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Rethinking What Survey Data has to Say about the Role of Risk and Irrationality in Currency Markets

Author

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  • Josh Stillwagon

    (Department of Economics, Trinity College)

Abstract

A number of studies have used survey data on traders' exchange rate forecasts to examine the role of risk and non-REH forecasting in accounting for excess returns in currency markets. This work re-examines those results using an alternative estimation technique, the Cointegrated VAR, which allows for better examination of non-stationarity in a multivariate framework. The results demonstrate the importance of focusing on the persistence of deviations from any found relationships. Consistent with some later studies, clear evidence of a time-varying risk premium is found, and REH is rejected for all three exchange rate samples examined (BP/USD, DM/USD, and JY/USD). The results strongly draw into question though the interpretation that this represents obvious irrationality. The relationship between the forecast error and interest rate differential is found to be non-stationary at very high significance levels, implying that the correlations are spurious and unstable over time, and individuals are not, in fact, mis-forecasting in a fixed manner relative to interest rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Josh Stillwagon, 2013. "Rethinking What Survey Data has to Say about the Role of Risk and Irrationality in Currency Markets," Working Papers 1314, Trinity College, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tri:wpaper:1314
    as

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    File URL: http://www3.trincoll.edu/repec/WorkingPapers2013/WP13-14.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fred G M C Nieuwland & Willem F C Verschoor & Christian C P Wolff, 1990. "EMS Exchange Rates," CEPR Financial Markets Paper 0002, European Science Foundation Network in Financial Markets, c/o C.E.P.R, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX..
    2. Lewis, Karen K., 1995. "Puzzles in international financial markets," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 37, pages 1913-1971, Elsevier.
    3. Gourinchas, Pierre-Olivier & Tornell, Aaron, 2004. "Exchange rate puzzles and distorted beliefs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 303-333, December.
    4. Kenneth A. Froot & Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1989. "Forward Discount Bias: Is it an Exchange Risk Premium?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(1), pages 139-161.
    5. Froot, Kenneth A & Thaler, Richard H, 1990. "Foreign Exchange," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 179-192, Summer.
    6. Engel, Charles, 1996. "The forward discount anomaly and the risk premium: A survey of recent evidence," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 123-192, June.
    7. Unknown, 1986. "Letters," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 1(4), pages 1-9.
    8. Craig Burnside & Martin Eichenbaum & Sergio Rebelo, 2009. "Understanding the Forward Premium Puzzle: A Microstructure Approach," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 127-154, July.
    9. Cavaglia, Stefano & Verschoor, Willem F. C. & Wolff, Christian C. P., 1993. "Further evidence on exchange rate expectations," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 78-98, February.
    10. Craig Burnside & Bing Han & David Hirshleifer & Tracy Yue Wang, 2011. "Investor Overconfidence and the Forward Premium Puzzle," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 78(2), pages 523-558.
    11. Nieuwland, Frederick G. M. C. & Verschoor, Willem F. C. & C.P. Wolff, Christian, 1998. "EMS exchange rate expectations and time-varying risk premia," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 351-355, September.
    12. Dominguez, Kathryn M., 1986. "Are foreign exchange forecasts rational? : New evidence from survey data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 277-281.
    13. MacDonald, Ronald & Torrance, T S, 1988. "On Risk, Rationality and Excessive Speculation in the Deutschmark-U.S. Dollar Exchange Market: Some Evidence Using Survey Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 50(2), pages 107-123, May.
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    15. Chinn, Menzie & Frankel, Jeffrey, 1994. "Patterns in Exchange Rate Forecasts for Twenty-five Currencies," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 26(4), pages 759-770, November.
    16. Verschoor, Willem F. C. & Wolff, Christian C. P., 2001. "Scandinavian forward discount bias risk premia," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 65-72, October.
    17. Juselius, Katarina, 2006. "The Cointegrated VAR Model: Methodology and Applications," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199285679.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Excess returns puzzle; survey data; risk premium; non-stationarity; irrationality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • G02 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Finance: Underlying Principles
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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