The University of Chicago Socio-Economic Disparities

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The University of Chicago Socio-Economic Disparities THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SOCIO-ECONOMIC DISPARITIES IN PORTFOLIO COMPOSITION: THEIR HISTORICAL CAUSES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES FOR INEQUALITY IN AMERICA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY BY MAUDE PUGLIESE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MARCH 2016 To Laurence. Table of Contents List of Tables v List of Figures viii Acknowledgments x Abstract xii Introduction 1 Part 1. Asset Choices and Income Inequality Chapter 1. Mass Investment in Real Estate Assets: Consequences for Rates of Return to Capital and Income Inequalities 13 Part 2. The 1940s Shift in Working- and Middle-Class Investment Practices Chapter 2. A Methodology for Mapping Historical Trends in Household Portfolio Composition 63 Chapter 3. Trends in Household Portfolio Composition Across Income and Net Worth Groups from 1918 to 2013 92 Part 3. Access to Long-Term Amortized Credit and Investment Practices Chapter 4. The Great Credit Revolution: Changing Opportunities for Credit across Asset Classes 142 Chapter 5. The Uses of Credit in Wealth-Building Strategies 167 Conclusion 237 Appendix A. Measurement of Rates of Returns using PSID Data 247 Appendix B. Sub-sampling from the Original PSID Sample 260 Appendix C. Detailed Models Results From Chapter 1 263 Appendix D. Computation of Savings-Based Proxies 264 Appendix E. Comparing Savings- and Asset-Based Proxies for Investments in Assets 265 Appendix F. Summary of Changes to Federal Taxation 1918-1937 270 iii Appendix G. 1940s Trends in Investment Behaviors From Statistics of Income and Census Data 271 Appendix H. Investment Behaviors of African Americans 1950-1968 274 Appendix I. Robustness Checks on the Effect of Access to Amortized Mortgages on Home Purchases 278 Appendix J. Tables 282 Appendix K. Figures 328 References 341 iv List of Tables 1.1. Comparing the Full PSID Sample and the Regression Subsample 282 1.2. Descriptive Statistics for Key Variables Conditional on Net Worth 283 1.3. Descriptive Statistics for Outcome Variables Conditional on Family Income in 1984 285 1.4. Standardized Annual Rates of Returns as a Function of Income by SQRT of Family Member and Net Worth Reported in the Previous Survey Wave 286 1.5. Geometric Mean of Annual Rates of Returns as a Function of Family Income and Net Worth in 1984 287 1.6. In-Sample Standard Deviation of the Observed and Counter-Factual Total Income Variables By Survey Year 289 1.7. Share of Total Reported Income Reported by Families in the Top 10% of the Income Distribution in the Observed and Counter-Factual Samples By Survey Year 289 1.8. Share of Income and Net Worth Effects on Rates of Return Earned Explained by Various Mechanisms 290 2.1. Summary of Data Sources, Population, and Investment Proxies by Sub-Period 291 3.1. Ratio of Savings in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities to Annual Income in 1918-1919 and 1935-1936 among Families Earning less than $3,000 292 3.2. Change in the Ratio of Savings in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities to Family Income between 1918 and 1936 among Families Earning less than $3,000 292 3.3. Change in the Odds of Savings in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities versus Not between 1918 and 1936 among Families Earning Less than $3,000: Coefficient Estimates 293 3.4. Change in the Ratio of Savings in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities Between 1918 and 1936 among Families Earning Less than $3,000, Conditional on Ownership 294 3.5. Odds of Owning a Home As a Function of Income Between 1920 and 