Forward discount dynamics in integrated markets

This paper models the excess return or forward discount (premium) dynamics in integrated markets. Its decomposition at different time frequencies suggests that both stochastic and fundamental processes, as well as exogenous random shocks, are relevant for the determination of the forward discount (premium) over time. A stochastic process within a time-dependent parabolic well appears to capture the empirical findings of the literature and provides the means for the derivation of the equilibrium pricing formula for the forward discount. The mathematical solution that determines the relationship between the stochastic process and the trend allows for an interpretation of the reasons why, in some cases, expectational error appears to be correlated with the forward discount (premium) but not with the forward risk premium. Finally, estimations of the forward discount are carried out using the proposed model, which seems to support the data well.     

The Risk Premium, Exchange Rate Expectations, and the Forward Exchange Rate: Estimates for the Yen–Dollar Rate

The hypothesis that the forward rate is an unbiased predictor of the future spot rate has been rejected in many empirical studies. The rejection of this hypothesis could occur because market behavior is inconsistent with rational–expectations or because there exists a risk premium. Equations describing the forward premium and the change in the exchange rate are estimated jointly, and tests of both the rational–expectations and no–risk–premium hypotheses are conducted. Empirical estimates, obtained using quarterly data for the yen–dollar exchange rate, reject the rational–expectations hypothesis and suggest that there exists a time–varying risk premium.     

Uncovered interest parity in Central and Eastern Europe: Expectations and structural breaks

This paper examines the empirical validity of the hypothesis of uncovered interest parity (UIP) using data from five Central and Eastern European countries with floating exchange rates for the period 2003 to 2014. The analysis includes forward‐looking as well as static expectations and allows for different types of structural break. The variable depicting the deviation from strict UIP is stationary when expectations are forward looking, suggesting that it is not possible to reject the UIP hypothesis with a constant risk premium. The deviation from strict UIP is however typically not stationary when expectations are static, even when structural breaks are incorporated, leading to the rejection of the UIP hypothesis with a constant risk premium. The results underscore the central role of expectations for the UIP hypothesis.     

Forward-premium puzzle: is it time to abandon the usual regression?

The forward premium puzzle is usually evidenced by the rejection of the null hypothesis in the uncovered interest parity (UIP) regression. Because this parity need only hold in a risk-neutral world, a risk adjustment term is missing from the equation if speculation in foreign exchange markets is risky. We deal with this issue following the literature which assumes that discounted returns on foreign government bonds are log-normal, so we can linearize the Euler pricing equations (in level) and obtain a modified UIP system for which the risk adjustment term is obtained by applying to the pricing kernel-based relations a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity-in-mean model. However, here we innovate by adopting a methodology which differs from all these related works. We construct and use a stochastic discount factor that does not depend on a specific model, by residing in the space of returns which we extract from the data by simply imposing the orthogonality restrictions represented by the Euler equations. So, we devise a purely statistical pricing kernel that performs well in in-sample level equations. Somewhat disappointingly, the risk premium inclusion in the conventional regression changes neither the significance nor the magnitude of the forecasting power of the forward premium for most currencies we study. The contrasting performance of the tests in level and in logs suggests that linearization may be to blame.     

Risk premia in forward foreign exchange rates: a comparison of signal extraction and regression methods

We investigate possible presence of time-varying risk premia in forward pound, yen, and Euro monthly exchange rates versus the US dollar over the last two decades. We study this issue using regression techniques and separately using a signal plus noise model. Our models account for time-varying volatility and non-normality in the observed series. Our regression model rejects the hypothesis that the forward rate is an unbiased predictor of future spot exchange rate, indicating the existence of time-varying risk premium under rational expectations. Our signal plus noise model reveals a time-varying risk premium component in yen and Euro. The same model provides evidence for the presence of risk premium in pound over a shorter sample period, though not over the entire sample. We conclude that risk premia exist, although we may fail to detect these for some currencies over specific time periods.     

