In this paper we document the cyclical properties of U.S. firms' financial flows. Equity payouts are procyclical and debt payouts are countercyclical. We develop a model with explicit roles for debt and equity financing and explore how the observed dynamics of real and financial variables are...

We propose a method to measure the welfare cost of economic fluctuations that does not require full specification of consumer preferences and instead uses asset prices. The method is based on the marginal cost of consumption fluctuations, the per unit benefit of a marginal reduction in...

This paper considers the term structure of interest rates implied by a production-based asset pricing model where the fundamental drivers are investment in equipment and structures, and inflation. The model matches the average yield curve up to five year maturity almost perfectly. Longer term...

We study the asset pricing implications of a multi-agent endowment economy where agents can default on contracts that would leave them otherwise worse off. We specialize and extend the environment studied by Kocherlakota (1995) and Kehoe and Levine (1993) to make it comparable to standard...

We derive a lower bound for the size of the permanent component of asset pricing kernels. The bound is based on return properties of long-term zero-coupon bonds, risk-free bonds, and other risky securities. We find the permanent component of the pricing kernel to be very large; its volatility is...

We study the asset pricing implications of an economy where solvency constraints are determined to efficiently deter agents from defaulting. We present a simple example for which efficient allocations and all equilibrium elements are characterized analytically. The main model produces large...

This paper studies the determinants of the equity premium as implied by producers' first-order conditions. A closed form expression is presented for the Sharpe ratio at steady-state as a function of investment volatility and adjustment cost curvature. Calibrated to the U.S. postwar economy, the...