1940 295 3.6. Ratio of Savings in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities to Family Income between 1935 and 1950 by Income Bracket 296 v 3.7. The Effect of Income on Ratio of Savings in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities between 1935 and 1950 297 3.8. The Effect of (Income/GDP per capita) on Ratio of Savings in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities between 1935 and 1950 298 3.9. The Effect of Income on Ratio of Savings in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities between 1935 and 1950, Excluding the 1947 Sample 299 3.10. The Effect of Income on the Odds of Saving in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities Between 1935 and 1950 300 3.11. The Effect of Income on Ratio of Savings in Real Estate and in Corporate Securities between 1935 and 1950, Conditional on Saving Some Amount 301 3.12. The Effect of Income and Net Worth on Share of Real Estate and Corporate Securities in Portfolio between 1950 and 1968 302 3.13. The Effect of Income and Net Worth on the Odds of Owning Real Estate and Corporate Securities in Portfolio between 1950 and 1968 304 3.14. The Effect of Income and Net Worth on Share of Real Estate and Corporate Securities in Portfolio between 1950 and 1968, Conditional on Ownership 306 3.15. The Effect of Income and Net Worth on Share of Real Estate and Corporate Securities in Portfolio between 1953 and 2013 308 3.16. The Effect of Income on Investment Behavior, Depending on Population and Covariates 310 4.1. The Structure of Mortgage Loans between 1920 and 1950 310 5.1. Housing Costs, Access to Mortgage Credit, and Homeownership in 1935-1936 311 A.1. Summary of Data Available and Missing in PSID Data 312 A.2. Data Sources and Assumptions Made in Rates of Return Calculations by Asset Class 313 D.1. Composition of Savings Variables 315 E.1. Share of Real Estate and of Corporate Securities in Portfolio as a Function of Share of Income Spent in these Assets in 1950 319 vi E.2. The Effect of Income and Net Worth on Asset-Based and Savings-Based Proxies of Investment Preferences 319 F.1. Summary of Changes in Federal Taxation of Receipts 1918-1937 320 G.1. Evolution of the Dividends to Total Income Ratio by Income Bracket from 1937 to 1948 322 G.2. Evolution of the Income Effect on the Log Odds of Owning a Home between 1920 and 1960 323 H.1. Stock Ownership among African Americans and Other Americans 324 H.2. Real Estate Ownership among African Americans and Other Americans 324 H.3. Regression Analysis for Real Estate and Corporate Securities Ownership among African Americans between 1950 and 1968 325 I.1. Availability of Amortized Mortgages and Homeownership Rates among Working- and Middle-Class Families in 1919-1920 and 1930 326 vii List of Figures 1.1. Growth of a $100 Investment Over 27 Years When Yielding 2.5% and 3.3% Annually 328 2.1. Savings by Asset Categories as a Ratio of Income among Households in the Bottom 60% of the Income Distribution 329 2.2. Savings in Corporate Securities as a Ratio of Income among Households in the Bottom 60% of the Income Distribution 329 2.3. Savings as a Share of Income between 1918 and 1950 by Income Category 330 2.4. Average Share of Real Estate and of Securities in Portfolio between 1950 and 2013 by Net Worth Category 331 2.5. Average Share of Dividends in Total Income Earned between 1918 and 1950, by Income Group 331 2.6. Proportion of Homeowners between 1950 and 1960 by Income Category 332 3.1. Dividend to Income Ratio in the Bottom 60% of the Income Distribution as a Ratio of the Dividend to Income Ratio in the Top 10% of the Income Distribution from 1918 to 1937 332 3.2. Proportion of Homeowners by Income Group from 1920 to 1940 333 3.3. Share of Real Estate in Portfolio by Income