I propose a rare disaster model of an economy where the probability and intensity of climatic disasters are proxied by CO2 levels that are determined by inputs of carbons from the firms in the economy. Disasters affect the budgets, the labor allocations and investment decisions of households; the production and investment decisions of firms; and, monetary policy. Six propositions are developed relating carbon dioxide and climatic economic damages to financial variables: the risk-free rate, the price dividend ratio, and the risk premium. The six propositions are tested empirically using a unique data set for the United States over the period from March 1958 to December 2018. The data support the six propositions. For the strongest results, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are negatively related in the long run to the risk-free rate. Carbon dioxide levels are positively related to the risk premium in the long run.

The objective of this dissertation is to study the dynamics of size and value risk premia in an equilibrium model with belief dependent preferences and to analyze the impact of investor attention on asset pricing. There is ample evidence that size and value risk premia are non-constant and vary over the business cycle. Empirical patterns, however, are unknown and traditional equilibrium models cannot fit the observed dynamic patterns. The representative agent model with belief dependent preferences is known to fit both unconditional moments such as the equity premium as well as times-series features of volatilities and market prices of risk. The basic model is extended to capture the dynamics of size and value risk premia. The representative agent in this model is a rational Bayesian decision maker who updates her beliefs continuously when new information arrives. However, information processing costs are non-zero and opportunity costs of non-continuous updating of beliefs are higher during times of crisis. In the second part of this dissertation, the representative agent model with beliefs dependent preferences is extended to incorporate the notion of investor attention. The attention version of the model is shown to increase the dynamic fit of equilibrium asset pricing quantities by dampening the volatility of bond yields, market prices of risk, and stock volatility. As such the inattention version of the model with belief dependent preferences is shown to improve the intertemporal fit. Chapter 1 provides a overview of existing studies about the dynamics of size and value risk premia and investor attention. Chapter 2 investigates the dynamic features for size and value risk premia. An asset pricing model with regime dependent risk aversion and incomplete information about economic regimes is introduced to derive closed-form formulas for market prices of risk, asset prices, their volatilities, and risk premia of value and size style indices. Both size and value risk premia vary across normal, recession and boom periods. The premia amplify in recession times but tend to reverse or disappear during boom times. Such findings match the historical performances of small-minus-big (SMB) and high-minus-low (HML) portfolios. Chapter 3 integrates investor attention into regime-switching learning model with regime-dependent risk aversion. The model provides a good fit to the time series of stock volatility, bond volatility and bond yields. Investor attention at the aggregate level is captured by a new representative agent measure which combines the continuously updated beliefs about regimes of a rational Bayesian decision maker with those of a decision maker using steady state regime probabilities. The new representative agent measure can capture the scenario where investor updates her beliefs about economic regimes according to time-varying attention to the available market information. Equilibrium asset pricing quantities are obtained in closed form in the extended model with investor attention. Unconditional asset pricing model moments match their empirical counterparts including the equity premium, the stock volatility and the correlations between stock returns and consumption and dividends. Dynamics features of the data can be well captured. Stock and bond volatilities, bond yield and interest rate time series all have smaller mean square errors compared to the model which does not consider investor attentions. The scale and volatilities for these financial time series are also close to real financial data.

This dissertation consists of two chapters. The first chapter shows that the measurement errors in betas for stocks induce corresponding measurement errors in alphas and a spurious negative covariance between the estimated betas and alphas across stocks. This negative covariance between the estimated betas and alphas results in a violation of the independence assumption between the independent variable (betas) and error terms in the Fama-MacBeth regressions of tests of the CAPM, thereby creating a downward bias in the estimated market risk premiums. The procedure of using portfolio returns and betas does not necessarily eliminate this bias. Depending upon the grouping variable used to form portfolios, the negative covariance between estimated betas and alphas can be increased, decreased, and can even be made positive. This paper proposes two methods for correcting the downward bias in the estimated market risk premium. The estimated market risk premiums are consistent with the CAPM after the proposed corrections. The second chapter provides evidence that when the ex-post market risk premium is positive (up markets), the relation between returns and betas is positive, significant, and consistent with the CAPM. However, when the ex-post market risk premium is negative (down markets), the negative relation between betas and returns is significant, but stronger than what is implied by the CAPM. This strong negative relation offsets the positive relation, resulting in an insignificant relation between returns and betas for the overall period. The negative relation between size and returns, after controlling for beta differences, is present only when the ex-post market risk premium is negative, and is responsible for the negative relation for the overall period. This paper decomposes the negative relation between size and returns after controlling for beta differences into the intercept size effect (relation between alphas of stocks and their size) and the residual size effect (relation between residuals of stocks and their size). The asymmetrical size effect between up and down market is being driven by the residual size effect. Long term mean reversion in returns explains, in part, the negative relation between size and returns during down markets. / Ph. D.

