This thesis contains empirical studies of portfolio choice and asset prices. The first two chapters deal with incorporating labor supply into models traditionally only focusing on consumption. Can the risk premium on stocks be better understood when taking labor supply into account? This is the topic of the first chapter. Do possibilities of varying labor supply, and thus hedging stock market risk, help explain the stock ownership patterns of households? This question is what the second chapter tries to answer. If labor income moves with the stock market, an attempt should be made to hedge this with a lower share of stocks in the portfolio and, but do households act according to this rule? This is what the third chapter investigates. Chapter one, Labor Supply Flexibility and Portfolio Choice: Evidence from the PSID, examines the relationship between labor supply flexibility and portfolio choice. Theoretical articles have shown that, ceteris paribus, the optimal portfolio share of risky assets (stocks) increases with labor supply flexibility, due to increased possibilities of hedging financial risk by adjusting the labor supply. Using PSID household data, this hypothesis is tested using a direct measure of labor supply flexibility from survey questions. The results indicate that the total portfolio share is increased by labor supply flexibility. When separated, most of this effect seems to come from the increased probability of stock ownership due to flexible labor, rather than an increased portfolio share among stockholders. Chapter two, Can Leisure Explain the Equity Premium Puzzle? An Empirical Investigation, investigates the asset pricing properties of non-separable utility functions with consumption and leisure. The parameter restrictions needed to match the historical equity premium are explored using US data on consumption, hours and returns. Empirically, it is shown that to match the equity premium with a low level of risk aversion, consumption and leisure need to be strong complements, i.e. have a very low substitution elasticity. Chapter three, Income Risk and Stockholdings: Evidence from Swedish Microdata, examines the relationship between income risk and portfolio choice. It empirically investigates whether the stock market risk (the covariation with the stock market) in labor income is reflected by an offsetting lower share of stocks in financial portfolios, an effect that has been shown to exist in theoretical articles. Swedish microdata from HINK on households’ income and wealth are used for this purpose. In repeated cross-sections, households are divided into "portfolio cohorts" corresponding to percentiles of the share of stocks in financial assets. Income risk, i.e. the regression beta of (log) income growth on aggregate stock returns, is compared for the different groups. As predicted by theory, the results provide some support for a negative relationship between income risk and the share of stocks. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2004

Uno de los problemas principales de la literature moderna de ciclos es la imposibilidad de replicar el comportamiento de los rendimientos de activos financieros. Varios autores han incorporado mercados financieros en el modelo basico de ciclos, demonstrando que, para cualquier calibracion, este tipo de modelos predice una prima de riesgo de practicamente cero. Una de las razones del fracaso de estos modelos es que utilizan un agente representativo. En este caso los mercados financieros son completos. En esta tesis relajamos este supuesto al incorporar riesgo idiosincratico, que genera heterogeneidad entre la poblacion. Uno de los objectivos principales es ver si estas extensiones pueden ayudar a mejorar las predicciones del modelo basico con respecto a los rendimientos de activos financieros. Debemos mencionar que, desde la formulacion original de los puzzles financieros de Mehra y Prescott (85), ha surgido una enorme literatura que intenta analizar las implicaciones de modelos con heterogeneidad respecto a los rendimientos de los activos financieros. Entre otros Aiyagari and Gertler (91), Heaton and Lucas (96), Lucas (94), Marcet and Singleton (99), y Telmer (93) han estudiado este problema bajo el supuesto de que el consumo es exogeno. Si embargo, en nuestro analisis incorporamos production y por tanto ofrecemos un modelo mucho mas apropiado para estudiar los rendimientos financieros. En particular, el consumo se deriva de la maximizacion de la utilidad y por tanto no es exogeno. Ademas, el valor de las acciones se determina a traves de la optimizacion de la empresa. La presencia de un sector de produccion implica que tenemos que tratar un tema al que no se le ha dado demasiada importancia hasta ahora en la literatura. Con mercados financieros incompletos y heterogeneidad de los accionistas, el problema de maximizacion del valor de la empresa no esta bien definido. Esto significa que tenemos que incorporar objectivos que no son estandares. Una de las contribuciones importantes de este trabajo es demostrar como se puede solucionar este problema. / One of the main problems with the modern real business cycle (RBC) literature is its inability to replicate the empirical behavior of the main asset returns in the data. Several authors have incorporated financial markets into the basic model showing that, regardless of the parameterization or the incorporation of other frictions, like capital adjustment costs, these models are unable to replicate the key financial statistics in the