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Asset Prices When Investors Underestimate Discount Rate Dynamics

The Review of Asset Pricing Studies 2026
Abstract Underestimating discount rate volatility leads to asset pricing anomalies. Using analysts’ return forecasts as proxies for subjective discount rates, I show that these forecasts exhibit systematically lower volatility than CAPM-based benchmarks, whose objective fluctuations negatively predict future returns, especially for high beta-volatility stocks. A misvaluation measure based on this underestimation significantly predicts cross-sectional CAPM alphas, while a tradable factor explains 12 prominent anomalies. These findings underscore discount rate volatility underestimation as a unifying explanation for analysts’ forecast errors and cross-sectional return predictability, linking recent evidence on aggregate subjective belief dynamics with firm-level mispricing.