IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v67y2021i5p2751-2772.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strategic Risk Shifting and the Idiosyncratic Volatility Puzzle: An Empirical Investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Zhiyao Chen

    (Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

  • Ilya A. Strebulaev

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305)

  • Yuhang Xing

    (National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005)

  • Xiaoyan Zhang

    (PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100083, P.R. China)

Abstract

We find strong empirical support for the risk-shifting mechanism to account for the puzzling negative relation between idiosyncratic volatility and future stock returns. First, equity holders take on investments with high idiosyncratic risk when their firms are in distress and receive less monitoring from institutional holders as well as when the aggregate economy is in a bad state. Second, the strategically increased idiosyncratic volatility decreases equity betas, particularly in bad states when the market risk premium is high. The negative covariance between the equity beta and the market risk premium causes low and negative returns and alphas in firms with high idiosyncratic volatility.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhiyao Chen & Ilya A. Strebulaev & Yuhang Xing & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2021. "Strategic Risk Shifting and the Idiosyncratic Volatility Puzzle: An Empirical Investigation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 2751-2772, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:67:y:2021:i:5:p:2751-2772
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2020.3593
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2020.3593
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.2020.3593?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giovanni Favara & Enrique Schroth & Philip Valta, 2012. "Strategic Default and Equity Risk Across Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(6), pages 2051-2095, December.
    2. Hovakimian, Armen & Opler, Tim & Titman, Sheridan, 2001. "The Debt-Equity Choice," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(1), pages 1-24, March.
    3. Galai, Dan & Masulis, Ronald W., 1976. "The option pricing model and the risk factor of stock," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1-2), pages 53-81.
    4. Jagannathan, Ravi & Wang, Zhenyu, 1996. "The Conditional CAPM and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 3-53, March.
    5. Kewei Hou & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2005. "Market Frictions, Price Delay, and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(3), pages 981-1020.
    6. Piskorski, Tomasz & Westerfield, Mark M., 2016. "Optimal dynamic contracts with moral hazard and costly monitoring," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 242-281.
    7. Iulian Obreja, 2013. "Book-to-Market Equity, Financial Leverage, and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(5), pages 1146-1189.
    8. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    9. Nicholas Bloom, 2009. "The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 623-685, May.
    10. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    11. Ang, Andrew & Hodrick, Robert J. & Xing, Yuhang & Zhang, Xiaoyan, 2009. "High idiosyncratic volatility and low returns: International and further U.S. evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 1-23, January.
    12. David Hirshleifer & Angie Low & Siew Hong Teoh, 2012. "Are Overconfident CEOs Better Innovators?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1457-1498, August.
    13. Rui Albuquerue & Neng Wang, 2008. "Agency Conflicts, Investment, and Asset Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(1), pages 1-40, February.
    14. Newey, Whitney K & West, Kenneth D, 1987. "Hypothesis Testing with Efficient Method of Moments Estimation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 28(3), pages 777-787, October.
    15. Assaf Eisdorfer, 2008. "Empirical Evidence of Risk Shifting in Financially Distressed Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 609-637, April.
    16. Jaewon Choi, 2013. "What Drives the Value Premium?: The Role of Asset Risk and Leverage," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(11), pages 2845-2875.
    17. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard C. Green & Vasant Naik, 1999. "Optimal Investment, Growth Options, and Security Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(5), pages 1553-1607, October.
    18. Nicholas Barberis & Ming Huang, 2008. "Stocks as Lotteries: The Implications of Probability Weighting for Security Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 2066-2100, December.
    19. Leland, Hayne E, 1994. "Corporate Debt Value, Bond Covenants, and Optimal Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1213-1252, September.
    20. Avramov, Doron & Chordia, Tarun & Jostova, Gergana & Philipov, Alexander, 2013. "Anomalies and financial distress," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 139-159.
    21. Sergei A. Davydenko & Ilya A. Strebulaev, 2007. "Strategic Actions and Credit Spreads: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(6), pages 2633-2671, December.
    22. Jennifer Huang & Clemens Sialm & Hanjiang Zhang, 2011. "Risk Shifting and Mutual Fund Performance," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(8), pages 2575-2616.
