OPENALEX · 2015 · Review of Financial Studies

… and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns

Hundreds of papers and factors attempt to explain the cross-section of expected returns. Given this extensive data mining, it does not make sense to use the usual criteria for establishing significance. Which hurdle should be used for current research? Our paper introduces a new multiple testing framework and provides historical cutoffs from the first empirical tests in 1967 to today. A new factor needs to clear a much higher hurdle, with a t-statistic greater than 3.0. We argue that most claimed research findings in financial economics are likely false. (JEL C12, C52, G12)

Paper Summary

Authors: Campbell R. Harvey, Yan Liu, Caroline Zhu

Citations: 1978

Published: 2015-10-09T00:00:00.000Z

Why It Matters

Venue: Review of Financial Studies. Year: 2015. Citations: 1978. Abstract signal: Hundreds of papers and factors attempt to explain the cross-section of expected returns. Given this extensive data mining, it does not make sense to use the usual criteria for establishing significance. Which hurdle shou...

Abstract

Hundreds of papers and factors attempt to explain the cross-section of expected returns. Given this extensive data mining, it does not make sense to use the usual criteria for establishing significance. Which hurdle should be used for current research? Our paper introduces a new multiple testing framework and provides historical cutoffs from the first empirical tests in 1967 to today. A new factor needs to clear a much higher hurdle, with a t-statistic greater than 3.0. We argue that most claimed research findings in financial economics are likely false. (JEL C12, C52, G12)

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