Kevin Aretz

About Me

I am a Professor of Finance at Alliance Manchester Business School. I hold a PhD degree from Lancaster University. Prior to joining Manchester, I worked at Lancaster University and as part-time academic advisor for Old Mutual Asset Management.

My research interests are in the areas of theoretical and empirical cross-sectional asset pricing, empirical corporate finance, and econometrics. 

In my recent work, I use real options asset pricing models to explain stock return anomalies. Also, I employ shock-based inference methods to study corporate finance phenomena, such as access to debt. I have also started studying the cross-section of returns of non-equity asset classes, such as single-stock options or corporate bonds.

I have presented my research at all major conferences, including the American Finance Association (AFA), European Finance Association (EFA), SFS Cavalcade, Financial Intermediation Research Society (FIRS), and Western Finance Association (WFA).

I have published in journals such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial & Quantitative Analysis, Management Science, Review of Finance, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, and International Journal of Forecasting.  

You can download my curriculum vitae from HERE.

You can access my research on SSRN from HERE.

Representative Publications

1. Aretz, K., and A. Kagkadis, 2025, Construction, Real Uncertainty, and Stock-Level Investment Anomalies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 60, 1042-1073.

2. Aretz, K., and A. Gazi, 2025, The Early Exercise Risk Premium, unconditional acceptance from Management Science 71, 1824-1845.

3. Aretz, K., M. Lin, and S. Poon, 2023, Moneyness, Underlying Asset Volatility, and the Cross-Section of Option Returns, Review of Finance 27, 289-323.  

4. Aretz, K., M. Campello, and M.-T. Marchica, 2020, Access to Collateral and the Democratization of Credit: France’s Reform of the Napoleonic Security Code, Journal of Finance 75, 45-90.

5. Aretz, K., S. Banerjee, and O. Pryshchepa, 2019, In the Path of the Storm: Does Financial Distress Cause Industrial Firms to Risk-Shift?, Review of Finance 23, 1115-1154.

6. Aretz, K., and P. Pope, 2018, Real Options Models of the Firm, Capacity Overhang, and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns, Journal of Finance 73, 1363-1415.

7. Aretz, K., C. Florackis, and A. Kostakis, 2018, Do Stock Returns Really Decrease With Default Risk? New International Evidence, Management Science 63, 3821-3842.