A Theory of Asset Pricing Based on Heterogeneous Information

A Theory of Asset Pricing Based on Heterogeneous Information
Author: Elias Albagli
Publisher:
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2011
Genre: Assets (Accounting)
ISBN:

We propose a theory of asset prices that emphasizes heterogeneous information as the main element determining prices of different securities. Our main analytical innovation is in formulating a model of noisy information aggregation through asset prices, which is parsimonious and tractable, yet flexible in the specification of cash flow risks. We show that the noisy aggregation of heterogeneous investor beliefs drives a systematic wedge between the impact of fundamentals on an asset price, and the corresponding impact on cash flow expectations. The key intuition behind the wedge is that the identity of the marginal trader has to shift for different realization of the underlying shocks to satisfy the market-clearing condition. This identity shift amplifies the impact of price on the marginal trader's expectations. We derive tight characterization for both the conditional and the unconditional expected wedges. Our first main theorem shows how the sign of the expected wedge (that is, the difference between the expected price and the dividends) depends on the shape of the dividend payoff function and on the degree of informational frictions. Our second main theorem provides conditions under which the variability of prices exceeds the variability for realized dividends. We conclude with two applications of our theory. First, we highlight how heterogeneous information can lead to systematic departures from the Modigliani-Miller theorem. Second, in a dynamic extension of our model we provide conditions under which bubbles arise -- National Bureau of Economic Research web site.

Equilibrium Asset Pricing Under Heterogeneous Information

Equilibrium Asset Pricing Under Heterogeneous Information
Author: Bruno Biais
Publisher:
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2004
Genre:
ISBN:

We analyze theoretically and empirically the implications of heterogeneous information for equilibrium asset pricing and portfolio choice. Our theoretical framework, directly inspired by Admati (1985), implies that with partial information aggregation, portfolio separation fails, buy-and-hold strategies are not optimal, and investors should structure their portfolios using the information contained in prices in order to cope with winner's curse problems. We implement empirically such a price-contingent portfolio allocation strategy and show that it outperforms economically and statistically the passive/indexing buy-and-hold strategy. We thus demonstrate that prices reveal information, in contrast with the homogeneous information CAPM, but only partially, consistent with a Noisy Rational Expectations Equilibrium. The success of our pricecontingent strategy does not proxy for the success of trading strategies based purely on historical performance, such as momentum investment.

Asset Pricing and Portfolio Choice Theory

Asset Pricing and Portfolio Choice Theory
Author: Kerry Back
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 504
Release: 2010-09-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199939071

In Asset Pricing and Portfolio Choice Theory, Kerry E. Back at last offers what is at once a welcoming introduction to and a comprehensive overview of asset pricing. Useful as a textbook for graduate students in finance, with extensive exercises and a solutions manual available for professors, the book will also serve as an essential reference for scholars and professionals, as it includes detailed proofs and calculations as section appendices. Topics covered include the classical results on single-period, discrete-time, and continuous-time models, as well as various proposed explanations for the equity premium and risk-free rate puzzles and chapters on heterogeneous beliefs, asymmetric information, non-expected utility preferences, and production models. The book includes numerous exercises designed to provide practice with the concepts and to introduce additional results. Each chapter concludes with a notes and references section that supplies pathways to additional developments in the field.

Essays in Asset Pricing and Market Imperfections

Essays in Asset Pricing and Market Imperfections
Author: Weiyang Qiu (Ph. D.)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

(cont.) The third part of the thesis studies asset pricing under heterogeneous information. In an asset market where agents have heterogeneous information, asset prices not only depend their expectations of the true fundamentals but also depend on their expectations of the expectations of others. Iterations of such expectations lead to the so-called "infinite regress" problem, which makes the analysis of asset pricing under heterogeneous information challenging. In this part, we solve the infinite-regress problem in a simple economic setting under a fairly general information structure. This allows us to examine how different forms of information heterogeneity impacts the behavior of asset prices, their return dynamics, trading volume as well as agents' welfare.

NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2014

NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2014
Author: Jonathan A. Parker
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2015-06-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 022626887X

The twenty-ninth edition of the NBER Macroeconomics Annual continues its tradition of featuring theoretical and empirical research on central issues in contemporary macroeconomics. Two papers in this year’s issue deal with recent economic performance: one analyzes the evolution of aggregate productivity before, during, and after the Great Recession, and the other characterizes the factors that have contributed to slow economic growth following the Great Recession. Another pair of papers tackles the role of information in business cycles. Other contributions address how assumptions about sluggish nominal price adjustment affect the consequences of different monetary policy rules and the role of business cycles in the long-run decline in the share of employment in middle-wage jobs. The final chapter discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the elimination of physical currency.