Measuring and interpreting expectations of equity returns

We analyze probabilistic expectations of equity returns elicited in the Survey of Economic Expectations in 1999-2001 and in the Michigan Survey of Consumers in 2002-2004. Our empirical findings suggest that individuals use interpersonally variable but intrapersonally stable processes to form their expectations. We therefore propose to think of the population as a mixture of expectations types, each forming expectations in a stable but different way. We use our expectations data to learn about the prevalence of several specific types suggested by research in finance.