IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/empfin/v15y2008i5p801-815.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An inquiry into the economic fundamentals of the Fama and French equity factors

Author

Listed:
  • Simpson, Marc W.
  • Ramchander, Sanjay

Abstract

This study investigates the economic underpinnings of the Fama and French three-factor (FF3) model. We evaluate the impact of surprises in 23 different types of macroeconomic announcements on stock returns in the framework of the CAPM and the FF3 model. The relative merit of the FF3 model is demonstrated whenever macroeconomic surprises have a smaller impact on the returns within an FF3 model versus their impact within the CAPM. In general, there is strong evidence to suggest that the FF3 model outperforms the CAPM. The relative merit of the FF3 model is highlighted by its ability to capture information related to Personal Consumption, Retail Sales, CPI, PPI, Factory Orders, Leading Indicators, Construction Spending, Housing Starts, and New Home Sales. An attribution analysis of the relative performance of SMB and HML equity factors indicate that both factors, in isolation, equally account for macroeconomic surprises. Lastly, there is evidence that the FF3 model can be marginally improved by incorporating credit variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Simpson, Marc W. & Ramchander, Sanjay, 2008. "An inquiry into the economic fundamentals of the Fama and French equity factors," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 801-815, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:15:y:2008:i:5:p:801-815
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927-5398(08)00016-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    2. Lakonishok, Josef & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1994. "Contrarian Investment, Extrapolation, and Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(5), pages 1541-1578, December.
    3. Gabriel Perez‐Quiros & Allan Timmermann, 2000. "Firm Size and Cyclical Variations in Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 1229-1262, June.
    4. John Lintner, 1965. "Security Prices, Risk, And Maximal Gains From Diversification," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 20(4), pages 587-615, December.
    5. Reinganum, Marc R, 1981. "The Arbitrage Pricing Theory: Some Empirical Results," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(2), pages 313-321, May.
    6. Pearce, Douglas K & Roley, V Vance, 1985. "Stock Prices and Economic News," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(1), pages 49-67, January.
    7. MacKinlay, A. Craig, 1995. "Multifactor models do not explain deviations from the CAPM," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 3-28, May.
    8. Ramchander, Sanjay & Simpson, Marc W. & Chaudhry, Mukesh K., 2005. "The influence of macroeconomic news on term and quality spreads," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 84-102, February.
    9. Torben G. Andersen & Tim Bollerslev & Francis X. Diebold & Clara Vega, 2003. "Micro Effects of Macro Announcements: Real-Time Price Discovery in Foreign Exchange," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 38-62, March.
    10. 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.
    11. William F. Sharpe, 1964. "Capital Asset Prices: A Theory Of Market Equilibrium Under Conditions Of Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 19(3), pages 425-442, September.
    12. Balduzzi, Pierluigi & Elton, Edwin J. & Green, T. Clifton, 2001. "Economic News and Bond Prices: Evidence from the U.S. Treasury Market," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 523-543, December.
    13. Hahn, Jaehoon & Lee, Hangyong, 2006. "Yield Spreads as Alternative Risk Factors for Size and Book-to-Market," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(2), pages 245-269, June.
    14. La Porta, Rafael, et al, 1997. "Good News for Value Stocks: Further Evidence on Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 859-874, June.
    15. Almeida, Alvaro & Goodhart, Charles & Payne, Richard, 1998. "The Effects of Macroeconomic News on High Frequency Exchange Rate Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(3), pages 383-408, September.
    16. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:831-868 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark, 1989. "Agency Costs, Net Worth, and Business Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 14-31, March.
    18. Basu, S, 1977. "Investment Performance of Common Stocks in Relation to Their Price-Earnings Ratios: A Test of the Efficient Market Hypothesis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(3), pages 663-682, June.
    19. 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.
    20. Mun, Johnathan C. & Vasconcellos, Geraldo M. & Kish, Richard, 2000. "The Contrarian/Overreaction Hypothesis: An analysis of the US and Canadian stock markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 53-72.
    21. Banz, Rolf W., 1981. "The relationship between return and market value of common stocks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 3-18, March.
    22. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:1:p:135-48 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1995. "Size and Book-to-Market Factors in Earnings and Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(1), pages 131-155, March.
    24. Kothari, S P & Shanken, Jay & Sloan, Richard G, 1995. "Another Look at the Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(1), pages 185-224, March.
    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. Huffman, Stephen P. & Makar, Stephen D. & Beyer, Scott B., 2010. "A three-factor model investigation of foreign exchange-rate exposure," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-12.
    2. Du, Ding, 2013. "Another look at the cross-section and time-series of stock returns: 1951 to 2011," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 130-146.
    3. Lazzarino, Marco & Berrill, Jenny & Šević, Aleksandar, 2022. "The importance of distinguishing between precious and industrial metals when investing in mining stocks," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Johan Knif & James W. Kolari & Gregory Koutmos & Seppo Pynnönen, 2019. "Measuring the relative return contribution of risk factors," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(4), pages 263-272, July.
    5. Johan Knif & James W. Kolari & Gregory Koutmos & Seppo Pynonen, 2023. "Modeling the Time Variation in Factor Exposures," Journal of Finance and Investment Analysis, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 12(2), pages 1-2.
    6. Joseph, Nathan Lael & Lambertides, Neophytos & Savva, Christos S., 2015. "Short-horizon excess returns and exchange rate and interest rate effects," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 54-76.
    7. Wu, Po-Chin & Liu, Shiao-Yen & Chen, Che-Ying, 2016. "Re-examining risk premiums in the Fama–French model: The role of investor sentiment," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 154-171.

