Momentum Cycles and Limits to Arbitrage Evidence from Victorian England and Post-Depression US Stock Markets

Benjamin Chabot, Eric Ghysels () and Ravi Jagannathan

No 15591, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We evaluate the importance of "Limits to Arbitrage" to explain profitability of momentum strategies. Specifically, when the availability of arbitrage capital is in short supply, momentum cycles last longer, and breaks in momentum cycles are shorter. We demonstrate the robustness of our findings with a unique database of stock returns from1866-1907 London and the CRSP database. Momentum cycle durations are similar in both databases and all other momentum facts documented in the literature using the CRSP database hold for the Victorian period as well, except for the January reversal due to the absence of capital gains taxation.

JEL-codes: G0 G10 G12 G14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-12
Note: AP
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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