Introduction The consumption-based model as a complete answer to most asset pricing question in principle, does not work well in practice; This observation motivates effects to tie the discount factor m to other data; Linear factor pricing models are most popular models of this sort in finance; They dominate discrete-time empirical work
General GMM formula Let y, be an h-vector of variables that are observed at date t, let denote an unknown vector of coefficients, h(e, y,) Be an r-vector real function. Let denote true value of 0, and suppose this true value is
Our task How to estimate and test discount factor model. Ep,=E(m (data 1, parameter)) 1. Bring an asset pricing model to data to estimate free parameters. For example, parameter,yinm=B(c+1/c)-y Or the b in m=b f 2. Evaluate the model, is it a good model or not? Is another model better?
Stock market index Stock market index is an indicator that is designed to reflect the performance of an entire market or a particular market segment. Indexes have many uses in investments: --allow us to quickly and easily assess market performance; --Serve as underlying securities for futures and options contracts;