We study the properties of the carry trade, a currency speculation strategy in which an investor borrows low-interest-rate currencies and lends high-interest-rate currencies. This strategy generates payoffs which are on average large and uncorrelated with traditional risk factors. We investigate whether these payoffs reflect a peso problem. We argue that, with one proviso, they do. The proviso is that the defining characteristic of a peso event is a high value of the stochastic discount factor, not high carry-trade losses. We reach this conclusion by analyzing the payoffs to the hedged carry trade, in which an investor uses currency options to protect himself from the downside risk from large, adverse movements in exchange rates. We find that the same value of the stochastic discount factor that rationalizes the average payoffs to the carry trade also rationalizes the equity premium.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
14054.
Length: Date of creation: Jun 2008 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14054
Note: AP EFG IFM ME Contact details of provider: Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. Phone: 617-868-3900 Email: Web page: http://www.nber.org More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Zsolt Darvas, 2008.
"Leveraged carry trade portfolios,"
Working Papers
0802, Department of Mathematical Economics and Economic Analysis, Corvinus University of Budapest, revised 18 Jun 2008.
[Downloadable!]
Other versions:
Menkhoff, Lukas & Sarno, Lucio & Schmeling, Maik & Schrimpf, Andreas, 2009.
"Carry Trades and Global FX Volatility,"
MPRA Paper
14728, University Library of Munich, Germany.
[Downloadable!]