A Theory of Exchange Rates and the Term Structure of Interest Rates

This paper defines the concepts of indirect and direct risk premium effects and analyzes their properties in an exchange rate model. In the model, these effects are endogenously determined in a rational expectations equilibrium. For the effect of an interest rate shock, they have the opposite signs and the indirect risk premium effect can dominate the direct risk premium effect under reasonable parameters. This means that domestic short‐term bonds and foreign bonds are complements in the model even though domestic long‐term bonds and foreign bonds are substitutes. This model, focusing on the indirect risk premium effect and on the term structure of interest rates, can be combined with a small sample bias approach to explain stylized facts about the forward premium anomaly, which is found for short‐term interest rates, but not for long‐term interest rates.     

Asymmetry in forward exchange rate bias: A puzzling result

In this paper we document that the hypothesis that the forward exchange rate discount is an unbiased predictor of future currency depreciation holds in periods when the forward US dollar is quoted at a premium against the Japanese yen and the Deutschmark, but fails when it is quoted at a discount for the post-Bretton Woods floating exchange rate era. Moreover, the observed asymmetry is statistically significant. This puzzling result remains to be explained.     

The business cycle and the equity risk premium in real time

Building on the stochastic discount factor model, we estimated a multivariate exponential GARCH-in-mean model to analyze the link between the business cycle and the equity risk premium in the United States. In order to measure the business cycle, we used revised and real-time monthly data on industrial production for the period from 1965 to 2008. The main result of our empirical analysis is that estimates of the equity risk premium based on real-time macroeconomic data may significantly differ from estimates of the equity risk premium based on revised macroeconomic data.     

Aggregate and disaggregate measures of the foreign exchange risk premium

Using a disaggregate survey database, this paper reexamines the issue of the existence of a time-varying risk premia in three foreign exchange markets. Previous research on this topic has utilised a consensus measure of the risk premium, based on the rational expectations assumption, and is not supportive of the existence of such a premium. In contrast, this paper reports compelling evidence in favour of time-varying risk premia for the British pound (BP), German mark (DM), and Japanese yen (JY) exchange rates. In particular, we demonstrate that consensus measures of the risk premium mask the existence of risk because of the importance of heterogeneous expectations.     

A joint test of risk premia in exchange rates and rational expectations

This note presents a simple joint test of existence of a risk premium in exchange rates and the rationality of expectations. It is shown that major currency prices studied in this note are subject to a risk premium.     

Macro-expectations,aggregate uncertainty,and expected term premia

Based on expectations data from the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF), we construct a real-time proxy for expected term premium changes of US long-term Treasury bonds. We then investigate the economic drivers of these subjective term premium expectations at the level of individual forecasters. Our results indicate that forecasters' term premium expectations are driven by expected macroeconomic conditions as well as the uncertainty of market participants about future output and inflation. An aggregate measure of forecasters' term premium expectations has predictive power for actual bond excess returns over horizons of up to one year.     

中国利率期限结构中的宏观经济风险因素分析——基于宏观-金融模型的研究途径

本文应用宏观-金融模型对我国利率期限结构动态过程中的时变宏观经济风险价格进行定量估计,在此基础上,对利率期限结构的预期成分和风险溢价成分进行分解,并且模拟了宏观经济对利率期限结构的冲击效应。研究结果表明,我国利率期限结构中存在着显著的时变宏观经济风险价格;不同期限利率可以明显地分解出预期成分和风险溢价成分,风险溢价成分的变动具有阶段性特点;宏观经济冲击在短期内对利率期限结构的整体水平与坡度均有明显影响,在长期内则仅对整体水平的影响较为明显。因此,我国利率期限结构可以体现出宏观经济形势的变化,应该进一步提高利率期限结构在货币政策制定中的作用。     

Evaluating the risk premium in the U.S.A. natural gas market: evidence from low-price regime

In recent years, the U.S.A. natural gas market has seen enormous changes. The expectations of abundant supply of shale gas and the slow U.S.A. economic recovery have pushed gas prices below US$ 4 MMBtu. Although shale gas is a new promising source of unconventional energy, investors face uncertain investment plans. In this study, we investigate the risk premium by comparing behaviour before and after the change point in agents risk perception. Unlike traditional empirical research on risk premium, we use the parametric, two-factor model of Schwartz and Smith (2000) to evaluate the implied risk premium term structure from futures prices traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). We compare our findings with other empirical results and find that the change point lies at the beginning of the low-price regime. When we compare periods before and after the change point, we observe that the risk premium changed, not only in sign, but also in magnitude.     

