“The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns” is a seminal academic paper written by Eugene F. Fama and Kenneth R. French in 1992. The paper introduces the Three-Factor Model, which proposes that stock returns can be explained by three factors: the market risk factor (the excess return of the overall market), the size factor (the difference in returns between small and large-cap stocks), and the value factor (the difference in returns between high book-to-market and low book-to-market stocks). The authors use extensive data to demonstrate that these three factors systematically influence stock returns over time. The Three-Factor Model has become a cornerstone in modern asset pricing theory and has been widely used in academic research and practical applications for understanding and predicting stock returns.