Short- and Long-term Demand Curves for Stocks: Theory and Evidence on the Dynamics of Arbitrage

Robin  Greenwood

Article | Journal of Financial Economics | March 2005

Short- and Long-term Demand Curves for Stocks: Theory and Evidence on the Dynamics of Arbitrage

Abstract

I develop a framework to analyze demand curves for multiple risky securities at extended horizons in a setting with limits-to-arbitrage. Following an unexpected change in uninformed investor demand for several assets, I predict returns of each security to be proportional to the contribution of that security's demand shock to the risk of a diversified arbitrage portfolio. I show that securities that are not affected by demand shocks but are correlated with securities undergoing changes in demand should experience returns related to their hedging role in arbitrageur's portfolios. Finally, I predict a negative cross-sectional relation between post-event returns and the initial return associated with the change in demand. I confirm these predictions using data from a unique redefinition of the Nikkei 225 index in Japan, in which 255 stocks simultaneously undergo significant changes in index investor demand, causing more than ¥2,000 billion of trading in one week and large price changes followed by subsequent reversals for all of the reweighted stocks.

Keywords: Framework; Demand and Consumers; Change; Risk and Uncertainty; Debt Securities; Forecasting and Prediction; Stocks; Assets; Investment Portfolio; System Shocks; Price; Japan;

Format: Print

43 pages

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Citation:

Greenwood, Robin. "Short- and Long-term Demand Curves for Stocks: Theory and Evidence on the Dynamics of Arbitrage." Journal of Financial Economics 75, no. 3 (March 2005): 607–649.

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Short- and Long-term Demand Curves for Stocks: Theory and Evidence on the Dynamics of Arbitrage

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