Asset pricing with expectation shocks

This paper adds persistent shocks into the adaptive learning expectation formation process in stochastic growth asset pricing production and endowment economies. These expectation shocks, designed to capture psychological elements which can arise from news, changes in sentiment, herding and bandwagon effects, generate waves of optimism and pessimism in equity price forecasts. The paper estimates parameters of the expectation shock and adaptive learning process with the method of simulated moments, and compares simulation results to U.S. economic and financial market stylized facts. Numerical results for both the estimated production and endowment economies show that the expectation shock model matches several of the stylized facts better than does a model that assumes rational expectations or adaptive learning alone. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.