The Epstein-Zin model with liquidity extension

In this paper, we extend the Epstein and Zin (1989, 1991) model with liquidity risk and assess the extended model's performance against the traditional consumption pricing models. We show that liquidity is a significant risk factor, and it adds considerable explanatory power to the model. The liquidity-extended model produces both a higher cross-sectional R2 and a smaller Hansen and Jagannathan (1997) distance than the traditional consumption-based capital asset pricing model (CCAPM) and the original Epstein-Zin model. Overall, we show that liquidity is both a priced factor and a key contributor to the extended Epstein-Zin model's goodness-of-fit

Transaction costs, liquidity risk, and the CCAPM

In this paper, we make a liquidity adjustment to the consumption-based capital asset pricing model (CCAPM) and show that the liquidity-adjusted CCAPM is a generalized model of Acharya and Pedersen (2005). Using different proxies for transaction costs such as the effective trading costs measure of Hasbrouck (2009) and the bid-ask spread estimates of Corwin and Schultz (2012), we find that the liquidity-adjusted CCAPM explains a larger fraction of the cross-sectional return variations

Investment momentum: A two‐dimensional behavioural strategy

We propose an investment-momentum strategy of buying past winners with low investment and selling past losers with high investment, which simultaneously exploits two dimensions of market inefficiencies. The new strategy generates twice the monthly returns earned by either the price momentum or investment strategy (1.44% vs. 0.75% or 0.61%). Despite the diminishing anomalies in recent decades, the investment-momentum stays persistent. The mispricing-based strategy performs better in periods of high investor sentiment or for stocks with high limits-to-arbitrage, which is consistent with our expectations. Overall, we show that one can simultaneously use multiple dimensions of market inefficiency to attain superior performance

Liquidity risk and the beta premium

As opposed to the “low beta low risk” convention, we show that low beta stocks are illiquid and exposed to high liquidity risk. After adjusting for liquidity risk, low beta stocks no longer outperform high beta stocks. Although investors who “bet against beta” earn a significant beta premium under the Fama–French three- or five-factor models, this strategy fails to generate any significant returns when liquidity risk is accounted for. Our work helps understand the beta premium from a new liquidity-risk perspective, and draws useful implications for both fund and corporate managers

Optimal retirement with borrowing constraints and forced unemployment risk

In this paper, we study optimal retirement in a two-dimensional incomplete market caused by borrowing constraints and forced unemployment risk. We show that the two aspects jointly affect an individual's optimal consumption, investment, and retirement strategies. In contrast to the complete market case, the endogenously determined wealth threshold for retirement is significantly affected by the two-dimensional market incompleteness, resulting in a lower wealth threshold. We also discuss a possible unemployment insurance scheme for the borrowing-constrained individual to respond to the shocks of forced unemployment

The effect of labour protection laws on the relationship between leverage and wages

Previous research has shown that leverage has a positive effect on wages. Using US state-level labour protection laws as an exogenous shock, we find that the adoption of the law alleviates the effect of leverage on wages. We show that the mitigating effect on the leverage-wage relationship is more pronounced for firms with strong employee bargaining power. Our study highlights the positive role played by labour protection laws in lowering firms’ labour costs and improving their financial flexibility, which complements the literature and advances our understanding of the broad implications of labour protection laws

The bias of growth opportunity

The bias of growth opportunity (BGO), measured as the difference between market and fundamental values of a firm's growth opportunity, has an ability to predict future stock returns. In the portfolio sort, downward-biased BGO firms earn higher returns than upward-biased ones, which is unexplained by the common asset pricing models. Cross-sectional regression results also confirm BGO's power in predicting stock returns. To explain the anomaly, we show that the BGO premium is more pronounced when investor sentiment is high or when limits-to-arbitrage is severe, which suggests that the (Formula presented.) is more likely to capture behavioural biases than systematic risk

The bias of growth opportunity

The bias of growth opportunity (BGO), measured as the difference between market and fundamental values of a firm's growth opportunity, has an ability to predict future stock returns. In the portfolio sort, downward-biased BGO firms earn higher returns than upward-biased ones, which is unexplained by the common asset pricing models. Cross-sectional regression results also confirm BGO's power in predicting stock returns. To explain the anomaly, we show that the BGO premium is more pronounced when investor sentiment is high or when limits-to-arbitrage is severe, which suggests that the (Formula presented.) is more likely to capture behavioural biases than systematic risk

The cross-sectional return predictability of employment growth: A liquidity risk explanation

Employment growth (EG) is related to liquidity fundamentals of investment opportunities, firm health, and information environment and quality. This, in turn, implies that liquidity risk may play a role in explaining the relation between EG and stock returns. We find strong empirical evidence supporting the link between EG and liquidity risk. Stocks of high-EG firms are more liquid and exposed to lower liquidity risk than stocks of low-EG firms. After adjusting for liquidity risk, EG loses its power to predict returns

Strategic insider trading: Disguising order flows to escape trading competition

Short sellers actively exploit trading opportunities from insider sales. We argue that, in response to concern about potential order flow information leakage, insiders strategically disguise their order flows to escape trading competition. Our model predicts that, when short sellers are sensitive to order flow information, insiders are more likely to adopt a cautious trading strategy, i.e., splitting their trades over time. Empirically, we identify cautious trading by tracking consecutive transactions at the insider-strategy level. We find that, when anticipating intensive short selling potential, (1) insiders tend to trade cautiously; and (2) cautious insiders tend to reduce their initial trades. Overall, we highlight the strategic interaction between insiders and short sellers on the diffusion of order flow information