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Journal of Finance Vol. 78 No. 3 2023

Model Comparison with Transaction Costs

Andrew Detzel; Robert Novy-Marx1; Mihail Velikov2,3

1 University of Rochester · 2 Baylor University · 3 University of Baltimore

open access

Abstract

Failing to account for transaction costs materially impacts inferences drawn when evaluating asset pricing models, biasing tests in favor of those employing high‐cost factors. Ignoring transaction costs, Hou, Xue, and Zhang (2015, Review of Financial Studies , 28, 650–705) q ‐factor model and Barillas and Shanken (2018, The Journal of Finance , 73, 715–754) six‐factor models have high maximum squared Sharpe ratios and small alphas across 205 anomalies. They do not, however, come close to spanning the achievable mean‐variance efficient frontier. Accounting for transaction costs, the Fama and French (2015, Journal of Financial Economics , 116, 1–22; 2018, Journal of Financial Economics , 128, 234–252) five‐factor model has a significantly higher squared Sharpe ratio than either of these alternative models, while variations employing cash profitability perform better still.

DOI
10.1111/jofi.13225
Volume
78
Issue
3
Pages
1743-1775
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

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