Models of learning about economic crises generate risk premia that rise at the onset of a crisis, but then fall as belief uncertainty fades. In contrast, empirical risk premia remain elevated during crises. We resolve this tension via leverage dynamics generated by the impact of learning on optimal default and capital structure decisions within a representative agent consumption-based model. Endogenously time-varying leverage creates a feedback loop: the learning-induced slow recovery in equity prices raises leverage, thereby further depressing equity values and keeping the equity premium and credit spreads persistently high as the crisis unfolds. We structurally estimate the model and show it closely matches the joint dynamics of consumption, equity risk premia, credit risk, and leverage, especially during crises, together with the term structure of credit risk and default probabilities.

We develop an endogenous growth model with heterogeneous firms facing financial frictions, where misallocation emerges explicitly as a crucial endogenous state variable and plays a significant role in driving economic growth through the valuation channel. The model illustrates that transient macroeconomic shocks affecting misallocation can yield persistent effects on aggregate growth. In equilibrium, slow-moving misallocation endogenously generates long-run uncertainty about economic growth by distorting innovation decisions. When agents hold recursive preferences, misallocation-driven low-frequency growth fluctuations result in substantial risk premia in capital markets and large losses in consumer welfare. Employing a misallocation measure motivated by the model, we substantiate our findings with empirical evidence showing that misallocation effectively captures low-frequency fluctuations in both aggregate growth and asset returns.

Recessions lead to substantial, yet not immediate drop in output. The low and often negative growth during recessions is typically followed by a steady recovery with abnormally high growth. We propose a theory where a recession is preceded by the introduction of a new risk source. The expected impact on economic growth of this new risk is negative and varies in terms of duration and severity. Consistent with the data, recovery is slow but characterized by higher than average output growth. We show that the expected path of both risk premia and return volatilities are hump-shaped at the start of a recession, that is, risk premia and return volatilities do not immediately rise which is in contrast to most asset-pricing models. We calibrate the model to the average economic recession and recovery and show that it quantitatively matches the unconditional asset pricing moments as well as asset pricing moments during recessions.