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A new methodology for studying the equity premium

Annals of Operations Research volume 176, pages 109–126 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper provides a new framework for the derivation and estimation of consumption and equity premium functions. Applying duality in a dynamic context, we show that equity premium and consumption functions can be easily obtained from the indirect utility function. Our new framework, therefore, does not require explicit specification of underlying consumer preferences.

Using aggregate US data (1929–2000) we estimate the consumption and equity premium functions using a nonparametric technique. We find that the model does well in explaining the observed smooth consumption patterns and does reasonably well in explaining the high mean and volatility of equity premia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, York University, 4700 Keele street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Elie Appelbaum

  2. Durham University, Durham, UK

    Parantap Basu

Authors
  1. Elie Appelbaum
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  2. Parantap Basu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elie Appelbaum.

Additional information

We wish to thank the two referees for this journal and M. Tavas for their helpful comments and suggestions. We also wish to thank J. Racine for his help with the non-parametric estimation.

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Appelbaum, E., Basu, P. A new methodology for studying the equity premium. Ann Oper Res 176, 109–126 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-008-0484-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-008-0484-1

Keywords

  • Consumption function
  • Equity premium
  • Moments