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Questions and Answers
What is the risk premium defined as?
What does the Sharpe ratio help to achieve in portfolio ranking?
Which of the following correctly expresses the formula for portfolio risk premium?
What does risk aversion refer to?
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What does the standard deviation of portfolio excess returns measure?
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In time series return analysis, what does the variance formula help to estimate?
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What does effective asset allocation aim to balance?
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Which of the following statements is incorrect regarding excess return?
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What is the purpose of the Value at Risk (VaR) measure?
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How is the Sharpe Ratio defined?
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In the context of risk and return, what does kurtosis measure?
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How can normally distributed returns over very short time periods be treated?
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What role do continuously compounded rates play in normality?
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What does skewness indicate in a probability distribution?
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Which formula transforms normally distributed return into a standard deviation score?
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What is a characteristic of normality in return distributions?
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What does the expected return of the complete portfolio depend on?
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How is the standard deviation of the complete portfolio calculated?
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What does the Capital Allocation Line (CAL) represent?
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When assessing risk aversion in capital allocation, which ratio is significant?
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What characterizes a passive investment strategy?
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What is described by the Capital Market Line (CML)?
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In mean-variance analysis, what does the Sharpe Ratio measure?
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How is the risk premium defined in the context of portfolio analysis?
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Which portfolio consists of both risky and risk-free assets?
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What is categorized as the risk-free asset?
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Which group includes the smallest 20% of stocks traded in the U.S. markets?
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Which index serves as a benchmark for U.S. Treasury bonds?
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What is the primary consideration when making capital allocation decisions?
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What kind of bonds are described as 'price-indexed' and provide a level of protection against inflation?
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Which risk is substantially lower compared to most assets, making them nearly risk-free?
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Which investment class represents the largest 500 companies in the U.S. by market capitalization?
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What does kurtosis indicate in relation to a probability distribution?
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Which of the following scenarios exemplifies the concept of Value at Risk (VaR)?
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How is the original return computed from the standard normal return?
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What is the primary measurement concern when evaluating returns over very short time periods?
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In the context of risk assessment, what do skewness measurements provide insight into?
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What does the price of risk represent?
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In mean-variance analysis, what is the significance of the Sharpe ratio?
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Which statement accurately describes excess return?
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What does risk aversion imply about an investor's behavior?
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How is the variance of returns calculated according to the provided formula?
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What does a higher Sharpe ratio indicate about a portfolio?
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What does the standard deviation of portfolio excess return signify?
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In the context of risk and return, what would be considered a risk-free rate?
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What does scenario analysis in return estimation involve?
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What does the geometric average of returns represent?
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How is the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) calculated?
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What does the Effective Annual Rate (EAR) take into account that the APR does not?
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In continuous compounding, how is the EAR derived from the APR?
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Which formula correctly expresses the EAR for n periods of compounding?
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What aspect does the dollar-weighted average return represent?
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Which of the following statements about compounding is true?
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Which statement best describes the relationship between APR and EAR?
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If an investment has an effective annual rate of 10% and is compounded semi-annually, what is the annual percentage rate (APR)?
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What does the holding-period return (HPR) measure?
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What is the formula for calculating the arithmetic average return?
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Which of the following returns is used to determine cumulative performance over time?
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What is included in the calculation of the holding-period return (HPR)?
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How is the dollar-weighted average return best defined?
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In the HPR example given, what is the calculated percent return based on the provided figures?
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What is the key difference between the arithmetic and geometric average returns?
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What is the formula for calculating the HPR?
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What does the term 'capital gains yield' refer to within HPR?
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What does the geometric average of returns provide in terms of investment performance?
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Which of the following statements about APR and EAR is correct?
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How is the Effective Annual Rate (EAR) calculated under continuous compounding?
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What characterizes the dollar-weighted average return?
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Which formula correctly represents the annualization of the Effective Annual Rate (EAR)?
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What does the formula for computing the geometric average return imply about its application?
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What key difference exists between APR and EAR in terms of investment calculations?
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Which component is crucial for determining the Effective Annual Rate (EAR) when compounding occurs multiple times within a year?
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When calculating the dollar-weighted average return, which factor significantly influences the outcome?
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In the context of compounding rates, what does 'n' represent in the EAR computation formula?
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What does a higher price of risk indicate about an investor's expectation?
