IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cuf/wpaper/778.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Institutions and Asset Returns

Author

Listed:
  • Heng-fu Zou

Abstract

Why do equity markets in some countries consistently outperform while others suffer from chronic underperformance, volatility, and investor distrust? Why has the canonical equity premium puzzle-first posed by Mehra and Prescott (1985)-remained unresolved despite decades of re finement in consumption-based, production-based, and behavioral asset pricing models? This paper offers a foundational answer: institutions are the missing capital. We argue that differences in institutional quality - such as the strength of property rights, legal enforcement, political stability, democratic accountability, and regulatory claritysystematically shape both the level and volatility of asset returns across countries and time.

Suggested Citation

  • Heng-fu Zou, 2025. "Institutions and Asset Returns," CEMA Working Papers 778, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cuf:wpaper:778
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://down.aefweb.net/WorkingPapers/w778.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Breeden, Douglas T., 1979. "An intertemporal asset pricing model with stochastic consumption and investment opportunities," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 265-296, September.
    2. Heng-fu Zou, 2025. "Institution-Based Asset Pricing: A Generalization of Consumption- and Production-Based Models," CEMA Working Papers 765, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    3. Robert J. Barro, 1998. "Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262522543, December.
    4. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    5. Minxian Sun & Heng-Fu Zou, 2025. "A Macroeconomic Model with Property-Rights Capital," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 26(1), pages 213-246, May.
    6. Heng-fu Zou, 2025. "Institutional Volatility and the Equity Premium Puzzle: A Dynamic Asset Pricing Framework for OECD Economies," CEMA Working Papers 775, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Heng-fu Zou, 2025. "Institutional Volatility and the Equity Premium Puzzle: A Dynamic Asset Pricing Framework for OECD Economies," CEMA Working Papers 775, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    2. Wei Liang & Heng-fu Zou, 2025. "Liberal Ideas Capital and Asset Pricing: A Political Economy of Risk, Return, and Freedom," CEMA Working Papers 779, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    3. Ho, Sin-Yu, 2017. "The Macroeconomic Determinants of Stock Market Development: Evidence from Malaysia," MPRA Paper 77232, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Rui Albuquerue & Neng Wang, 2008. "Agency Conflicts, Investment, and Asset Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(1), pages 1-40, February.
    5. Goedhuys, Micheline & Sleuwaegen, Leo, 2013. "The Impact of International Standards Certification on the Performance of Firms in Less Developed Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 87-101.
    6. Boubakri, Narjess & Hamza, Olfa, 2007. "The dynamics of privatization, the legal environment and stock market development," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 304-331.
    7. Bernard Yeung & Randall Morck & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2004. "Corporate Governance, Economic Entrenchment and Growth," Working Papers 04-21, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    8. Heng-fu Zou, 2025. "Institution-Based Asset Pricing: A Generalization of Consumption- and Production-Based Models," CEMA Working Papers 765, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    9. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Narayan, Seema & Thuraisamy, Kannan Sivananthan, 2014. "Can institutions and macroeconomic factors predict stock returns in emerging markets?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 77-95.
    10. Sin-Yu Ho, 2019. "The macroeconomic determinants of stock market development in Malaysia: an empirical analysis," Global Business and Economics Review, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 21(2), pages 174-193.
    11. Milo, Melanie S., 2007. "Integrated Financial Supervision: an Institutional Perspective for the Philippines," Discussion Papers DP 2007-17, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    12. Ho, Sin-Yu, 2017. "The Macroeconomic Determinants of Stock Market Development: Evidence from South Africa," MPRA Paper 76493, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Heng-fu Zou, 2025. "Institutional Disaster Risk and Asset Pricing: A Unified Framework Integrating Rare Events and Endogenous Political Shocks," CEMA Working Papers 777, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    14. Gilberto E. Arce & Edgar Robles C., 2005. "Corporate Governance in Costa Rica," Research Department Publications 3218, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    15. Klapper, Leora F. & Love, Inessa, 2004. "Corporate governance, investor protection, and performance in emerging markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 703-728, November.
    16. Mohammad Zulfan Tadjoeddin, 2012. "Electoral conflict and the maturity of local democracy in Indonesia: testing the modernisation hypothesis," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 476-497.
    17. Fidrmuc, Jana P. & Jacob, Marcus, 2010. "Culture, agency costs, and dividends," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 321-339, September.
    18. Sang Cheol Lee & Mooweon Rhee & Jongchul Yoon, 2018. "Foreign Monitoring and Audit Quality: Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, September.
    19. Eicher, Theo S. & Schreiber, Till, 2010. "Structural policies and growth: Time series evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 169-179, January.
    20. Kemptner, Daniel & Tolan, Songül, 2018. "The role of time preferences in educational decision making," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 25-39.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:cuf:wpaper:778. 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: Qiang Gao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emcufcn.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.