RFS Advance Access originally published online on February 21, 2006
Review of Financial Studies 2006 19(3):753-795; doi:10.1093/rfs/hhj029
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International Capital Markets and Foreign Exchange Risk
Anderson School, UCLA, University of Manchester
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Address correspondence to the Michael Brennan, Anderson School, UCLA, 110 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481. E-mail: mbrennan{at}anderson.ucla.edu.
Relations between foreign exchange risk premia, exchange rate volatility, and the volatilities of the pricing kernels for the underlying currencies, are derived under the assumption of integrated capital markets. As predicted, the volatility of exchange rates is significantly associated with the estimated volatility of the relevant pricing kernels, and foreign exchange risk premia are significantly related to both the estimated volatility of the pricing kernels and the volatility of exchange rates. The estimated foreign exchange risk premia mostly satisfy Famas (1984) necessary conditions for explaining the forward premium puzzle, but the puzzle remains in several cases even after taking account of the pricing kernel volatilities.