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The betting against beta anomaly: Fact or fiction?

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  • Buchner, Axel
  • Wagner, Niklas

Abstract

This paper suggests an alternative explanation for the recently documented betting against beta anomaly. Given that the equity of a levered firm is equivalent to a call option on firm assets and option returns are non-linearly related to underlying stock returns, linear CAPM-type regressions are generally misspecified. We derive theoretical expressions for the pricing error and analyze its magnitude using numerical examples. Consistent with the empirical findings of Frazzini and Pedersen (2014), our pricing errors are negative, increase with leverage, and become economically significant for higher levels of firm leverage.

Suggested Citation

  • Buchner, Axel & Wagner, Niklas, 2016. "The betting against beta anomaly: Fact or fiction?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 283-289.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:16:y:2016:i:c:p:283-289
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2015.12.010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Blume, Marshall E & Friend, Irwin, 1973. "A New Look at the Capital Asset Pricing Model," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(1), pages 19-33, March.
    5. Frazzini, Andrea & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2014. "Betting against beta," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 1-25.
    6. Jonathan Ingersoll & Ivo Welch, 2007. "Portfolio Performance Manipulation and Manipulation-proof Performance Measures," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(5), pages 1503-1546, 2007 17.
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    Cited by:

    1. Grobys, Klaus & Haga, Jesper, 2016. "Identifying portfolio-based systematic risk factors in equity markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 88-92.
    2. Sarika Rakhyani, 2021. "An empirical examination of beta anomaly in India," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 48(2), pages 191-206, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asset pricing; Performance measurement; Abnormal return; Systematic risk;
    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
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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