    23. Ron Giammarino & Murray Carlson & Adlai Fisher, 2004. "Corporate Investment and Asset Price Dynamics: Implications for Post-SEO Performance," 2004 Meeting Papers 812, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    24. Schaefer, Stephen M. & Strebulaev, Ilya A., 2008. "Structural models of credit risk are useful: Evidence from hedge ratios on corporate bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 1-19, October.
    25. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    26. Ilya A. Strebulaev, 2007. "Do Tests of Capital Structure Theory Mean What They Say?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1747-1787, August.
    27. Jiang, George J. & Xu, Danielle & Yao, Tong, 2009. "The Information Content of Idiosyncratic Volatility," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 1-28, February.
    28. Ohlson, Ja, 1980. "Financial Ratios And The Probabilistic Prediction Of Bankruptcy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 109-131.
    29. Brian Boyer & Todd Mitton & Keith Vorkink, 2010. "Expected Idiosyncratic Skewness," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 169-202, January.
    30. Bartram, Söhnke M. & Brown, Gregory W. & Stulz, René M., 2016. "Why does idiosyncratic risk increase with market risk?," CFS Working Paper Series 533, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    31. Bhamra, Harjoat S. & Shim, Kyung Hwan, 2017. "Stochastic idiosyncratic cash flow risk and real options: Implications for stock returns," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 400-431.
    32. Murray Carlson & Adlai Fisher & Ron Giammarino, 2004. "Corporate Investment and Asset Price Dynamics: Implications for the Cross-section of Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(6), pages 2577-2603, December.
    33. Herskovic, Bernard & Kelly, Bryan & Lustig, Hanno & Van Nieuwerburgh, Stijn, 2016. "The common factor in idiosyncratic volatility: Quantitative asset pricing implications," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(2), pages 249-283.
    34. Hennessy, Christopher A. & Tserlukevich, Yuri, 2008. "Taxation, agency conflicts, and the choice between callable and convertible debt," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 374-404, November.
    35. Paul J. Irvine & Jeffrey Pontiff, 2009. "Idiosyncratic Return Volatility, Cash Flows, and Product Market Competition," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1149-1177, March.
    36. Ing-Haw Cheng & Konstantin Milbradt, 2012. "The Hazards of Debt: Rollover Freezes, Incentives, and Bailouts," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(4), pages 1070-1110.
    37. Fan, Hua & Sundaresan, Suresh M, 2000. "Debt Valuation, Renegotiation, and Optimal Dividend Policy," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(4), pages 1057-1099.
    38. Favara, Giovanni & Morellec, Erwan & Schroth, Enrique & Valta, Philip, 2017. "Debt enforcement, investment, and risk taking across countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 22-41.
    39. Wei Huang & Qianqiu Liu & S. Ghon Rhee & Liang Zhang, 2010. "Return Reversals, Idiosyncratic Risk, and Expected Returns," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 147-168, January.
    40. Lewellen, Jonathan & Nagel, Stefan, 2006. "The conditional CAPM does not explain asset-pricing anomalies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 289-314, November.
    41. Kewei Hou & Chen Xue & Lu Zhang, 2015. "Editor's Choice Digesting Anomalies: An Investment Approach," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 650-705.
    42. Core, John & Guay, Wayne, 1999. "The use of equity grants to manage optimal equity incentive levels," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 151-184, December.
    43. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    44. Zhanhui Chen & Ralitsa Petkova, 2012. "Does Idiosyncratic Volatility Proxy for Risk Exposure?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(9), pages 2745-2787.
    45. Titman, Sheridan, 1984. "The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 137-151, March.
    46. Robert F. Stambaugh & Jianfeng Yu & Yu Yuan, 2015. "Arbitrage Asymmetry and the Idiosyncratic Volatility Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(5), pages 1903-1948, October.
    47. Dimson, Elroy, 1979. "Risk measurement when shares are subject to infrequent trading," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 197-226, June.
    48. Dirk Hackbarth & Rainer Haselmann & David Schoenherr, 2015. "Financial Distress, Stock Returns, and the 1978 Bankruptcy Reform Act," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(6), pages 1810-1847.
    49. Maria Vassalou & Yuhang Xing, 2004. "Default Risk in Equity Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(2), pages 831-868, April.
    50. Hayne E. Leland., 1998. "Agency Costs, Risk Management, and Capital Structure," Research Program in Finance Working Papers RPF-278, University of California at Berkeley.
    51. Boehme, Rodney D. & Danielsen, Bartley R. & Kumar, Praveen & Sorescu, Sorin M., 2009. "Idiosyncratic risk and the cross-section of stock returns: Merton (1987) meets Miller (1977)," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 438-468, August.
    52. Ilona Babenko & Oliver Boguth & Yuri Tserlukevich, 2016. "Idiosyncratic Cash Flows and Systematic Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(1), pages 425-456, February.
