← Search

Econometric Aspects of the Variance-Bounds Tests: A Survey

Christian Gilles1,2; Stephen F. LeRoy3

1 Federal Reserve · 2 Federal Reserve Board of Governors · 3 University of Minnesota System

Review of Financial Studies 1991

We survey the variance-bounds tests of asset-price volatility, stressing the econometric aspects of these tests. The first variance-bounds tests of the present-value relation reported apparently striking evidence of excess volatility of asset prices. The statistical significance of the results, however, was either marginal or, in the case of model-free tests, impossible to assess. Moreover, the tests were soon criticized for a number of biases. Various other tests of the present-value relations were later developed, avoiding in different degrees the econometric problems attending the first-generation tests also found excess volatility, though sometimes of borderline statistical significance. This finding of excess volatility is robust and is difficult to explain within the representative-consumer, frictionless-market model. Article published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Financial Studies in its journal, The Review of Financial Studies.

DOI
10.1093/rfs/4.4.753
Volume
4 (4)
Pages
753-791
Language
en
Export
BibTeX
Sources
openalex crossref