Beauty Contests, Bubbles and Iterated Expectations in Asset Markets
Stephen Morris (),
Franklin Allen () and
Hyun Song Shin ()
Additional contact information Hyun Song Shin: University of London, London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE), Department of Accounting and Finance
Abstract:
In a financial market where traders are risk averse and short lived, and prices are noisy, asset prices today depend on the average expectation today of tomorrow's price. Thus (iterating this relationship) the date 1 price equals the date 1 average expectation of the date 2 average expectation of the date 3 price. This will not in general equal the date 1 average expectation of the date 3 price. We show how this failure of the law of iterated expectations for average belief can help understand the role of higher order beliefs in a fully rational asset pricing model and explain over-reaction to (noisy) public information.