parameters to vary improves the performance of the CAPM and the Fama-French model. Conditional asset pricing models scaled by conditional variables such as Trading Volume and Dividend Yield generally result in small pricing errors. However, a ...

Financial economists have derived equilibrium asset pricing models such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) of Sharpe (1964) and Lintner (1965) and the consumption-oriented CAPM of Breeden (1979). Subsequent work (e.g., Black, Jensen, and Scholes 1972; Fama and MacBeth 1973; Breeden, Gibbons, and Litzenberger 1989) examined the empirical performance of unconditional versions of these asse...

Modern portfolio theory is based on the relationship between risk and return and in this paper, specific uncertainty conditions are introduced as ambiguity which affects the asset pricing. Also, the relationship between risk, ambiguity and return is examined. First, ambiguity is estimated by the means of three-variable and main component method, trading volume, ask-bid spread, error of earnings...

Investors in alternative asset classes such as private equity and hedge funds have long had difficulty applying traditional models for making asset allocation decisions. The optimization techniques of modern portfolio theory rely heavily on a trio of descriptive statistics: mean, variance, and covariance. For most traditional asset classes, the abundance of historical data provides a guide for ...