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Model Uncertainty, the Spirit of Capitalism and Asset Pricing

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  • Wang, Gaowang

Abstract

This paper examines how a preference for robustness affects optimal consumption-portfolio rules as well as the equilibrium asset returns when investors care about their social status (or they have the spirit of capitalism). It is shown that the interaction of these two preferences leads to higher equity premium by enhancing investors's effetive risk aversion and making them more conservative in risk-taking. In addition, we find that they also lead to greater precautionary savings and lower risk-free rate in general equilibrium. We then show that the interaction of the two preferences has the potential to resolve the equity premium puzzle and the risk-free rate puzzle for plausible parameter values. helps to resolve the equity premium and the risk-free rate puzzle.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Gaowang, 2014. "Model Uncertainty, the Spirit of Capitalism and Asset Pricing," MPRA Paper 62421, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 Mar 2015.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:62421
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mehra, Rajnish & Prescott, Edward C., 1985. "The equity premium: A puzzle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 145-161, March.
    2. Weil, Philippe, 1989. "The equity premium puzzle and the risk-free rate puzzle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 401-421, November.
    3. Smith, William T, 2001. "How Does the Spirit of Capitalism Affect Stock Market Prices?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(4), pages 1215-1232.
    4. Campbell, John Y., 1999. "Asset prices, consumption, and the business cycle," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 19, pages 1231-1303, Elsevier.
    5. Duffie, Darrel & Lions, Pierre-Louis, 1992. "PDE solutions of stochastic differential utility," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 577-606.
    6. Luo, Yulei, 2015. "Robustly Strategic Consumption-Portfolio Rules with Informational Frictions," MPRA Paper 64312, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Duffie, Darrell & Epstein, Larry G, 1992. "Stochastic Differential Utility," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 353-394, March.
    8. 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.
    9. Bakshi, Gurdip S & Chen, Zhiwu, 1996. "The Spirit of Capitalism and Stock-Market Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 133-157, March.
    10. Lars Peter Hansen & Thomas J Sargent, 2014. "A Quartet of Semigroups for Model Specification, Robustness, Prices of Risk, and Model Detection," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: UNCERTAINTY WITHIN ECONOMIC MODELS, chapter 4, pages 83-143, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Merton, Robert C, 1969. "Lifetime Portfolio Selection under Uncertainty: The Continuous-Time Case," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(3), pages 247-257, August.
    12. Duffie, Darrell & Epstein, Larry G, 1992. "Asset Pricing with Stochastic Differential Utility," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(3), pages 411-436.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    the Spirit of Capitalism; Robustness; the Equity Premium Puzzle; the Risk-free Rate Puzzle;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

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