RFS Advance Access originally published online on March 2, 2006
Review of Financial Studies 2006 19(3):719-752; doi:10.1093/rfs/hhj036
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Beauty Contests and Iterated Expectations in Asset Markets
University of Pennsylvania
Princeton University
Princeton University
Address correspondence to Hyun Song Shin, Princeton University, Bendheim Center for Finance, NJ 08540, or e-mail: hsshin{at}princeton.edu
In a financial market where traders are risk averse and short lived and prices are noisy, asset prices today depend on the average expectation today of tomorrows price. Thus (iterating this relationship) the date 1 price equals the date 1 average expectation of the date 2 average expectation of the date 3 price. This will not, in general, equal the date 1 average expectation of the date 3 price. We show how this failure of the law of iterated expectations for average belief can help understand the role of higher-order beliefs in a fully rational asset pricing model.