No / We compare actual and calibrated values for the foreign exchange risk premium based on the definition in [J. Int. Econ. 32 (1992) 305]. Calibrated values are found from within a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model of a small open economy consisting of risk averse optimizing agents with unconventional preferences. We find that the equilibrium foreign exchange risk premium is a function of exogenous shocks in the model and is sensitive to assumed attitudes towards risk. Furthermore, various forms of policy uncertainty improve the capacity of the model to generate values closer to those found in the data.

The thesis investigates if investors on the Swedish Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Stockholm, are compensated with a premium for holding shares in family firms due to family-specific agency costs between 2015 to 2019. The thesis uses a portfolio-based approach where the risk-adjusted returns are calculated with the Fama-French three-factor model and the Carhart’s four-factor model. A portfolio consisting of family firms displays a positive weekly alpha between 0,14 to 0,21 percent, 7,28 to 10,92 percent on a yearly basis, indicating a premium for holding shares in family firms. Additionally, the results show that firms where families control a majority of the votes lead to higher abnormal returns. A portfolio consisting of family firms with over 50 percent voting rights generate abnormal returns of 0,16 to 0,26 percent weekly, and 10,92 to 13,52 percent yearly. Higher abnormal returns when the control is higher further implies that investors are compensated with a premium for family-specific agency costs when buying shares in family-controlled firms.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis paper is to evaluate what the current market practice of real estatevaluation and investment decisions is when it comes to different leasing risks and the risk premium.With regard to some of the ongoing trends within real estate, it is believed that investor preferencesaffect the market practice and the underlying theories of valuation does not fully comply to the currentmarket practice. Method: The implementation of the method is stage wise. At first already existing research andliterature was evaluated and triangulated to find relevant knowledge as basis for the theoreticalframework. Afterwards an analysis was performed to answer whether there is a research gap or not.By analyzing the literature, a research gap as well as potential problems related to leasing risks wasfound. The second phase consisted of a qualitative method where experts in the field were interviewedregarding leasing risk to evaluate whether the problem exist in practice or only in literature.Experts on the topic also helped to develop the questions consequently delivered to the interviewees.The mentioned strategy was done with guidance of our tutor Han-Suck Song at KTH and DanielHolmkvist at CBRE. Interviews: Nine interviews were conducted where experts in the business (consultants and propertyfirms) participated to deliver different perspectives on the research question. All interviews were madein Stockholm and held in Swedish and afterwards translated to English. Results: The results consist of the answers from the interview-part, where the relevant findings weresummarized and pin-pointed with regard to the respective field of business and property segment.The general themes that arose throughout the methods are presented, as well as the extremes in termsof opinions and answers. It was found that there is a clear relationship between the leasing risk and therisk premium for commercial real estate. The relationship depends on several factors such asgeographical location, the different submarkets and finally the segment. A municipal- or corporate bondcannot be fully comparable to a leasing contract but for a 20 year or longer contract where the tenant ispublicly financed, the contract can become an interesting investment alternative due to the currentinterest rate cycle. Finally the leasing contract needs to be more effortless to liquidate in order to becomparable to the bond situation. Scientific relevance: The recent transaction activity on the Swedish real estate market has been ratherdefensive for multiple segments the last twelve months with an exception of community properties.A common understanding is that such objects feature “stable tenants” and are viewed as a safeinvestment by the market. This