The Power of the Common Task Framework

Abstract

The "Common Task Framework" (CTF) is a collaborative and competitive process in which researchers solve a task using shared data, a predefined success metric, and a leaderboard. Using an economic model, we show that the CTF incentivizes effort, increases innovation, and curbs misrepresentation by reducing research costs and improving comparability. Historical examples from computer science underscore its effectiveness. To demonstrate its broader applicability, we propose a CTF for financial economics: a platform open to all researchers designed to identify the pricing kernel and systematically evaluate asset pricing models, from traditional factor-based approaches to modern machine learning techniques.

Keywords: innovation, asset pricing, common task, competition

JEL Classification: B4, C1, O3, G12