Quintile from 1950 to 1968 333 3.4. Share of Real Estate in Portfolio by Net Worth Quintiles from 1950 to 1968 334 3.5. Share of Corporate Securities in Portfolio by Income Quintile from 1950 to 1968 334 3.6. Share of Corporate Securities in Portfolio by Net Worth Quintile from 1950 to 1968 335 3.7. Predicted Share of Real Estate in Portfolio as a Function of Net Worth in 1950 and 1968 335 3.8. Share of Real Estate in Portfolio by Income Quintile between 1953 and 2013 336 3.9. Share of Real Estate in Portfolio by Net Worth Quintile between 1953 and 2013 336 viii 3.10. Share of Corporate Securities in Portfolio by Income Quintile between 1953 and 2013 337 3.11. Share of Corporate Securities in Portfolio by Net Worth Quintile between 1953 and 2013 337 4.1. Liberty Loan Drive Advertising Poster 338 5.1. Housing Costs and Homeownership by Income Percentile Group in 1935-1936 339 5.2. Housing Costs and Homeownership by Income Percentile Group in 1936-1936 vs. 1960 339 5.3. Changes in the Age Structure of Owners of Select Asset Classes between 1950 and 1968 340 ix Acknowledgements This dissertation was realized with the financial support of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, of the University of Chicago, and of the Mellon Foundation. This dissertation was also realized with the precious help of a number of people, whom I would like to thank warmly. First, immense thanks to all the members of my dissertation committee: Monica Prasad, James T. Sparrow, and Linda J. Waite (I reserve special thanks to the chair for the end). I could not have realized this dissertation without their feedback on sometimes very early drafts, without their fine and always constructive criticism, and without the rich conversations I have had with each one of them. These conversations fueled my historical and sociological imaginations in ways so profound that they are difficult to account for.
Recommended publications
  • Using Equity Market Reactions to Infer Exposure to Trade Liberalization
    Using Equity Market Reactions to Infer Exposure to Trade Liberalization Andrew Greenland∗ Mihai Iony John Loprestiz Peter K. Schott§ First Draft: June 2018 This Draft: June 2019{ Abstract We develop a method for identifying firm exposure to changes in policy using ab- normal equity returns, and employ it to study US trade liberalization with China. Abnormal returns surrounding the liberalization’s passage into law vary substantially even within industries, are correlated with but have explanatory power beyond tradi- tional measures of import competition, and predict sharper relative changes in operating profit, employment and capital than abnormal returns during randomly chosen days. Predicted relative increases in operating profit among the very largest firms swamp the losses of smaller firms, providing further insight into this liberalization’s distributional implications. ∗Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, Elon University; [email protected] yEller College of Management, University of Arizona; [email protected] zThe College of William & Mary; [email protected] §Yale School of Management & NBER; [email protected] {We thank Kerem Cosar, Teresa Fort, Justin Pierce and seminar participants at CUHK, Elon University, the Fed Board, Hitotsubashi, LSE, the Mid-Atlantic Trade Workshop, UNC Chapel Hill, the University of Toronto and the University of Tokyo for helpful comments and feedback. 1 Introduction We propose a method for measuring firm exposure to changes in policy. Our approach is based on financial markets’ reactions to key events associated with the new regime, e.g., the legislative votes during which it becomes law, and assumes that all new information relevant for firm value is fully reflected in its stock price.