investment practice raises the awareness of what a stable tenant is, andhow the consultants and property owners’ reason during investments and appraising decisions.This research paper illustrates that a common perception on the subject is that the risk exposurecompletely depends on the specific segments, location or contract length etc. The academic researchexplains the theory behind how to derive the discount rate for an investment decision, however thisstudy has during the literature review proven that several important concepts are left out in the theorypartand thus does not fully cover phenomena’s that investors and appraisers are exposed to duringmarket practice. The most critical part is how to relate leasing risk to the risk premium on the Swedishmarket. Since this study focuses on specifically the Swedish market it is crucial to relate to suitableliterature review for further discussions. On foreign markets, more rigid literature on the subject wasfound. / Syfte: Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka vad den aktuella marknadspraxisen inomfastighetsvärdering samt investeringsbeslut är gällande olika nivåer av hyresgästrisker och riskpremie. Metod: Genomförandet av undersökningen har gjorts i två steg. I ett första steg har tidigare forskninginom ämnet analyserats för att finna relevant teori samt identifiera eventuella forskningsgap. Efteranalysen konstaterades ett uppenbart informationsgap inom litteraturen relaterat till hyresgästrisker.Den andra fasen bestod av en kvalitativ metod där experter inom området har intervjuats gällandehyresgästrisker, för att utvärdera om problemet finns i praktiken eller endast i teorin. För att konstruerafrågorna fick vi assistans av experter inom ämnet via våra handledare Han-Suck Song, KTH och DanielHolmkvist, CBRE. Intervjuer: Nio intervjuer genomfördes med experter inom ämnet där både konsulter ochfastighetsägare deltog för att presentera olika synvinklar på problemet. Samtliga intervjuer ärgenomförda i Stockholm och på svenska. Intervjuavsnitten har översatts till engelska i efterhand. Resultat: Resultatavsnittet består av de svar som har erhållits från intervjuerna, där relevantaresonemang har summerats och noggrant strukturerats för att koppla marknadsområden till korrektfastighetssegment. Återkommande teman och ämnen har presenterats i resultatavsnittet, så väl somavvikande uppfattningar. Resultatet visar att det finns ett tydligt samband mellan riskpremium ochhyresgästrisker gällande kommersiella fastigheter. Sambandet beror på ett flertal faktorer där läge ochfastighetssegment har störst inverkan på riskpremien. Gällande obligationsmarknaden går det inte attlikställa ett hyresavtal med en obligation under något förhållande. Däremot om avtalet avser enkontraktslängd på 20 år eller längre och en offentligt finansierad hyresgäst så kan kassaflödet bli ettintressant investeringsalternativ till befintliga obligationer på marknaden. Detta beror till stor del pånuvarande ränteläge. Slutligen måste ett hyresavtal bli lättare att omsätta för att kunna jämföras meden alternativ obligation. Vetenskaplig relevans: Transaktionsaktiviteten på den svenska fastighetsmarknaden har varit relativtdefensiv för flertalet segment med undantag för samhällsfastigheter de senaste tolv månaderna. Dengenerella uppfattningen är att samhällsfastigheter avser ”stabila hyresgäster” och därmed ses som enmindre riskfylld investering. Detta medför frågeställningen, vad avses för att klassificera en hyresgästsom stabil, och hur resonerar konsulter samt fastighetsägare vid investerings- och värderingsbeslut?Efter att ha genomfört undersökningen går det att konstatera att en allmän uppfattning bland experterinom området är att hyresgästrisken till största del beror på vilket segment, lokalisering ellerkontraktslängd som avses. Den akademiska litteraturen förklarar hur diskonteringsräntan härleds förinvesteringsbeslut, men denna undersökning visar att den tillgängliga litteraturen antingen utelämnarflera viktiga koncept eller inte tillräckligt belyser fenomen som investerare och värderare möter i sittpraktiska arbete. Det grundläggande avsnittet som svensk litteratur till viss del utelämnar är sambandetmellan risk premium och hyresgästrisk på specifikt den svenska marknaden. Det finns utländsk litteratursom belyser denna typ av frågeställningar, men just för den svenska marknaden är litteraturen till vissdel ej tillräcklig och därmed har ett potentiellt forskningsgap inom området identifieras.

