Are Stocks Really Less Volatile in the Long Run?

48 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2009

See all articles by Lubos Pastor

Lubos Pastor

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business

Robert F. Stambaugh

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 2009

Abstract

Conventional wisdom views stocks as less volatile over long horizons than over short horizons due to mean reversion induced by return predictability. In contrast, we find stocks are substantially more volatile over long horizons from an investor's perspective. This perspective recognizes that parameters are uncertain, even with two centuries of data, and that observable predictors imperfectly deliver the conditional expected return. We decompose return variance into five components, which include mean reversion and various uncertainties faced by the investor. Although mean reversion makes a strong negative contribution to long-horizon variance, it is more than offset by the other components. Using a predictive system, we estimate annualized 30-year variance to be nearly 1.5 times the 1-year variance.

Keywords: long-run, risk, stock, variance

JEL Classification: G11, G23

Suggested Citation

Pastor, Lubos and Stambaugh, Robert F., Are Stocks Really Less Volatile in the Long Run? (March 2009). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP7199, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1356428

Lubos Pastor (Contact Author)

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

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Robert F. Stambaugh

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School ( email )

The Wharton School, Finance Department
University of Pennsylvania
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United States
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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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