Long-Run Risk through Consumption Smoothing
We examine how long-run consumption risk arises endogenously in a standard pro-duction economy model where the representative agent has Epstein-Zin preferences. We show that even when technology growth is i.i.d., optimal consumption smoothing induces long run risk- highly persistent variation in expected consumption growth. As a consequence, the model can account for a high price of risk although both consump-tion growth volatility and the coe ¢ cient of relative risk aversion are low. The asset pricing implications of endogenous long-run risk depend crucially on the persistence of technology shocks and investorspreference for the timing of resolution of uncertainty.