Using no arbitrage principle, we derive a relationship between the drift term of risk-neutral dynamics for instantaneous variance and the term structure of forward variance curve. We show that the forward variance curve can be derived from options market. Based on the variance term structure, we...

VIX futures are exchange-traded contracts on a future volatility index level (VIX) derived from a basket of SPX stock index options. The paper posits a stochastic variance model of VIX time evolution, and develops an expression for VIX futures. Free parameters are estimated from market data over...

In this paper, we conduct a simulation analysis of the Fama and MacBeth (1973) two-pass procedure, as well as maximum likelihood (ML) and generalized method of moments estimators of cross-sectional expected return models. We also provide some new analytical results on computational issues, the...

In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive study of tests for mean-variance spanning. Under the popular regression framework of Huberman and Kandel (1987), we provide geometric interpretations of three asymptotic tests (likelihood ratio, Wald, and Lagrange multiplier) of mean-variance spanning....

This paper provides an exact Bayesian framework for analyzing the arbitrage pricing theory (APT). Based on the Gibbs sampler, we show how to obtain the exact posterior distributions for functions of interest in the factor model. In particular, we propose a measure of the APT pricing deviations...

We test the mean-variance efficiency of a given portfolio with a Bayesian framework. Our test is more direct than Shanken's (1987), because we impose a prior on all the parameters of the multivariate regression model. The approach is also easily adapted to other problems. We use Monte Carlo...

Within the past few years, several papers have suggested that returns on large equity portfolios may contain a significant predictable component at horizons of 3 to 6 years. Subsequently, the tests used in these analyses have been criticized (appropriately) for having widely misunderstood size...

We provide a model-free test for asymmetric correlations in which stocks move more often with the market when the market goes down than when it goes up, and also provide such tests for asymmetric betas and covariances. When stocks are sorted by size, book-to-market, and momentum, we find strong...

In this paper, we use a simple model to illustrate that the existence of a large, negative wealth shock and insufficient insurance against such a shock can potentially explain both the limited stock market participation puzzle and the low-consumption-high-savings puzzle that are widely...

Economic objectives are often ignored when estimating parameters, though the loss of doing so can be substantial. This paper proposes a way to allow Bayesian priors to reflect the objectives. Using monthly returns of the Fama-French 25 size and book-to-market portfolios and their three factors...