The Journal of Finance

The Journal of Finance publishes leading research across all the major fields of finance. It is one of the most widely cited journals in academic finance, and in all of economics. Each of the six issues per year reaches over 8,000 academics, finance professionals, libraries, and government and financial institutions around the world. The journal is the official publication of The American Finance Association, the premier academic organization devoted to the study and promotion of knowledge about financial economics.

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Pockets of Predictability

Published: 04/03/2023   |   DOI: 10.1111/jofi.13229

LELAND E. FARMER, LAWRENCE SCHMIDT, ALLAN TIMMERMANN

For many benchmark predictor variables, short‐horizon return predictability in the U.S. stock market is local in time as short periods with significant predictability (“pockets”) are interspersed with long periods with no return predictability. We document this result empirically using a flexible time‐varying parameter model that estimates predictive coefficients as a nonparametric function of time and explore possible explanations of this finding, including time‐varying risk premia for which we find limited support. Conversely, pockets of return predictability are consistent with a sticky expectations model in which investors slowly update their beliefs about a persistent component in the cash flow process.