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Myopic loss aversion, disappointment aversion, and the equity premium puzzle

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  • Stracca, Livio
  • Fielding, David

Abstract

This paper takes a close look at the 'behavioural finance' explanations of the equity premium puzzle, namely myopic loss aversion (Benartzi and Thaler, 1995) and disappointment aversion (Ang, Bekaert and Liu, 2000). The paper proposes a simple specification of loss and disappointment aversion and brings these theories to the data. The main conclusion of the paper is that a highly short-sighted investment horizon is required for the historical equity premium to be explained by loss aversion, while reasonable values for disappointment aversion are found also for long investment horizons. So, stocks may lose only in the short term, but may disappoint also in the long term. JEL Classification: G11, G12

Suggested Citation

  • Stracca, Livio & Fielding, David, 2003. "Myopic loss aversion, disappointment aversion, and the equity premium puzzle," Working Paper Series 203, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:2003203
    Note: 335958
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Weining Niu & Qingduo Zeng, 2017. "Security issuance and price impact under loss aversion," International Journal of Financial Engineering (IJFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(02n03), pages 1-9, June.
    2. Jamie Alcock & Anthony Hatherley, 2017. "Characterizing the Asymmetric Dependence Premium," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(4), pages 1701-1737.
    3. Roelof Salomons, 2008. "A Theoretical And Practical Perspective On The Equity Risk Premium," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 299-329, April.
    4. Du, Shaofu & Wang, Li & Hu, Li, 2019. "Omnichannel management with consumer disappointment aversion," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 84-101.
    5. Ascari, Guido & Rankin, Neil, 2007. "Perpetual youth and endogenous labor supply: A problem and a possible solution," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 708-723, December.
    6. Ekaterina V. Orlova, 2021. "Methodology and Models for Individuals’ Creditworthiness Management Using Digital Footprint Data and Machine Learning Methods," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(15), pages 1-28, August.
    7. Emilios C. C Galariotis & Phil Holmes & Vasileios Kallinterakis & Xiaodong S. Ma, 2014. "Market states, expectations, sentiment and momentum: How naive are investors?," Post-Print hal-00943345, HAL.
    8. Kim, Sei-Wan & Krausz, Joshua & Nam, Kiseok, 2013. "Revisiting asset pricing under habit formation in an overlapping-generations economy," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 132-138.
    9. Ricardo M. Sousa, 2007. "Wealth Shocks and Risk Aversion," NIPE Working Papers 28/2007, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    10. Shen, Yinhai & Zhang, Qing & Zhang, Zhichao & Ma, Xinyu, 2022. "Omnichannel retailing return operations with consumer disappointment aversion," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 9(C).
    11. Catherine Donnelly, 2017. "A Discussion of a Risk-Sharing Pension Plan," Risks, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-20, February.
    12. Salmon, Mark & Gemmill, Gordon T & Hwang, Soosung, 2005. "Performance Measurement with Loss Aversion," CEPR Discussion Papers 5173, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Olsen, Robert A., 2008. "Trust as risk and the foundation of investment value," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2189-2200, December.
    14. Azmat, Saad & Jalil, Muhammad Naiman & Skully, Michael & Brown, Kym, 2016. "Investor’s choice of Shariah compliant ‘replicas’ and original Islamic instruments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 132(S), pages 4-22.
    15. Xie, Yuxin & Hwang, Soosung & Pantelous, Athanasios A., 2018. "Loss aversion around the world: Empirical evidence from pension funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 52-62.
    16. Pavlo Blavatskyy & Ganna Pogrebna, 2010. "Reevaluating evidence on myopic loss aversion: aggregate patterns versus individual choices," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 68(1), pages 159-171, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    disappointment aversion; equity premium puzzle; investment horizon; Myopic loss aversion; reference dependence.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

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