The Virtue of Complexity in Return Prediction

Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper No. 21-90

Journal of Finance, forthcoming

141 Pages Posted: 15 Dec 2021 Last revised: 20 Oct 2023

See all articles by Bryan T. Kelly

Bryan T. Kelly

Yale SOM; AQR Capital Management, LLC; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Semyon Malamud

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Swiss Finance Institute

Kangying Zhou

Yale School of Management

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 13, 2021

Abstract

Much of the extant literature predicts market returns with “simple” models that use only a few parameters. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we theoretically prove that simple models severely understate return predictability compared to “complex” models in which the number of parameters exceeds the number of observations. We empirically document the virtue of complexity in U.S. equity market return prediction. Our findings establish the rationale for modeling expected returns through machine learning.

Keywords: Portfolio choice, machine learning, random matrix theory, benign overfit, overparameterization

JEL Classification: C3, C58, C61, G11, G12, G14

Suggested Citation

Kelly, Bryan T. and Malamud, Semyon and Zhou, Kangying, The Virtue of Complexity in Return Prediction (December 13, 2021). Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper No. 21-90, Journal of Finance, forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3984925 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3984925

Bryan T. Kelly

Yale SOM ( email )

135 Prospect Street
P.O. Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
United States

AQR Capital Management, LLC ( email )

Greenwich, CT
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Semyon Malamud (Contact Author)

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne ( email )

Lausanne, 1015
Switzerland

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Swiss Finance Institute

c/o University of Geneva
40, Bd du Pont-d'Arve
CH-1211 Geneva 4
Switzerland

Kangying Zhou

Yale School of Management ( email )

165 Whitney Ave
New Haven, CT 06511

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