Long-Term Memory in Stock Market Prices

47 Pages Posted: 17 Oct 2007 Last revised: 27 Feb 2022

See all articles by Andrew W. Lo

Andrew W. Lo

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Laboratory for Financial Engineering

Date Written: May 1989

Abstract

A test for long-run memory that is robust to short-range dependence is developed. It is a simple extension of Mandelbrot's "range over standard deviation" or R/S statistic, for which the relevant asymptotic sampling theory is derived via functional central limit theory. This test is applied to daily, weekly, monthly, and annual stock returns indexes over several different time periods. Contrary to previous findings, there is no evidence of long-range dependence in any of the indexes over any sample period or sub-period once short-term autocorrelations are taken into account. Illustrative Monte Carlo experiments indicate that the modified R/S test has power against at least two specific models of long-run memory, suggesting that stochastic models of short-range dependence may adequately capture the time series behavior of stock returns.

Suggested Citation

Lo, Andrew W., Long-Term Memory in Stock Market Prices (May 1989). NBER Working Paper No. w2984, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=463442

Andrew W. Lo (Contact Author)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Laboratory for Financial Engineering ( email )

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