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Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis Vol. 57 No. 2 2022

Investor Attention and Stock Returns

Jian Chen1,2; Guohao Tang3; Jiaquan Yao4; Guofu Zhou5

1 Xiamen University · 2 Xiamen University of Technology · 3 Hunan University of Finance and Economics · 4 Jinan University · 5 Washington University in St. Louis

Abstract

We propose an investor attention index based on proxies in the literature and find that it predicts the stock market risk premium significantly, both in sample and out of sample, whereas every proxy individually has little predictive power. The index is extracted using partial least squares, but the results are similar by the scaled principal component analysis. Moreover, the index can deliver sizable economic gains for mean-variance investors in asset allocation. The predictive power of the investor attention index stems primarily from the reversal of temporary price pressure and from the stronger forecasting ability for high-variance stocks.

DOI
10.1017/s0022109021000090
Volume
57
Issue
2
Pages
455-484
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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