Testing Conditional Asset Pricing Models Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo Approach

Testing Conditional Asset Pricing Models Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo Approach
Author: Manuel Ammann
Publisher:
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

We propose a new approach for the estimation of conditional asset pricing models based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach. In contrast to existing approaches, it is truly conditional because the assumption that time variation in betas is driven by a set of conditioning variables is not necessary. Moreover, the approach has exact finite sample properties and accounts for errors-in-variables in a one-step estimation procedure. Using Samp;P 500 panel data, we analyze the empirical performance of the CAPM and the Fama and French (1993) three-factor model. We find that time-variation of betas in the CAPM and the time variation of the coefficients for the size factor (SMB) and the distress factor (HML) in the three-factor model improve the empirical performance by a similar amount. Therefore, our findings are consistent with time variation of firm-specific exposure to market risk, systematic credit risk and systematic size effects. However, a Bayesian model comparison trading off goodness of fit and model complexity indicates that the conditional CAPM performs best, followed by the conditional three-factor model, the unconditional CAPM, and the unconditional three-factor model.

Conditional Capital Assets Pricing Model Does Not Explain Asset-pricing Anomalies

Conditional Capital Assets Pricing Model Does Not Explain Asset-pricing Anomalies
Author: Jonathan Lewellen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2003
Genre: Capital assets pricing model
ISBN:

Recent studies suggest that the conditional CAPM might hold, period-by-period, and that time-varying betas can explain the failures of the simple, unconditional CAPM. We argue, however, that significant departures from the unconditional CAPM would require implausibly large time-variation in betas and expected returns. Thus, the conditional CAPM is unlikely to explain asset-pricing anomalies like book-to-market and momentum. We test this conjecture empirically by directly estimating conditional alphas and betas from short-window regressions (avoiding the need to specify conditioning information). The tests show, consistent with our analytical results, that the conditional CAPM performs nearly as poorly as the unconditional CAPM. Keywords: Time-varying betas, conditional CAPM, asset-pricing anomalies, book-to-market, momentum. JEL Classifications: G12.

A New Model of Capital Asset Prices

A New Model of Capital Asset Prices
Author: James W. Kolari
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2021-03-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030651975

This book proposes a new capital asset pricing model dubbed the ZCAPM that outperforms other popular models in empirical tests using US stock returns. The ZCAPM is derived from Fischer Black’s well-known zero-beta CAPM, itself a more general form of the famous capital asset pricing model (CAPM) by 1990 Nobel Laureate William Sharpe and others. It is widely accepted that the CAPM has failed in its theoretical relation between market beta risk and average stock returns, as numerous studies have shown that it does not work in the real world with empirical stock return data. The upshot of the CAPM’s failure is that many new factors have been proposed by researchers. However, the number of factors proposed by authors has steadily increased into the hundreds over the past three decades. This new ZCAPM is a path-breaking asset pricing model that is shown to outperform popular models currently in practice in finance across different test assets and time periods. Since asset pricing is central to the field of finance, it can be broadly employed across many areas, including investment analysis, cost of equity analyses, valuation, corporate decision making, pension portfolio management, etc. The ZCAPM represents a revolution in finance that proves the CAPM as conceived by Sharpe and others is alive and well in a new form, and will certainly be of interest to academics, researchers, students, and professionals of finance, investing, and economics.

Evaluating Conditional Asset Pricing Models for the German Stock Market

Evaluating Conditional Asset Pricing Models for the German Stock Market
Author: Andreas Schrimpf
Publisher:
Total Pages: 45
Release: 2008
Genre:
ISBN:

We study the performance of conditional asset pricing models in explaining the German cross-section of stock returns. Our test assets are portfolios sorted by size and book-to-market as in the paper by Fama and French (1993). Our results show that the empirical performance of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) can be improved substantially when allowing for time-varying parameters of the stochastic discount factor. A conditional CAPM with the term spread as a conditioning variable is able to explain the cross-section of German stock returns about as well as the Fama-French model. Structural break tests do not indicate parameter instability of the model - whereas the reverse is found for the Fama-French model. Unconditional model specifications however do a better job than conditional ones at capturing time-series predictability of the test portfolio returns.

Cross-sectional and Multivariate Test of CAPM and Fama-French Three-factor Model

Cross-sectional and Multivariate Test of CAPM and Fama-French Three-factor Model
Author: Zhuo Yi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2006
Genre: Capital assets pricing model
ISBN:

In this project, I test the the mean-variance Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Fama-French Three-Factor Model. I employ two datasets which consist of 25 portfolios formed on size and the book equity to market equity ratio and 11 portfolios formed on dividend yield. I also divide the whole period into two to consider the sub-period effects. I employ the cross-sectional tests as well as the multivariate time-series tests for both of the models. The results do not unambiguously show that one model fits better than the other. Moreover, the two sub-period results are inconsistent with each other and with the results from the whole period.

Testing Conditional Factor Models

Testing Conditional Factor Models
Author: Liyan Yang
Publisher:
Total Pages: 39
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

Recent studies of conditional factor models do not specify conditioning information but use data from small windows to estimate the time series of conditional alphas and betas. In this paper, we propose a nonparametric method using an optimal window to estimate time-varying coefficients. In addition, we offer two empirical tests of a conditional factor model. Using our new method, we examine the performance of the conditional CAPM and the conditional Fama-French three-factor model in explaining the return variations of portfolios sorted by size, book-to-market ratios, and past returns, for which recent literature has generated controversial results. We find that, although in general the conditional FF model outperforms the conditional CAPM, both models fail to explain well-known asset-pricing anomalies. Moreover, for both models, the failure is more pronounced for the equally-weighted portfolios than for the value-weighted ones.

Empirical Asset Pricing

Empirical Asset Pricing
Author: Wayne Ferson
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2019-03-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0262039370

An introduction to the theory and methods of empirical asset pricing, integrating classical foundations with recent developments. This book offers a comprehensive advanced introduction to asset pricing, the study of models for the prices and returns of various securities. The focus is empirical, emphasizing how the models relate to the data. The book offers a uniquely integrated treatment, combining classical foundations with more recent developments in the literature and relating some of the material to applications in investment management. It covers the theory of empirical asset pricing, the main empirical methods, and a range of applied topics. The book introduces the theory of empirical asset pricing through three main paradigms: mean variance analysis, stochastic discount factors, and beta pricing models. It describes empirical methods, beginning with the generalized method of moments (GMM) and viewing other methods as special cases of GMM; offers a comprehensive review of fund performance evaluation; and presents selected applied topics, including a substantial chapter on predictability in asset markets that covers predicting the level of returns, volatility and higher moments, and predicting cross-sectional differences in returns. Other chapters cover production-based asset pricing, long-run risk models, the Campbell-Shiller approximation, the debate on covariance versus characteristics, and the relation of volatility to the cross-section of stock returns. An extensive reference section captures the current state of the field. The book is intended for use by graduate students in finance and economics; it can also serve as a reference for professionals.