    [Show full text]
  • Y La Política Económica)
    Valeriano F con suesposaysuscuatrohijos. Desde 1987resideenWashington (Buenos Aires,1988) "El ABC(ylaZ)deeconomía" Alvaro Saieh,(BuenosAires,1984),yel precios ypolíticamonetaria"con mas destacadossecuentan"Dinero, reformas bancarias.Entresuslibros estabilidad macroeconómicay cambiarios, mercadosdecapitales, publicaciones relativosaregímenes Es autordenumerososensayosy económicas. crisis bancariasypolíticasmacro- pitales yenlasinterrelacionesentre de desarrollomercadosca- en elCEMLA.Esexpertoproblemas en universidadesdeArgentina,Chiley profesor deeconomíaeinvestigador obtuvo sudoctoradoen1973.Fue Universidad deChicago,donde Realizó estudiosdepostgradoenla en elBancoMundial. actualmente comoDirectorEjecutivo [email protected] Valeriano F Correo electrónico: . Garcíasedesempeña . García CEMLA PARA ENTENDER LA ECONOMÍA POLÍTICA (Y LA POLÍTICA ECONÓMICA) Valeriano F. García ECONÓMICA) (Y LAPOLÍTICA POLÍTICA LA ECONOMÍA P TEXTOS BÁSICOS V aleriano F ARA ENTENDER . García Valeriano F. García PARA ENTENDER LA ECONOMÍA POLÍTICA (Y LA POLÍTICA ECONÓMICA) CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS MONETARIOS LATINOAMERICANOS México, D. F. 2000 Primera edición, 2000 © Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos, 2000 Derechos reservados conforme a la ley ISBN 968-6154-66-3 Impreso y hecho en México Printed and made in Mexico A mi esposa Estela, y a nuestros hijos Álvaro, Sebastián, Valeriano y Bárbara Para entender la economía política… PRÓLOGO Este libro es una introducción a los principios y conceptos básicos de la economía política. He querido hacer un libro que, sin dejar de lado un rigor mínimo, sea a la vez intere- sante y formativo. La idea detrás de estas páginas es explicar conceptos en forma simple pero estricta. Ello para que, ya sea como profesional o ciudadano, el lector sepa cómo y por qué le pueden afectar, a él o a su país, nuevas leyes de sala- rio mínimo, un nuevo régimen cambiario o leyes para prote- ger a la mujer en el mercado de trabajo, etcétera.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fama-French Factors As Proxies for Fundamental Economic Risks
    The Fama-French factors as proxies for fundamental economic risks Maria Vassalou Working Paper No. 181 Working Paper Series Center on Japanese Economy and Business Columbia Business School November 2000 The Fama-French factors as proxies for fundamental economic risks Maria Vassalou* Columbia University and CEPR First Draft: October 1999 This Draft: June 2000 * Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, 3022 Broadway, 416 Uris Hall, New York, NY 10027, tel: 212-854 4104, e-mail: [email protected]. Financial support from the Center for Japanese Economy and Business at Columbia Business School is gratefully acknowledged. 1 The Fama-French factors as proxies for Fundamental Economic Risks Abstract This paper provides an economic interpretation for the book-to-market (HML) and size (SMB) factors in the Fama-French model using data from ten developed countries. We show that part of the information in these factors that is priced in equity returns, refers to news about future GDP growth. However, a model that includes only the market factor and news about future GDP growth cannot explain asset returns as well as the Fama-French model does. Our tests reveal that HML and SMB also contain important information about the current default premium. A model that includes the information in HML and SMB about the default premium and news about future GDP growth, together with the market factor, can successfully replicate the performance of the Fama-French model in the US. Our results suggest that HML and SMB summarize information about two state variables: the current default premium and news about future GDP growth.
    [Show full text]
  • CURRICULUM VITAE August, 2015
    CURRICULUM VITAE August, 2015 Robert James Shiller Current Position Sterling Professor of Economics Yale University Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics P.O. Box 208281 New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8281 Delivery Address Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics 30 Hillhouse Avenue, Room 11a New Haven, CT 06520 Home Address 201 Everit Street New Haven, CT 06511 Telephone 203-432-3708 Office 203-432-6167 Fax 203-787-2182 Home [email protected] E-mail http://www.econ.yale.edu/~shiller Home Page Date of Birth March 29, 1946, Detroit, Michigan Marital Status Married, two grown children Education 1967 B.A. University of Michigan 1968 S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1972 Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Employment Sterling Professor of Economics, Yale University, 2013- Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics, Yale University 2008-13 Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics Yale University 1989-2008 Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1982-, with joint appointment with Yale School of Management 2006-, Professor Adjunct of Law in semesters starting 2006 Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981-82. Professor of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, and Professor of Finance, The Wharton School, 1981-82. Visitor, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Visiting Scholar, Department of Economics, Harvard University, 1980-81. Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 1974-81. 1 Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research, Research Center for Economics and Management Science, Cambridge; and Visiting Scholar, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1974-75. Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Minnesota, 1972-74.
