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Should you buy a stock or a corporate bond? Another characterization of cautiousness

Research output: Working paper

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Publication date2012
Number of pages11
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Should you buy a stock or a corporate bond? A common belief is that the Pratt-Arrow risk aversion measure gives the answer: a more risk averse investor will prefer more a corporate bond to a stock. However, this is not always true. In a simple portfolio problem with a riskless bond, a stock and a corporate bond from a firm, we show that, it is not the risk aversion measure but a downside risk aversion measure called cautiousness which gives the answer to the question: a more cautious investor will prefer more a stock to a corporate bond. While in some cases downside risk aversion agrees with risk aversion, in some other cases it does not.