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The Review of Asset Pricing Studies Vol. 15 No. 1 2025

“Superstitious” Investors

Hongye Guo1; Jessica A. Wachter2

1 University of Hong Kong · 2 The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and the Securities and Exchange Commission ,

Abstract

We reconsider the excess volatility puzzle through the lens of a model in which agents believe they can predict dividend growth when in fact they cannot. Besides excess volatility in the time series, the model explains the value premium, and the explanatory power of the value factor. In support of the model, we show that analysts’ earnings forecasts align with market valuation and that analysts are far more optimistic about growth stocks than they are about value stocks. Using both survey and price data, we show that the same mechanism can explain the excess returns earned by investing in high-interest rate currencies.

DOI
10.1093/rapstu/raae013
Volume
15
Issue
1
Pages
1-45
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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