    [Show full text]
  • Economic Fundamentals, Risk, and Momentum Profits
    Economic Fundamentals, Risk, and Momentum Profits Laura X.L. Liu,JeroldB.Warner∗ ,† and Lu Zhang‡ February 2004§ Abstract We study empirically the changes in economic fundamentals for firms with recent stock price momentum. We find that: (i) winners have temporarily higher dividend, investment, and sales growth rates, and losers have temporarily lower dividend, investment, and sales growth rates; (ii) the duration of the growth rate dispersion matches approximately that of the momentum profits; (iii) past returns are strong, positive predictors of future growth rates; and (iv) factor-mimicking portfolios on expected growth rates earn significantly positive returns on average. This evidence is consistent with the theoretical predictions of Johnson (2002), in which momentum returns reflect compensation for temporary shifts in risk associated with expected growth. Additional tests do not provide much support for a risk-based explanation, however. ∗Doctoral Student in Finance, William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester; Tel: (585)275-4604; Email: [email protected]. †Fred H. Gowen Professor of Finance, William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester; Tel: (585)275-2678; Email: [email protected]. ‡Assistant Professor of Finance, William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester; Tel: (585)275-3491; Email: [email protected]. §We thank seminar participants at Michigan State University and University of Rochester for helpful comments. 1 Introduction The momentum literature, e.g., Jegadeesh and Titman (1993), finds that strategies that buy past winners and short past losers earn significantly positive average returns over the subsequent six to 12 months.
    [Show full text]
  • Measuring Capital in the New Economy
    This PDF is a selection from a published volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research Volume Title: Measuring Capital in the New Economy Volume Author/Editor: Carol Corrado, John Haltiwanger and Dan Sichel, editors Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press Volume ISBN: 0-226-11612-3 Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/corr05-1 Conference Date: April 26-27, 2002 Publication Date: August 2005 Title: Intangible Risk Author: Lars Peter Hansen, John C. Heaton, Nan Li URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c10620 Chapter pages in book: (111 - 152) 4 Intangible Risk Lars Peter Hansen, John C. Heaton, and Nan Li 4.1 Introduction Accounting for the asset values by measured physical capital and other inputs arguably omits intangible sources of capital. This intangible or un- measured component of the capital stock may result because some invest- ments from accounting flow measures are not eventually embodied in the physical capital stock. Instead there may be scope for valuing ownership of a technology, for productivity enhancements induced by research and de- velopment, for firm-specific human capital, or for organizational capital. For an econometrician, intangible capital becomes a residual needed to account for values. In contrast to measurement error, omitted information, or even model approximation error, this residual seems most fruitfully cap- tured by an explicit economic model. It is conceived as an input into tech- nology whose magnitude is not directly observed. Its importance is some- times based on computing a residual contribution to production after all other measured inputs are accounted for. Alternatively it is inferred by com- paring asset values from security market data to values of physical mea- sures of firm or market capital.
    [Show full text]
  • Meeting on Economic Fluctuations
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) (Ed.) Periodical Part NBER Reporter Online, Volume 1980 NBER Reporter Online Provided in Cooperation with: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Cambridge, Mass. Suggested Citation: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) (Ed.) (1980) : NBER Reporter Online, Volume 1980, NBER Reporter Online, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Cambridge, MA This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/62106 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, INC. FALL 1980 i ~ Program Report rl i:' Labor Economics Richard B. Freeman An understanding of the operation of labor markets and the institutional and structural changes that altered employment, wages, unemployment, and productivity in past years is critically needed by those responsible for public and private policy.
