Factor Models - Risk or characteristics?

6 important questions on Factor Models - Risk or characteristics?

What two questions can we answer to determine whether something is a risk or a characteristic?

  1. Why doesn't the CAPM hold?
  2. Why do other factors predict returns?

Why might the CAPM not hold?

  • Noisy beta estimation?
  • What is the market factor (Roll's critique)
  • Theory is wrong?

Why do other factors predict returns?

  1. Data mining (cynical view)
    1. Statistical result is coincidence, there is no real effect
  2. Risk factor (neo-classical view)
      1. Economic risk factor is causing expected return (if something is priced in the cross-sectional, then it must be a risk factor)
  3. Characteristic (behavioral view)
      1. Investors want to buy stock for other reasons
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Why are policy makers interested in the characteristics?

  • Policy makers: Mispricing -> mispricing implies inefficient capital allocation (capital flows to the wrong products), so suboptimal economic growth. If a factor is signaling mispricing -> ECB does somethng about it

Why are investors interested in risk or characteristic?

  • Data mining -> do not invest (not real)
  • Risk? -> invest if willing to take the risk
  • Mispricing? -> Invest! Free lunch. Should eliminate mispricing

Can we disentangle the three (risk, characteristic, data mining) empirically?

  • Data mining
    • Should dissapear out-of-sample
  • Risk
    • Should not dissapear
  • Characteristic
    • Should dissapear after publication of the paper due to (risk) arbitrage

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