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Journal of Finance Vol. 77 No. 2 2022

Volatility Expectations and Returns

Lars A. Lochstoer; Tyler Muir1

1 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler

Abstract

We provide evidence that agents have slow‐moving beliefs about stock market volatility that lead to initial underreaction to volatility shocks followed by delayed overreaction. These dynamics are mirrored in the VIX and variance risk premiums, which reflect investor expectations about volatility, and are also supported in both surveys and firm‐level option prices. We embed these expectations into an asset pricing model and find that the model can account for a number of stylized facts about market returns and return volatility that are difficult to reconcile, including a weak or even negative risk‐return trade‐off.

DOI
10.1111/jofi.13120
Volume
77
Issue
2
Pages
1055-1096
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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