Heterogeneous-Agent Asset Pricing: Timing and Pricing Idiosyncratic Risks

73 Pages Posted: 22 Mar 2021 Last revised: 16 Dec 2022

See all articles by James D. Paron

James D. Paron

University of Pennsylvania - Finance Department

Date Written: December 15, 2022

Abstract

This paper studies the importance of idiosyncratic endowment shocks for aggregate asset prices in a generalized continuous-time framework that accommodates both jumps and recursive preferences. I show that, regardless of the presence of jumps, countercyclical cross-sectional risk is irrelevant to risk premia if and only if (i) all agents have time-additive power utility and (ii) cross-sectional risk is uncorrelated with aggregate consumption risk. To quantify the relevance of these conditions, I calibrate a general-equilibrium model with a continuum of recursive-utility agents who face uninsurable idiosyncratic human-capital disasters. The model explains both asset pricing moments and cross-sectional income moments from Social Security Administration income data.

Keywords: Asset pricing, Incomplete markets, Heterogeneous agents, Human capital

JEL Classification: E21, E24, E32, E44, G11, G12, J24

Suggested Citation

Paron, James, Heterogeneous-Agent Asset Pricing: Timing and Pricing Idiosyncratic Risks (December 15, 2022). Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research Paper, 2021, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3807456 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3807456

James Paron (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - Finance Department ( email )

The Wharton School
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Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States
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19104 (Fax)

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