EMS exchange rate expectations and time-varying risk premia

In this paper we examine exchange risk premia employing a survey dataset of EMS exchange rates. We are able to test a risk premium model directly, i.e. without having to rely on the rational expectations assumption. Our results indicate that time-varying risk premia are present in almost all cases and that a GARCH-in-mean specification for the premium is often appropriate.     

Rethinking Deviations From Uncovered Interest Parity: the Role of Covariance Risk and Noise

We examine the ability of the standard intertemporal asset pricing model and a model of noise trading to explain why the forward foreign exchange premium predicts the future currency depreciation with the 'wrong' sign. We find that the intertemporal asset pricing model is unable to predict risk premia with the correct sign to be consistent with the data. The noise-trader model, while highly stylised, receives fragmentary support from empirical research on survey expectations.     

Option-implied preferences adjustments, density forecasts, and the equity risk premium

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the value of information contained in prices of options on the IBEX 35 index at the Spanish Stock Exchange Market. The forward looking information is extracted using implied risk-neutral density functions estimated by a mixture of two-lognormals and several alternative risk adjustments. Our results show that, between October 1996 and March 2000, we can reject the hypothesis that the risk-neutral densities provide accurate predictions of the distributions of future realisations of the IBEX 35 index at 4- and 8-week horizons. When forecasting through risk-adjusted densities the performance of this period is statistically improved and we no longer reject that hypothesis. We show that risk adjustments based on a power specification for the stochastic discount factor—which is the approach used so far in the literature that derives the objective density function from option prices- generates an excessive volatility of risk premia. We use alternative risk adjustments and find that the forecasting performance of the distribution improves slightly in some cases when risk aversion is allowed to be time-varying. Finally, from October 1996 to December 2004, the ex-ante risk premium perceived by investors and that are embedded in option prices is between 12 and 18% higher than the premium required to compensate the same investors for the realised volatility in stock market returns.      

Consensus Consumer and Intertemporal Asset Pricing with Heterogeneous Beliefs

The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of heterogeneous beliefs in an otherwise standard competitive complete market economy. The construction of a consensus probability belief, as well as a consensus consumer, is shown to be valid modulo an aggregation bias, which takes the form of a discount factor. In classical cases, the consensus probability belief is a risk tolerance weighted average of the individual beliefs, and the discount factor is proportional to beliefs dispersion. This discount factor makes the heterogeneous beliefs setting fundamentally different from the homogeneous beliefs setting, and it is consistent with the interpretation of beliefs heterogeneity as a source of risk.
We then use our construction to rewrite in a simple way the equilibrium characteristics (market price of risk, risk premium, risk-free rate) in a heterogeneous beliefs framework and to analyse the impact of beliefs heterogeneity. Finally, we show that it is possible to construct specific parametrizations of the heterogeneous beliefs model that lead to globally higher risk premia and lower risk-free rates.     

CAN FINANCING CONSTRAINTS EXPLAIN THE ASSET PRICING PUZZLES IN PRODUCTION ECONOMIES?*

General Equilibrium asset pricing models have a difficult time simultaneously delivering a sizable equity premium, a low and counter cyclical real risk free rate, and cyclical variation in return volatility. To explain these stylized facts, this article introduces occasionally binding financing constraints that impede producers’ ability to invest. The financial frictions drive a wedge between the marginal rate of substitution and firms’ internal stochastic discount factors so that the shadow value of capital is not tied to the average price of capital. The model delivers higher and more volatile asset returns during recessions as well as a counter cyclical equity premium.     

Liquidity-adjusted conditional capital asset pricing model

This paper derives a liquidity-adjusted conditional two-moment capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and a liquidity-adjusted conditional three-moment CAPM respectively based on theory of stochastic discount factor. The liquidity-adjusted conditional two-moment CAPM shows that a security's conditional expected excess return consists of three parts: its conditional expected liquidity cost, the systemic risk premium and the liquidity risk premium. The liquidity-adjusted conditional three-moment CAPM shows that a security's conditional expected excess return depends on its conditional expected liquidity cost, the conditional covariance between its return and the market return, the conditional covariance between its liquidity cost and the market liquidity cost, and the conditional coskewness of its return and the market return.