The Pricing of Tail Risk and the Equity Premium: Evidence From International Option Markets

Torben G. Andersen*, Nicola Fusari, Viktor Todorov

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

We explore the pricing of tail risk as manifest in index options across international equity markets. The risk premium associated with negative tail events displays persistent shifts, unrelated to volatility. This tail risk premium is a potent predictor of future returns for all the indices, while the option-implied volatility only forecasts the future return variation. Hence, compensation for negative jump risk is the primary driver of the equity premium, whereas the reward for pure diffusive variance risk is unrelated to future equity returns. We also document pronounced commonalities, suggesting a high degree of integration among the major global equity markets. KEY WORDS: Equity risk premium; International option markets; Predictability; Tail risk; Variance risk premium.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)662-678
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Business and Economic Statistics
Volume38
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistics and Probability
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty

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