data, predicting an equity premium which is essentially zero, and asset return volatilities that are also far from reality. One of the main reasons for the lack of success of the previous models may be the fact that they are using a representative agent environment. In this case, financial markets are effectively complete, independently of the existing asset structure. In the present thesis, this assumption is relaxed by incorporating both, idiosyncratic labor income risk and imperfect risk sharing, leading to ex-post household heterogeneity and to an incomplete financial market structure. One of the main objectives is therefore to see, if these extensions can help to improve the asset pricing implications of the standard model. We have to mention that, since the original statement of the asset pricing puzzles by Mehra and Prescott (85), there has been a large strand of literature trying to analyze the asset pricing implications of a context with household heterogeneity and incomplete financial markets. Among others, Aiyagari and Gertler (91), Heaton and Lucas (96), Lucas (94), Marcet and Singleton (99), and Telmer (93) have studied such a framework under the assumption of exogenously determined asset returns and consumption processes. Note, however, that our analysis goes one step further in the sense that it incorporates a production technology, offering a better foundation of asset prices than the standard exchange economy. In particular, consumption is derived from explicit utility maximization instead of being specified exogenously. In addition, the value of price of equity is determined endogenously via the optimization problem of the firm, which also breaks the identity between dividends and consumption processes in exchange economies. We indeed believe, that a detailed and rigorous analysis of asset pricing requires a general equilibrium model of this type. Note also that the presence of a non-trivial production sector involves addressing an important issue, which has not been given very much attention in the previous asset pricing literature. Under incomplete financial markets and household (shareholder) heterogeneity, the usual profit maximization of the firm is no longer well defined. Thus, unless one assumes that the firm is myopic, in the sense that it solves a static optimization problem by maximizing period by period profits, one has to incorporate non-standard firm objectives into the model. A second important objective or contribution of the present thesis is therefore to illustrate how to get around the problem of the firm by incorporating a firm objective which is adequate for the case in which financial markets are incomplete.

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Submitted by Daniella Santos (daniella.santos@fgv.br) on 2009-08-07T12:32:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Jivago_Vasconcelos.pdf: 444244 bytes, checksum: a4ae0c0f31d2c2371cb0e5b822e7da78 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Antoanne Pontes(antoanne.pontes@fgv.br) on 2009-08-07T17:37:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Jivago_Vasconcelos.pdf: 444244 bytes, checksum: a4ae0c0f31d2c2371cb0e5b822e7da78 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2009-08-07T17:37:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Jivago_Vasconcelos.pdf: 444244 bytes, checksum: a4ae0c0f31d2c2371cb0e5b822e7da78 (MD5) / Verdelhan (2009) shows that if one is to explain the foreign ex- change forward premium behavior using Campbell and Cochrane (1999) s habit formation model one must specify it in such a way to generate pro-cyclical short term risk free rates. At the calibration procedure, we show that this is only possible in Campbell and Cochrane s framework under implausible parameters speci cations given that the priceconsumption ratio diverges in almost all parameters sets. We, then, adopt Verdelhan s shortcut of xing the sensivity function (st) at its steady state level to attain a nite value for the price-consumption ratio and release it in the simulation stage to ensure pro-cyclical risk free rates. Beyond the potential inconsistencies that such procedure may generate, as suggested by Wachter (2006), with pro-cyclical risk free rates the model generates a downward sloped real yield curve, which is at odds with the data. / Verdelhan (2009) mostra que desejando-se explicar o comporta- mento do prêmio de risco nos mercados de títulos estrangeiros usando- se o modelo de formação externa de hábitos proposto por Campbell e Cochrane (1999) será necessário especificar o retorno livre de risco de equilíbrio de maneira pró-cíclica. Mostramos que esta especificação só é possível sobre parâmetros de calibração implausíveis. Ainda no processo de calibração, para a maioria dos parâmetros razoáveis, a razão preço-consumo diverge. Entretanto, adotando a sugestão proposta por Verdelhan (2009) - de xara função sensibilidade (st) no seu valor de steady-state durante a calibração e liberá-la apenas durante a simulação dos dados para se garantir taxas livre de risco prócíclicas - conseguimos encontrar um valor nito e bem comportado para a razão preço-consumo de equilíbrio e replicar o foward premium anomaly. Desconsiderando possíveis inconsistências deste procedimento, sobre retornos livres de risco pró-cíclicos, conforme sugerido por Wachter (2006), o modelo utilizado gera curvas de yields reais decrescentes na maturidade, independentemente do estado da economia - resultado que se opõe à literatura subjacente e aos dados reais sobre yields.

