Asset Pricing under Rational Learning about Rare Disasters

Volker Wieland and Christos Koulovatianos

No 8514, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper proposes a new approach for modeling investor fear after rare disasters. The key element is to take into account that investors' information about fundamentals driving rare downward jumps in the dividend process is not perfect. Bayesian learning implies that beliefs about the likelihood of rare disasters drop to a much more pessimistic level once a disaster has occurred. Such a shift in beliefs can trigger massive declines in price-dividend ratios. Pessimistic beliefs persist for some time. Thus, belief dynamics are a source of apparent excess volatility relative to a rational expectations benchmark. Due to the low frequency of disasters, even an infinitely-lived investor will remain uncertain about the exact probability. Our analysis is conducted in continuous time and offers closed-form solutions for asset prices. We distinguish between rational and adaptive Bayesian learning. Rational learners account for the possibility of future changes in beliefs in determining their demand for risky assets, while adaptive learners take beliefs as given. Thus, risky assets tend to be lower-valued and price-dividend ratios vary less under adaptive versus rational learning for identical priors.

Keywords: Adaptive learning; Asset pricing; Bayesian learning; beliefs; Controlled diffusions and jump processes; Learning about jumps; Rational learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C11 C61 D81 D83 D91 E21 G11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Working Paper: Asset Pricing under Rational Learning about Rare Disasters (2011)
Working Paper: Asset pricing under rational learning about rare disasters (2011)
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