在觀察匯率市場是否具有效率性時，大部分文獻透過檢定「遠期匯率是否為未來即期匯率的不偏估計值」來驗證，然而實證結果多不支持。探究原因後，部分學者於是提出，可能是在效率市場的假設上出了問題。原效率市場假設理性預期與風險中立，可是在現實生活中，人們的行為大多顯現風險趨避的特質，學者因而推論「風險溢酬的存在」或許正是造成遠期匯率偏誤的原因。 　Lucas（1982）在跨期資本資產訂價理論推導中證明出，風險溢酬具有因時而異的性質。Domowitz and Hakkio（1985）對該理論做進一步設定後，得到風險溢酬為兩國間貨幣政策波動差異的函數，因而改良風險溢酬模型為受到匯率預測精確性影響，並以ARCH模型估計。 　本文承續Domowitz and Hakkio（1985）的理論設定，以市場風險解釋風險溢酬，同時引進馬可夫變換模型，用以捕捉因時而異的風險溢酬，並且將其與ARCH-M模型所估計出的風險溢酬加以比較，期望能找出一個對風險溢酬解釋力較佳的模型。

ABSTRACT INFLATION TARGETING AND FISCAL DOMINANCE: EVIDENCE FROM TURKEY SEL, TUgBA M.Sc., Department of Economics Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Erdal &Ouml / zmen September 2007, 60 pages. This study investigates the significance of fiscal dominance for an inflation targeting regime in the context of the recent Turkish experience. To this end, capital flows and country risk equations are estimated for the Turkish monthly data pertaining the inflation targeting regime implementation period. The results from the capital flows models based on portfolio approach strongly suggest that the real effective exchange rates in Turkey during the period are determined by foreign interest rates and the Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBI) but not by the domestic interest rates in the long run. This supports the view that the risk premium channel dominates the standard portfolio channel in the determination of real exchange rates in Turkey during the period. The country risk of Turkey, proxied by the EMBI spread in the long run is determined by risk appetite of foreign investors and domestic variables including real debt stock, real consolidated budget balance, international gross reserves, current account deficits and credit ratings. All these results are found to be important manifestations of the presence fiscal dominance in Turkey. Consequently, contrary to the postulations of the conventional monetary policy transmission mechanism, interest rate increases to cope with inflationary pressures may lead to an inflation acceleration, rather than the reverse.

Day-ahead spot electricity markets are the most transparent spot markets where one can find integrated supply and demand curves of the market players for each settlement period. Since it is an indicator for the market players and regulators, in this thesis we model the spot electricity prices. Logarithmic daily average spot electricity prices are modeled as a summation of a deterministic function and multi-factor stochastic process. Randomness in the spot prices is assumed to be governed by three jump processes and a Brownian motion where two of the jump processes are mean reverting. While the Brownian motion captures daily regular price movements, the pure jump process models price shocks which have long term effects and two Ornstein Uhlenbeck type jump processes with different mean reversion speeds capturing the price shocks that affect the price level for relatively shorter time periods. After removing the seasonality which is modeled as a deterministic function from price observations, an iterative threshold function is used to filter the jumps. The threshold function is constructed on volatility estimation generated by a GARCH(1,1) model. Not only the jumps but also the mean reverting returns following the jumps are filtered. Both of the filtered jump processes and residual Brownian components are estimated separately. The model is applied to Austrian, Italian, Spanish and Turkish electricity markets data and it is found that the weekly forecasts, which are generated by the estimated parameters, turn out to be able to capture the characteristics of the observations. After examining the future contracts written on electricity, we also suggest a decision technique which is built on risk premium theory. With the help of this methodology derivative market players can decide on taking whether a long or a short position for a given contract. After testing our technique, we conclude that the decision rule is promising but needs more empirical research.

Die Risikoprämie einer Unternehmensanleihe dient prinzipiell der wirtschaftlichen Kompensation für die Übernahme zusätzlicher Risiken gegenüber den Risiken der Benchmark. Allerdings findet sich in der bisher veröffentlichen Literatur eine Vielzahl von den praktischen Messkonzepten, die in vielen Fällen nicht fehlerfrei und problemlos zustande gekommen sind. Daher ist die präzise und quantitative Messung der Risikoprämien von Unternehmensanleihen eine betriebswirtschaftliche Notwendigkeit. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden im Hinblick auf die Erreichbarkeit drei alternative Messkonzepte bezüglich der Risikoprämien von Unternehmensanleihen vorgestellt und miteinander verglichen. Einige bisherige Studien sind der Auffassung, dass die Risikoprämien von Unternehmensanleihen zumeist von den Nicht-Kreditkomponenten beeinflusst werden. Um diese Marktanomalien zu erklären, verwenden die vorliegenden Untersuchungen das statistische lineare Faktor-Modell. In diesem Zusammenhang wird die Untersuchung von LITTERMAN/SCHEINKMAN (1991) auf die risikobehafteten Unternehmensanleihen übertragen. Im Kern steht die Frage, welche Risikoarten bzw. wie viele Einflussfaktoren wirken sich auf die Risikoprämien von Unternehmensanleihen in wieweit aus. Das Ziel ist ein sparsames lineares Faktor-Modell mit wirtschaftlicher Bedeutung aufzubauen. Somit leistet diese Dissertationsschrift einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Gestaltung der Anleiheanalyse bzw. zur Portfolioverwaltung.