Search Results
Conference Paper
Why did Europe’s productivity catch-up sputter out? a tale of tigers and tortoises
This paper takes a different approach to examining the sharp turnaround in EU relative to U. S. labor productivity growth since 1995. The vast majority of the literature focuses on the American growth revival. But close to half of the turnaround was caused by a European retardation. What caused that retardation? Our paper shows that none of the consensus explanations of the American revival provide any help at all in explaining the European retardation. It is sui generis and therein lies a tale that has not previously been told. ; Europe has faltered across the board. The deceleration of its ...
Working Paper
Long-Run Risk is the Worst-Case Scenario: Ambiguity Aversion and Non-Parametric Estimation of the Endowment Process
We study an agent who is unsure of the dynamics of consumption growth. She estimates her consumption process non-parametrically to place minimal restrictions on dynamics. We analytically show that the worst-case model that she uses for pricing, given a penalty on deviations from the point estimate, is a model with long-run risks. This result cannot in general be matched in a fixed model with only parameter uncertainty. With a single parameter determining risk preferences, the model generates high and volatile risk premia and matches R2s from return forecasting regressions, even though risk ...
Working Paper
Skewness and Time-Varying Second Moments in a Nonlinear Production Network: Theory and Evidence
This paper studies asymmetry in economic activity in a multisector model with shocks to productivity and labor wedges. Complementarity across inputs—creating nonlinear intersectoral interactions—creates negative skewness. The analysis generates additional predictions—skewness is smaller at the sector than aggregate level, sector-specific shocks are unskewed, and sector centrality rises following negative shocks—and finds empirical support for them. Skewness arising out of intersector interactions helps reconcile differences in skewness at the micro and macro level. Finally, we show ...
Working Paper
The Decline of the Variance Risk Premium: Evidence from Traded and Synthetic Options
Equity index options historically displayed sharply negative returns and CAPM alphas. This could reflect investor risk preferences or intermediary frictions. We document that over the past 15 years, option alphas have become indistinguishable from zero. We also introduce synthetic options, that, under some conditions, reflect risk preferences of the average equity investor, independent of option-market frictions. Synthetic options never, over the last 100 years, had negative alpha, indicating that equity investors never required high compensation for market downturns. An intermediary-based ...