    53. Murray Carlson & Ali Lazrak, 2010. "Leverage Choice and Credit Spreads when Managers Risk Shift," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2323-2362, December.
    54. Hou, Kewei & Loh, Roger K., 2016. "Have we solved the idiosyncratic volatility puzzle?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 167-194.
    55. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2016. "Dissecting Anomalies with a Five-Factor Model," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 69-103.
    56. Timothy C. Johnson, 2004. "Forecast Dispersion and the Cross Section of Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(5), pages 1957-1978, October.
    57. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1996. "Multifactor Explanations of Asset Pricing Anomalies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 55-84, March.
    58. Fu, Fangjian, 2009. "Idiosyncratic risk and the cross-section of expected stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 24-37, January.
    59. Yufeng Han & David Lesmond, 2011. "Liquidity Biases and the Pricing of Cross-sectional Idiosyncratic Volatility," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(5), pages 1590-1629.
    60. Paul J. Irvine & Jeffrey Pontiff, 2009. "Idiosyncratic Return Volatility, Cash Flows, and Product Market Competition," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1149-1177.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Isakin, Maksim & Pu, Xiaoling, 2023. "Dispersion in news sentiment and corporate bond returns," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Poon, Percy & Yao, Tong & Zhang, Andrew (Jianzhong), 2022. "The alphas of beta and idiosyncratic volatility," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    2. Zhong, Angel, 2018. "Idiosyncratic volatility in the Australian equity market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 105-125.
    3. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, June.
    4. Chung, Kee H. & Wang, Junbo & Wu, Chunchi, 2019. "Volatility and the cross-section of corporate bond returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 397-417.
    5. Bhamra, Harjoat S. & Shim, Kyung Hwan, 2017. "Stochastic idiosyncratic cash flow risk and real options: Implications for stock returns," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 400-431.
    6. Erwan Morellec & Boris Nikolov & Norman Schürhoff, 2018. "Agency Conflicts around the World," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(11), pages 4232-4287.
    7. Benoît Carmichael & Gilles Boevi Koumou & Kevin Moran, 2021. "The RQE-CAPM : New insights about the pricing of idiosyncratic risk," CIRANO Working Papers 2021s-28, CIRANO.
    8. Malagon, Juliana & Moreno, David & Rodríguez, Rosa, 2015. "The idiosyncratic volatility anomaly: Corporate investment or investor mispricing?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 224-238.
    9. Yunting Liu, 2022. "The Short-Run and Long-Run Components of Idiosyncratic Volatility and Stock Returns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 1573-1589, February.
    10. Benoit Carmichael & Gilles Boevi Koumou & Kevin Moran, 2021. "The political reception of innovations," Cahiers de recherche 2107, Centre de recherche sur les risques, les enjeux économiques, et les politiques publiques.
    11. Hou, Kewei & Loh, Roger K., 2016. "Have we solved the idiosyncratic volatility puzzle?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 167-194.
    12. Bergbrant, Mikael & Kassa, Haimanot, 2021. "Is idiosyncratic volatility related to returns? Evidence from a subset of firms with quality idiosyncratic volatility estimates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    13. Chen, Linda H. & Jiang, George J. & Xu, Danielle D. & Yao, Tong, 2020. "Dissecting the idiosyncratic volatility anomaly," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 193-209.
    14. Zhaobo Zhu & Wenjie Ding & Yi Jin & Dehua Shen, 2023. "Dissecting the Idiosyncratic Volatility Puzzle: A Fundamental Analysis Approach," Post-Print hal-04194180, HAL.
    15. Su, Zhi & Shu, Tengjia & Yin, Libo, 2018. "The pricing effect of the common pattern in firm-level idiosyncratic volatility: Evidence from A-Share stocks of China," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 497(C), pages 218-235.
    16. Kyung Shim & Harjoat Bhamra, 2015. "Stochastic Idiosyncratic Operating Risk and Real Options: Implications for Stock Returns," 2015 Meeting Papers 1494, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    17. Paul Schneider & Christian Wagner & Josef Zechner, 2020. "Low‐Risk Anomalies?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(5), pages 2673-2718, October.
    18. Mateus, Irina B. & Mateus, Cesario & Todorovic, Natasa, 2019. "Review of new trends in the literature on factor models and mutual fund performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 344-354.
    19. Wang, Jianqiu & Wu, Ke & Pan, Jiening & Jiang, Ying, 2023. "Disagreement, speculation, and the idiosyncratic volatility," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 232-250.
    20. De Moor, Lieven & Sercu, Piet, 2013. "The smallest firm effect: An international study," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 129-155.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:67:y:2021:i:5:p:2751-2772. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.