Submitted by Guilherme Kira (guilhermekira@gmail.com) on 2016-04-19T16:30:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 projeto.pdf: 1158587 bytes, checksum: b952667990d1a0e3dd53069e408c1769 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by BRUNA BARROS (bruna.barros@fgv.br) on 2016-04-26T13:25:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 projeto.pdf: 1158587 bytes, checksum: b952667990d1a0e3dd53069e408c1769 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-04-27T18:01:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 projeto.pdf: 1158587 bytes, checksum: b952667990d1a0e3dd53069e408c1769 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T18:06:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 projeto.pdf: 1158587 bytes, checksum: b952667990d1a0e3dd53069e408c1769 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-15 / As empresas de capital aberto, listadas em bolsa de valores, são naturalmente aquelas que vieram apresentando retornos superiores perante às demais empresas do seu setor. Assim, será que o viés de seleção desses ativos in uencia sigini cativamente no resultado do Equity Premium Puzzle, primordialmente lançado por Mehra and Prescott (1985)? É essa pergunta que este trabalho investiga e conclui que, sim, de fato pode haver uma in uência desse viés em explicar o Puzzle . Para isso, iremos gerar uma economia cujos ativos, por hipótese, sejam preci cados de acordo com o fator estocástico de desconto (SDF) baseado em consumo, ou seja, os modelos conhecidos como CCAPM (Consumption Capital Asset Pricing Model). Assim, essa economia será gerada via simulação de Monte Carlo, de forma que iremos construir um índice benchmark dessa economia, nos quais participariam apenas os ativos que foram historicamente mais rentáveis. Adota-se tal metodologia em paralelo à forma como os reais benchmarks são construidos (S&P 500, Nasdaq, Ibovespa), em que neles participam, basicamente, as empresas de capital aberta mais negociadas em Bolsa de Valores, que são, comumente, as empresas historicamente mais rentáveis da economia. Em sequência, iremos realizar a estimação via GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) de um dos parâmetros de interesse de uma economia CCAPM: o coe ciente de aversão relativa ao risco (CRRA). Finalmente, os resultados obtidos são comparados e analisados quanto ao viés de estimação.

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This thesis consists of three papers that makes independent contributions to the fields of forecast evaluation and financial econometrics. As such, the papers, chapter 1-3, can be read independently of each other. In Chapter 1, “Inferring an agent’s loss function based on a term structure of forecasts”, we provide conditions for identification, estimation and inference of an agent’s loss function based on an observed term structure of point forecasts. The loss function specification is flexible as we allow the preferences to be both asymmetric and to vary non-linearly across the forecast horizon. In addition, we introduce a novel forecast rationality test based on the estimated loss function. We employ the approach to analyse the U.S. Government’s preferences over budget surplus forecast errors. Interestingly, we find that it is relatively more costly for the government to underestimate the budget surplus and that this asymmetry is stronger at long forecast horizons. In Chapter 2, “Monitoring Systemic Risk”, we define systemic risk as the conditional probability of a systemic banking crisis. This conditional probability is modelled in a fixed effect binary response panel-model framework that allows for cross-sectional dependence (e.g. due to contagion effects). In the empirical application we identify several risk factors and it is shown that the level of systemic risk contains a predictable component which varies through time. Furthermore, we illustrate how the forecasts of systemic risk map into dynamic policy thresholds in this framework. Finally, by conducting a pseudo out-of-sample exercise we find that the systemic risk estimates provided reliable early-warning signals ahead of the recent financial crisis for several economies. Finally, in Chapter 3, “Equity Premium Predictability”, we reassess the evidence of out-of- sample equity premium predictability. The empirical finance literature has identified several financial variables that appear to predict the equity premium in-sample. However, Welch & Goyal (2008) find that none of these variables have any predictive power out-of-sample. We show that the equity premium is predictable out-of-sample once you impose certain shrinkage restrictions on the model parameters. The approach is motivated by the observation that many of the proposed financial variables can be characterised as ’weak predictors’ and this suggest that a James-Stein type estimator will provide a substantial risk reduction. The out-of-sample explanatory power is small, but we show that it is, in fact, economically meaningful to an investor with time-invariant risk aversion. Using a shrinkage decomposition we also show that standard combination forecast techniques tends to ’overshrink’ the model parameters leading to suboptimal model forecasts.

