IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cuf/wpaper/12.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Critique of the Stochastic Discount Factor Methodology

Author

Listed:
  • Raymond Kan

    (University of Toronto)

  • Guofu Zhou

    (Washington University in St. Louis)

Abstract

In this paper, we point out that the widely used stochastic discount factor (SDF) methodology ignores a fully specified model for asset returns. As a result, it suffers from two potential problems when asset returns follow a linear factor model. The first problem is that the risk premium estimate from the SDF methodology is unreliable. The second problem is that the specification test under the SDF methodology has very low power in detecting misspecified models. Traditional methodologies typically incorporate a fully specified model for asset returns, and they can perform substantially better than the SDF methodology.

Suggested Citation

  • Raymond Kan & Guofu Zhou, 1999. "A Critique of the Stochastic Discount Factor Methodology," CEMA Working Papers 12, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cuf:wpaper:12
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://down.aefweb.net/WorkingPapers/w12.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hansen, Lars Peter, 1982. "Large Sample Properties of Generalized Method of Moments Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-1054, July.
    2. 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.
    3. Stephen A. Ross, 2013. "The Arbitrage Theory of Capital Asset Pricing," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 1, pages 11-30, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:2:p:231-62 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Zhou, Guofu, 1995. "Small sample rank tests with applications to asset pricing," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 71-93, March.
    6. Zhou, Guofu, 1994. "Analytical GMM Tests: Asset Pricing with Time-Varying Risk Premiums," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(4), pages 687-709.
    7. Hansen, Lars Peter & Jagannathan, Ravi, 1997. "Assessing Specification Errors in Stochastic Discount Factor Models," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 557-590, June.
    8. Hansen, Lars Peter & Jagannathan, Ravi, 1991. "Implications of Security Market Data for Models of Dynamic Economies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(2), pages 225-262, April.
    9. Cochrane, John H, 1996. "A Cross-Sectional Test of an Investment-Based Asset Pricing Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(3), pages 572-621, June.
    10. Zhou, Guofu, 1991. "Small sample tests of portfolio efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 165-191, November.
    11. Kan, Raymond & Zhang, Chu, 1999. "GMM tests of stochastic discount factor models with useless factors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 103-127, October.
    12. Harvey, Campbell R. & Zhou, Guofu, 1993. "International asset pricing with alternative distributional specifications," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 107-131, June.
    13. 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.
    14. MacKinlay, A Craig & Richardson, Matthew P, 1991. "Using Generalized Method of Moments to Test Mean-Variance Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(2), pages 511-527, June.
    15. K. Newey, Whitney, 1985. "Generalized method of moments specification testing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 229-256, September.
    16. Merton, Robert C, 1973. "An Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(5), pages 867-887, September.
    17. He, Jia, et al, 1996. "Tests of the Relations among Marketwide Factors, Firm-Specific Variables, and Stock Returns Using a Conditional Asset Pricing Model," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1891-1908, December.
    18. 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.
    19. Black, Fischer, 1972. "Capital Market Equilibrium with Restricted Borrowing," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(3), pages 444-455, July.
    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. Velu, Raja & Zhou, Guofu, 1999. "Testing multi-beta asset pricing models," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 219-241, September.
    2. Shanken, Jay & Zhou, Guofu, 2007. "Estimating and testing beta pricing models: Alternative methods and their performance in simulations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 40-86, April.
    3. Amit Goyal, 2012. "Empirical cross-sectional asset pricing: a survey," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 26(1), pages 3-38, March.
    4. Jagannathan, Ravi & Kubota, Keiichi & Takehara, Hitoshi, 1998. "Relationship between Labor-Income Risk and Average Return: Empirical Evidence from the Japanese Stock Market," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(3), pages 319-347, July.
    5. Liu, Ludan, 2008. "It takes a model to beat a model: Volatility bounds," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 80-110, January.
    6. Wayne E. Ferson & Ravi Jagannathan, 1996. "Econometric evaluation of asset pricing models," Staff Report 206, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    7. Ravi Jagannathan & Zhenyu Wang, 2002. "Empirical Evaluation of Asset‐Pricing Models: A Comparison of the SDF and Beta Methods," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2337-2367, October.
    8. Stefan Nagel, 2013. "Empirical Cross-Sectional Asset Pricing," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 167-199, November.
    9. Zhou, Guofu, 1999. "Security factors as linear combinations of economic variables," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 403-432, November.
    10. Zhou, Guofu, 1995. "Small sample rank tests with applications to asset pricing," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 71-93, March.
    11. John Y. Campbell, 2000. "Asset Pricing at the Millennium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1515-1567, August.
    12. Li, Minqiang, 2010. "Asset Pricing - A Brief Review," MPRA Paper 22379, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2013. "Understanding Asset Prices," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2013-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    14. Ren, Yu & Shimotsu, Katsumi, 2009. "Improvement in finite sample properties of the Hansen-Jagannathan distance test," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 483-506, June.
    15. Kim, Soon-Ho & Kim, Dongcheol & Shin, Hyun-Soo, 2012. "Evaluating asset pricing models in the Korean stock market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 198-227.
    16. Ayadi, Mohamed A. & Kryzanowski, Lawrence, 2005. "Portfolio performance measurement using APM-free kernel models," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 623-659, March.
    17. Sara Azher & Javed Iqbal, 2018. "Testing Conditional Asset Pricing in Pakistan: The Role of Value-at-risk and Illiquidity Factors," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 17(2_suppl), pages 259-281, August.
    18. Hodrick, Robert J. & Zhang, Xiaoyan, 2001. "Evaluating the specification errors of asset pricing models," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 327-376, November.
    19. Wu, Xueping, 2002. "A conditional multifactor analysis of return momentum," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(8), pages 1675-1696, August.
    20. H. Youn Kim, 2003. "Intertemporal production and asset pricing: a duality approach," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 55(2), pages 344-379, April.

    More about this item

    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:12. 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.