Implications of Quasi-Geometric Discounting on the Observable Sharpe Ratio

In this paper, we study implications of quasi-geometric discounting for stochastic properties of asset returns that can be observed in the financial market data. In particular, we emphasize that the dividend income from an asset measured in a unit of account may not reflect the whole dividend that consumers expect to obtain from the asset in models with quasi-geometric discounting. We then show that allowing for such a possibility in a stochastic growth model with quasi-geometric discounting requires a small departure towards time inconsistent preferences to match the Sharpe ratio observed in the U.S. data