    [Show full text]
  • Eugene F. Fama Booth School, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
    Two Pillars of Asset Pricing Prize Lecture, December 8, 2013 by Eugene F. Fama Booth School, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. he Nobel Foundation asks that the Prize lecture cover the work for which T the Prize is awarded. Te announcement of this year’s Prize cites empirical work in asset pricing. I interpret this to include work on efcient capital markets and work on developing and testing asset pricing models—the two pillars, or perhaps more descriptive, the Siamese twins of asset pricing. I start with ef- cient markets and then move on to asset pricing models. EFFICIENT CAPITAL MARKEts A. Early Work Te year 1962 was a propitious time for Ph.D. research at the University of Chi- cago. Computers were coming into their own, liberating econometricians from their mechanical calculators. It became possible to process large amounts of data quickly, at least by previous standards. Stock prices are among the most acces- sible data, and there was burgeoning interest in studying the behavior of stock returns, centered at the University of Chicago (Merton Miller, Harry Roberts, Lester Telser, and Benoit Mandelbrot as a frequent visitor) and MIT (Sidney Alexander, Paul Cootner, Franco Modigliani, and Paul Samuelson). Modigli- ani ofen visited Chicago to work with his longtime coauthor Merton Miller, so there was frequent exchange of ideas between the two schools. It was clear from the beginning that the central question is whether asset prices refect all available information—what I labeled the efcient markets hy- pothesis (Fama 1965b). Te difculty is making the hypothesis testable. We can’t 365 6490_Book.indb 365 11/4/14 2:30 PM 366 The Nobel Prizes test whether the market does what it is supposed to do unless we specify what it is supposed to do.
    [Show full text]
  • From the Great Depression to the Great Recession
    Money and Velocity During Financial Crises: From the Great Depression to the Great Recession Richard G. Anderson* Senior Research Fellow, School of Business and Entrepreneurship Lindenwood University, St Charles, Missouri, [email protected] Visiting Scholar. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO Michael Bordo Rutgers University National Bureau of Economic Research Hoover Institution, Stanford University [email protected] John V. Duca* Associate Director of Research and Vice President, Research Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, P.O. Box 655906, Dallas, TX 75265, (214) 922-5154, [email protected] and Adjunct Professor, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX December 2014 Abstract This study models the velocity (V2) of broad money (M2) since 1929, covering swings in money [liquidity] demand from changes in uncertainty and risk premia spanning the two major financial crises of the last century: the Great Depression and Great Recession. V2 is notably affected by risk premia, financial innovation, and major banking regulations. Findings suggest that M2 provides guidance during crises and their unwinding, and that the Fed faces the challenge of not only preventing excess reserves from fueling a surge in M2, but also countering a fall in the demand for money as risk premia return to normal. JEL codes: E410, E500, G11 Key words: money demand, financial crises, monetary policy, liquidity, financial innovation *We thank J.B. Cooke and Elizabeth Organ for excellent research assistance. This paper reflects our intellectual debt to many monetary economists, especially Milton Friedman, Stephen Goldfeld, Richard Porter, Anna Schwartz, and James Tobin. The views expressed are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Banks of Dallas and St.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Pillars of Asset Pricing †
    American Economic Review 2014, 104(6): 1467–1485 http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.104.6.1467 Two Pillars of Asset Pricing † By Eugene F. Fama * The Nobel Foundation asks that the Nobel lecture cover the work for which the Prize is awarded. The announcement of this year’s Prize cites empirical work in asset pricing. I interpret this to include work on efficient capital markets and work on developing and testing asset pricing models—the two pillars, or perhaps more descriptive, the Siamese twins of asset pricing. I start with efficient markets and then move on to asset pricing models. I. Efficient Capital Markets A. Early Work The year 1962 was a propitious time for PhD research at the University of Chicago. Computers were coming into their own, liberating econometricians from their mechanical calculators. It became possible to process large amounts of data quickly, at least by previous standards. Stock prices are among the most accessible data, and there was burgeoning interest in studying the behavior of stock returns, cen- tered at the University of Chicago Merton Miller, Harry Roberts, Lester Telser, and ( Benoit Mandelbrot as a frequent visitor and MIT Sidney Alexander, Paul Cootner, ) ( Franco Modigliani, and Paul Samuelson . Modigliani often visited Chicago to work ) with his longtime coauthor Merton Miller, so there was frequent exchange of ideas between the two schools. It was clear from the beginning that the central question is whether asset prices reflect all available information—what I labelled the efficient markets hypothesis Fama 1965b . The difficulty is making the hypothesis testable. We can’t test whether ( ) the market does what it is supposed to do unless we specify what it is supposed to do.