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Which of the following accurately describes variance in the context of time series returns?
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What role does the Sharpe ratio play in mean-variance analysis?
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In portfolio analysis, what does a negative risk premium suggest about an investment?
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What does the standard deviation of portfolio excess return represent?
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How does risk aversion typically influence an investor's asset allocation?
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In the context of calculating risk premiums, what is the interpretation of the formula $E(r_p) - r_f$?
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What does scenario analysis derive from in the evaluation of investment returns?
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What is the formula to compute the real interest rate based on nominal interest rate and inflation rate?
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If an investment has a nominal return of 12% and the inflation rate is 3%, what is the real rate of return?
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What does the Fisher Equation relate in economic analysis?
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In which scenario would you apply scenario analysis?
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Which of the following represents the expected return when dealing with probability distributions?
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What mathematical process allows the calculation of the standard deviation from variance?
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What is typically included in a probability distribution when analyzing possible investment outcomes?
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In the context of capital allocation, what does expected return signify?
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What key information does variance provide regarding investment returns?
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Which of these is a fundamental concept in understanding interest rate adjustments due to inflation?
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What does the measure of kurtosis indicate in a probability distribution?
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How is the original return calculated from the standard normal return and standard deviation?
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What is the purpose of Value at Risk (VaR) in a financial context?
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What does skewness measure in a probability distribution?
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When are returns considered to be normally distributed, particularly in the context of holding period returns (HPRs)?
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How is the Holding-Period Return (HPR) calculated?
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What does the arithmetic average measure in the context of investment returns?
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Which factor does the geometric average of returns consider in its calculation?
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What is the internal rate of return in investment terms?
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If a stock was purchased for $30, sold for $32, and generated $2 in dividends, what is the HPR?
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What does the term 'dividend yield' represent in the calculation of HPR?
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When discussing rates of return, what does a dollar-weighted average return focus on?
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Given the returns of 10%, 25%, -20%, and 20% over four years, what is the arithmetic average return?
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What is the cumulative benefit of using the geometric average over the arithmetic average for investment returns?
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Study Notes
Risk and Risk Premiums
- Risk-free rate: The return rate earned with certainty.
- Risk premium: The expected return exceeding the risk-free rate.
- Excess return: Return surpassing the risk-free rate.
- Risk aversion: Reluctance to accept risk.
- Price of risk: Ratio of risk premium to variance.
Mean-Variance Analysis
- Used to rank portfolios using Sharpe ratios.
- Sharpe Ratio = (Portfolio Risk Premium) / (Standard Deviation of Excess Returns)
Historical Record & Time Series of Return
- Uses historical data to calculate variance and standard deviation.
- Scenario analysis is derived from historical returns.
The Normal Distribution
- Transforms a normally distributed return into a standard deviation score (Z-score).
- Can calculate returns using the standard normal score and standard deviation.
Normality over Time
- Returns are normally distributed over short time periods (up to one month).
- Using continuously compounded rates is advised for longer periods.
Value at Risk (VaR)
- Measures downside risk.
- Represents the worst loss with a given probability (usually 1% or 5%).
Deviation from Normality & Value at Risk
- Kurtosis: Measures the "fatness" of a distribution's tails, indicating extreme outcome likelihood.
- Skew: Measures the asymmetry of a distribution.
- Sharpe Ratio: Measures portfolio risk premium to standard deviation.
Portfolio Asset Allocation
- Expected Return of the Complete Portfolio: E (rC ) = y E (rp ) + (1 − y) r f
- Standard Deviation of the Complete Portfolio: C = y p
Capital Allocation Line (CAL)
- Plots the risk-return combinations achieved by varying allocations between risky and risk-free assets.
Risk Aversion and Capital Allocation
- Allocation (y) depends on risk aversion and the risk premium to variance ratio.
Passive Strategies and the Capital Market Line (CML)
- Passive strategies: Avoid security analysis and use market-index portfolios.
- Capital Market Line (CML): Uses a market-index portfolio as the risky asset in a capital allocation line.
Rates of Return
- Holding-Period Return (HPR): Calculated using the ending price, beginning price, and dividends.
- HPR is the sum of dividend yield and capital gains yield.
- Arithmetic Average: Sum of returns divided by the number of periods.
- Geometric Average: Single return that reflects the cumulative performance over multiple periods.
