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Finance and Economics Discussion Series
The Finance and Economics Discussion Series logo links to FEDS home page Solving an Empirical Puzzle in the Capital Asset Pricing Model
John Leusner, Jalal D. Akhavein, and P.A.V.B. Swamy
1996-14


Abstract: A long standing puzzle in the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) has been the inability of empirical work to validate it. This paper presents a new approach to estimating the CAPM, taking into account the differences between observable and expected returns for risky assets and for the market portfolio of all traded assets, as well as inherent nonlinearities and the effects of excluded variables. Using this approach, we provide evidence that the relation between the observable returns on stock and market portfolios is nonlinear.

Keywords: asset pricing, measurement errors, excluded variables

Full paper (477 KB PDF)


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Last update: July 16, 1997