Le Bris a collecté environ 200 000 données sur les actions françaises entre 1854 et 1988 pour construire un indice de performances.Différents biais qui surestimaient la rentabilité dans les indices français existants sont identifiés. D’autres probables cas à l’étranger sont présentés.Sur le long terme, les actions offrent une meilleure rentabilité que les autres actifs mais sans prime particulière.Par rapport aux actions américaines, les françaises sous-performent y compris durant les périodes de paix.Le marché est très sensible aux changements de gouvernements et surperforme sous ceux de gauche.Une nouvelle méthode de détection des krachs est proposée. Elle identifie des krachs cohérents avec l’histoire.Les entreprises de services dominent la capitalisation boursière de manière quasi-continue depuis 1854.La rationalité des investissements en emprunts russes avant 1914 est démontrée grâce à une optimisation de portefeuille parmi les actifs français (action, obligation, rente) et huit emprunts d’Etats étrangers.Une nouvelle méthode de décomposition du bénéfice de diversification est proposée ; les investisseurs français étaient attirés par la faible corrélation plus que par les rentabilités étrangères supérieures avant 1914.Les actions françaises et américaines présentent une hausse de corrélation sur le long terme probablement suivant l’intégration des économies. Ainsi, l’incitation à diversifier internationalement a baissé.Le risque de marché enregistre une forte hausse durant l’entre-deux-guerres et le niveau pré-1914 n’est jamais retrouvé. Il semble lié à la fin du Gold Standard, à l’inflation et aux déficits publics.Conséquence de la hausse de ce risque commun, la corrélation entre actions françaises augmente, réduisant l’effet de diversification domestique ; a l’opposé un « super effet portefeuille » est identifiée avant 1914. / Le Bris, collecting about 200,000 data on French stocks from 1854 to 1988, builds a performance index. Several biases leading to overestimate the returns in prior French indices are demonstrated, as well as other probable examples across the globe.Over the long run, French stocks provide a better return than other assets, but without any excessive premium.Compared to US stocks, French stocks have underperformed since 1914, including during the periods of peace.The French stock market is highly sensitive to governmental changes, and overperforms under the left ones.A new method to identify market crashes is proposed. This method identifies crashes that are consistent withhistory.Firms from service industries have almost always dominated market capitalization since 1854.The rationality of the French investments in Russian bonds, before 1914, is demonstrated thanks to a portfoliooptimization among French assets (stock, bonds and corporate bonds) and eight international state bonds.A new method to decompose the benefit of diversification is proposed; before 1914, French investors wereclearly attracted by low foreign correlation rather than higher foreign returns.French and US stocks present a long-term rise in correlation, probably following the economic integration.Thus, the incentive to diversify through international markets has decreased.The market risk exhibits a significant rise during the interwar-period, and the pre-1914 level is never reachedagain. This risk appears to be linked to the end of the Gold Standard, the inflation rate and the public deficits.The consequence of the rise of this common risk is that the correlation among French stocks trend upwards, andthen, reduce the domestic portfolio effect; reversely, before 1914, a “super portfolio effect” is identified.

Universiẗat, Diss./07--Ingolstadt, 2006.