    [Show full text]
  • Margin Requirements, Risk Taking, and Multifactor Models
    Margin Requirements, Risk Taking, and Multifactor Models Ferhat Akbas College of Business Administration University of Illinois – Chicago Chicago, IL 60607 [email protected] Lezgin Ay Ivy College of Business Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 [email protected] Chao Jiang Moore School of Business University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 [email protected] Paul D. Koch* Ivy College of Business Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 [email protected] Abstract When investors anticipate the Fed increasing margin requirements, they bid up the riskier stocks in the long legs of hedge portfolios associated with the market, HML, and SMB factors relative to the less risky stocks in the short legs. Following such a policy change, the returns on these hedge portfolios decline, implying lower subsequent compensation for bearing the risk associated with these three factors. In contrast, margin requirements are unrelated to returns on the momentum factor. Our evidence suggests that investors adjust their risk exposures to the market, SMB, and HML factors when leverage constraints are changed, but not momentum. JEL Classification : G12, G14, G41. Key Words: Asset pricing, CAPM, multifactor models, security market line, leverage constraints, margin requirements, risk premia. *Corresponding author. We thank Rohit Allena, Ginka Borisova, Jamie Brown, Arnie Cowan, Truong Duong, Wayne Ferson, Lei Gao, Tyler Jensen, David Lesmond, Tingting Liu, Stanley Peterburgsky, Travis Sapp, Xiaolu Wang, and seminar participants at Iowa State University, Financial Management Association Conference, and the Southern Finance Association Conference. I. Introduction According to Black (1972) and Frazzini and Pedersen (2014), when investors face the prospect of tighter leverage constraints, they may respond by overweighting riskier stocks to obtain their desired level of overall risk that cannot be achieved through leverage.
    [Show full text]
  • THE PRE-NASDAQ EVIDENCE Paul A. Gompers J
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES THE REALLY LONG-RUN PERFORMANCE OF INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS: THE PRE-NASDAQ EVIDENCE Paul A. Gompers Josh Lerner Working Paper 8505 http://www.nber.org/papers/w8505 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 October 2001 We thank Ken French for providing access to the historical size and book-to-market breakpoints, portfolio returns, and factor returns. Malcolm Baker, Gene Fama, Ken French, Andrew Metrick, Jay Ritter, Andrei Shleifer, Jeff Wurgler, and participants in the NBER Corporate Finance program meeting and the Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Conference provided helpful comments. Malcolm Baker, Matt Bluestone, Eugene DeAngelis, Gene Divolio, Amit Doshi, Vedica Jain, Jason Jun, Nik Johnston, Darpan Kalra, Mbago Kaniki, Flora Kim, Tom Knox, Neil Lawande, Ethan Lebowitz, and Eitan Levisohn provided excellent research assistance. Special thanks go to Girts Graudins and Eric Nierenberg for their outstanding contributions to this project. Harvard Business School’s Division of Research provided financial support. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Bureau of Economic Research. © 2001 by Paul A. Gompers and Josh Lerner. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. The Really Long-Run Performance of Initial Public Offerings: The Pre-NASDAQ Evidence Paul A. Gompers and Josh Lerner NBER Working Paper No. 8505 October 2001 JEL No. G24, G14 ABSTRACT Financial economists in recent years have closely examined and intensely debated the performance of initial public offerings using data after the formation of NASDAQ.
    [Show full text]