    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. M. Eskandar Shah & Sourafel Girm & R. Hudson, 2012. "Rationalizing the Value Premium under Economic Fundamentals in an Emerging Market," Working Papers 12010, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    2. Ebrahim, M. Shahid & Girma, Sourafel & Shah, M. Eskandar & Williams, Jonathan, 2014. "Rationalizing the value premium in emerging markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 51-70.
    3. Fernando Rubio, 2005. "Eficiencia De Mercado, Administracion De Carteras De Fondos Y Behavioural Finance," Finance 0503028, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Jul 2005.
    4. Michael Drew & Madhu Veeraraghavan, 2002. "Idiosyncratic Volatility: Evidence from Asia," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 107, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    5. Ray Ball & Gil Sadka & Ayung Tseng, 2022. "Using accounting earnings and aggregate economic indicators to estimate firm-level systematic risk," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 607-646, June.
    6. Pheng Bian Ong & Mohamed Hisham Hanifa & Mansor Mohd Isa, 2018. "Do Firm Size and Value Affect Shareholder Returns in Malaysia?," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 26(2), pages 53-69.
    7. Martin Wallmeier, 2000. "Determinanten erwarteter Renditen am deutschen Aktienmarkt — Eine empirische Untersuchung anhand ausgewählter Kennzahlen," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 27-57, February.
    8. Michael E. Drew & Tony Naughton & Madhu Veeraraghavan, 2003. "Asset Pricing in China: Evidence from the Shanghai Stock Exchange," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 128, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    9. Davison, Freddy & Marsden, Alastair & Veeraraghavan, Madhu, 2008. "Do zero-cost portfolios have the ability to predict economic growth? Evidence from Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 1012-1028, December.
    10. Randi Næs & Johannes A. Skjeltorp & Bernt Arne Ødegaard, 2009. "What factors affect the Oslo Stock Exchange?," Working Paper 2009/24, Norges Bank.
    11. John Y. Campbell, 2000. "Asset Pricing at the Millennium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1515-1567, August.
    12. Kwame Addae-Dapaah & James Webb & Kim Ho & Yan Tan, 2010. "Industrial Real Estate Investment: Does the Contrarian Strategy Work?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 193-227, August.
    13. Michael E. Drew & Madhu Veeraraghavan, 2001. "Asset Pricing In The Asian Region," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 094, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    14. Eero Pätäri & Timo Leivo, 2017. "A Closer Look At Value Premium: Literature Review And Synthesis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 79-168, February.
    15. Connor, Gregory & Linton, Oliver, 2007. "Semiparametric estimation of a characteristic-based factor model of common stock returns," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 694-717, December.
    16. Guo, Hui, 2006. "Time-varying risk premia and the cross section of stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 2087-2107, July.
    17. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, June.
    18. Anderson, James H. & Korsun, Georges & Murrell, Peter, 2003. "Glamour and value in the land of Chingis Khan," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 34-57, March.
    19. Wang, Yuenan & Di Iorio, Amalia, 2007. "The cross section of expected stock returns in the Chinese A-share market," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 335-349, March.
    20. Tanveer Ahmad; Syed Muhammad Amir Shah, 2017. "The Value-Growth Indicators and Value Premium: Evidence from Pakistan Stock Exchange," South Asian Journal of Management Sciences (SAJMS), Iqra University, Iqra University, vol. 11(2), pages 124-139, Fall.

    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:eee:empfin:v:15:y:2008:i:5:p:801-815. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jempfin .

    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.