Essays On Consumption Portfolio Choice With Habits PDF Download

In the Ơ̐1rst essay, I decompose inƠ̐2ation risk into (i) a part that is correlated with real returns on the market portfolio and factors that determine investor0́9s preferences and investment opportunities and (ii) a residual part. I show that only the Ơ̐1rst part earns a risk premium. All nominal Treasury bonds, including the nominal money-market account, are equally exposed to the residual part except inƠ̐2ation-protected Treasury bonds, which provide a means to hedge it. Every investor should put 100% of his wealth in the market portfolio and inƠ̐2ation-protected Treasury bonds and hold a zero-investment portfolio of nominal Treasury bonds and the nominal money market account. In the second essay, I solve the dynamic asset allocation problem of Ơ̐1nite lived, constant relative risk averse investors who face inƠ̐2ation risk and can invest in cash, nominal bonds, equity, and inƠ̐2ation-protected bonds when the investment opportunityset is determined by the expected inƠ̐2ation rate. I estimate the model with nominal bond, inƠ̐2ation, and stock market data and show that if expected inƠ̐2ation increases, then investors should substitute inƠ̐2ation-protected bonds for stocks and they should borrow cash to buy long-term nominal bonds. In the lastessay, I discuss how heterogeneity in preferences among investors withexternal non-addictive habit forming preferences aƠ̐0ects the equilibrium nominal term structure of interest rates in a pure continuous time exchange economy and complete securities markets. Aggregate real consumption growth and inƠ̐2ation are exogenously speciƠ̐1ed and contain stochastic components thataƠ̐0ect their means andvolatilities. There are two classes of investors who have external habit forming preferences and diƠ̐0erent localcurvatures oftheir utility functions. The eƠ̐0ects of time varying risk aversion and diƠ̐0erent inƠ̐2ation regimes on the nominal short rate and the nominal market price of risk are explored, and simple formulas for nominal bonds, real bonds, and inƠ̐2ation risk premia that can be numerically evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation techniques are provided.