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A Parsimonious Macroeconomic Model for Asset Pricing: Habit Formation or Cross-sectional Heterogeneity?

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Author Info
M. Fatih Guvenen () (University of Rochester)

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Abstract

In this paper we study the asset pricing implications of a parsimonious two-agent macroeconomic model with two key features: limited participation in the stock market and heterogeneity in the elasticity of intertemporal substitution. The parameter values for the model are taken from the real business cycle literature and are not calibrated to match any financial statistic. Yet, with a risk aversion of two, the model is able to explain a large number of asset pricing phenomena including all the facts matched by the external habit model of Campbell and Cochrane (1999). Examples in this list include a high equity premium and a low risk-free rate; a counter-cyclical risk premium, volatility and Sharpe ratio; predictable stock returns with coe?cients and R2 values of long-horizon regressions matching their empirical counterparts, among others. In addition the model generates a risk-free rate with low volatility (5.7 percent annually) and with high persistence. We also show that the similarity of our results to those from an external habit model is not a coincidence: the model has a reduced form representation which is extremely similar to Campbell and Cochrane’s framework for asset pricing. However, the macroeconomic implications of the two models are very different, favoring the limited participation model. Moreover, we show that policy analysis yields dramatically different conclusions in each framework.

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Paper provided by University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER) in its series RCER Working Papers with number 499.

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Length: 41 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2003
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Handle: RePEc:roc:rocher:499

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Postal: UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER, CENTER FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH, DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS, HARKNESS 231 ROCHESTER NEW YORK 14627 U.S.A.

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Related research
Keywords: Limited stock market participation asset pricing the equity premium puzzle incomplete markets habit formation elasticity of intertemporal substitution.

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing

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Full references

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.)

  1. Fatih Guvenen, 2005. "Reconciling Conflicting Evidence on the Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution: A Macroeconomic Perspective," Macroeconomics 0507005, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Eva de Francisco, 2005. "Limited Participation, Income Distribution and Capital Account Liberalization," Computing in Economics and Finance 2005 454, Society for Computational Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. YiLi Chien & Harold Cole & Hanno Lustig, 2007. "A Multiplier Approach to Understanding the Macro Implications of Household Finance," NBER Working Papers 13555, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Jean-Pierre Danthine & John B. Donaldson & Paolo Siconolfi, 2005. "Distribution Risk and Equity Returns," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'Econométrie et d'Economie politique (DEEP) 05.10, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Fatih Guvenen, 2005. "Do Stockholders Share Risk More Effectively Than Non- stockholders?," Macroeconomics 0508006, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Filippo Taddei, 2007. "Equity Premium: Interaction of Belief Heterogeneity and Distribution of Wealth?," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 67, Collegio Carlo Alberto. [Downloadable!]
  7. Luca Benzoni & Pierre Collin-Dufresne & Robert S. Goldstein, 2007. "Portfolio choice over the life-cycle when the stock and labor markets are cointegrated," Working Paper Series WP-07-11, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  8. Walentin, Karl, 2007. "Earnings Inequality and the Equity Premium," Working Paper Series 215, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden). [Downloadable!]
  9. Hanno Lustig & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2005. "The Returns on Human Capital: Good News on Wall Street is Bad News on Main Street," NBER Working Papers 11564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Lettau, Martin & Ludvigson, Sydney, 2005. "Euler Equation Errors," CEPR Discussion Papers 4922, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Sydney Ludvigson, 2008. "The Research Agenda: Sydney Ludvigson on Empirical Evaluation of Economic Theories of Risk Premia," EconomicDynamics Newsletter, Review of Economic Dynamics, vol. 9(2), April. [Downloadable!]
  12. Charlotte Christiansen & Juanna Schröter Joensen & Jesper Rangvid, 2007. "Are Economists More Likely to Hold Stocks?," CREATES Research Papers 2007-08, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus. [Downloadable!]
  13. Kjetil Storesletten & Chris Telmer & Amir Yaron, 2007. "Asset Pricing with Idiosyncratic Risk and Overlapping Generations," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 10(4), pages 519-548, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Qiang Zhang, 2004. "Accounting for Human Capital and Weak Identification in Evaluating the Esptein-Zin-Weil Non-Expected Utility Model of Asset Pricing," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-289, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  15. Gomes, Francisco J & Michaelides, Alexander, 2007. "Asset Pricing with Limited Risk Sharing and Heterogeneous Agents," CEPR Discussion Papers 6136, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Harald Uhlig, 2007. "Explaining Asset Prices with External Habits and Wage Rigidities in a DSGE Model," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2007-003a, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  17. Luca Benzoni & Pierre Collin-Dufresne & Robert S. Goldstein, 2005. "Portfolio Choice over the Life-Cycle in the Presence of 'Trickle Down' Labor Income," NBER Working Papers 11247, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Lungu, Laurian & Minford, Patrick, 2005. "Explaining The Equity Risk Premium," CEPR Discussion Papers 5017, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  19. Christiansen, Charlotte & Joensen, Juanna Schröter & Rangvid, Jesper, 2005. "Do More Economists Hold Stocks?," Finance Research Group Working Papers F-2005-02, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Business Studies. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  20. Hanno Lustig, . "Exploring the Link between Housing and the Value Premium (joint with Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh)," UCLA Economics Online Papers 389, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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