Noisy Prices and Inference Regarding Returns

89 Pages Posted: 29 Aug 2010 Last revised: 10 Oct 2011

See all articles by Elena N. Asparouhova

Elena N. Asparouhova

University of Utah - David Eccles School of Business

Hendrik Bessembinder

W.P. Carey School of Business

Ivalina Kalcheva

University of Texas at San Antonio - Department of Finance

Date Written: October 8, 2011

Abstract

Temporary deviations of trade prices from fundamental values impart bias to estimates of mean returns to individual securities, to differences in mean returns across portfolios, and to parameters estimated in return regressions. We consider a number of corrections, and show them to be effective under reasonable assumptions. In an application to CRSP monthly returns, the corrections indicate significant biases in uncorrected return premium estimates associated with an array of firm characteristics. The bias can be large in economic terms, e.g., equal to 50% or more of the corrected estimate for firm size and share price.

Keywords: Microstructure Noise, Illiquidity, Asset Pricing, Return Premium

JEL Classification: G1, G2

Suggested Citation

Asparouhova, Elena N. and Bessembinder, Hendrik (Hank) and Kalcheva, Ivalina, Noisy Prices and Inference Regarding Returns (October 8, 2011). The Journal of Finance (JF), Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1667151

Elena N. Asparouhova

University of Utah - David Eccles School of Business ( email )

1645 E Campus Center Dr
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9303
United States

Hendrik (Hank) Bessembinder (Contact Author)

W.P. Carey School of Business ( email )

W. P. Carey School of Business
PO Box 873906
Tempe, AZ 85287-3906
United States

HOME PAGE: http://isearch.asu.edu/profile/2717225

Ivalina Kalcheva

University of Texas at San Antonio - Department of Finance

San Antonio, TX 78249
United States