- Dollar-Weighted Average Return: Internal rate of return on an investment.
- Annual Percentage Rate (APR): Per-period rate multiplied by periods per year, ignoring compounding.
- Effective Annual Rate (EAR): Actual rate of return taking into account compounding.
Risk and Risk Premiums
- Risk-Free Rate: Return earned with certainty.
- Risk Premium: Expected return above the risk-free rate.
- Excess Return: Return exceeding the risk-free rate.
- Risk Aversion: Reluctance to accept risk.
- Price of Risk: Ratio of risk premium to variance.
- Mean-Variance Analysis: Ranking portfolios based on Sharpe ratios.
- Sharpe Ratio: Measures the portfolio's excess return relative to its standard deviation.
- Normal Distribution: Can be used to estimate potential return outcomes by converting them into standard deviation scores.
- Value at Risk (VaR): Measures downside risk, the worst loss over a given period with a specific probability.
- Kurtosis: Measures the "fatness" of distribution tails, indicating the likelihood of extreme outcomes.
- Skewness: Measures the asymmetry of distribution, showing its potential for extreme outcomes on one side.
Asset Allocation
- Asset Allocation: Portfolio choices across different investment classes.
- Complete Portfolio: The entire portfolio, including risky and risk-free assets.
- Capital Allocation: The choice between risky and risk-free assets.
- Risk-Free Asset: Investments with minimal risk, like U.S. Treasury bonds, money market instruments, or price-indexed government bonds.
Historical Record
- Scenario Analysis: Estimates potential return outcomes based on historical data.
- Variance and Standard Deviation: Calculated from a time series of returns.
- World Portfolios: Represent a diverse range of investment opportunities across different countries.
- Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500): Tracks the performance of the 500 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization.
- U.S. Small Stocks: Measures the performance of the smallest 20% of stocks on the NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX.
- World Bonds: Represents bonds issued by developed economies included in the world large stocks portfolio.
- U.S. Treasury Bonds: Tracks a specific index of long-term U.S. Treasury bonds.
Rates of Return
- Holding-Period Return (HPR) measures the rate of return over a given investment period
- HPR is comprised of the dividend yield and the capital gains yield
- Arithmetic average is the sum of returns divided by the number of periods
- Geometric average is a single period return that yields the same cumulative return as the sequence of actual returns
- Dollar-weighted average return is the internal rate of return on an investment
Annualizing Rates of Return
- APR (Annual Percentage Rate) is the per-period interest rate multiplied by the number of periods per year and doesn’t account for compounding
- EAR (Effective Annual Rate) is the actual rate at which an investment grows and accounts for compounding.
Interest Rates
- Nominal interest rate is the interest rate without considering inflation
- Real interest rate is the return on an investment after taking inflation into account
- The Fisher Equation states that the nominal interest rate is equal to the real interest rate plus the expected inflation rate
- The difference between the nominal interest rate and the real interest rate is the amount of inflation
Risk and Risk Premiums
- Risk premium is the expected return in excess of risk-free securities
- Risk aversion is the reluctance to accept risk
- Mean-Variance Analysis ranks portfolios based on their Sharpe Ratios
- Sharpe Ratio is the ratio of a portfolio's risk premium to its standard deviation.
- The Sharpe Ratio is a measure of risk-adjusted return
- Scenario analysis is a method of estimating the expected return and risk of an investment by considering different possible economic scenarios
- Probability distribution is a way of representing the possible outcomes of an investment and their associated probabilities
- Variance measures the expected value of the squared deviation from the mean
- Standard deviation is the square root of the variance
- The normal distribution is a bell-shaped curve that is commonly used to model returns on investments
- Value at risk (VaR) is a measure of downside risk that estimates the maximum potential loss for a given confidence level.
- Kurtosis measures the fatness of the tails of the probability distribution
- Skew measures the asymmetry of the probability distribution
Historical Record
- Scenario Analysis uses historical return data to estimate future returns and risk
- Variance and Standard Deviation are calculated from historical data
- World Large Stocks include 24 developed countries and approximately 6000 stocks
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Description
Test your understanding of risk factors, risk premiums, and mean-variance analysis. This quiz covers key concepts including the Sharpe Ratio, historical data insights, and the normal distribution of returns. Explore how these elements contribute to portfolio management and investment strategy.