Macroeconomic Variables as Common Pervasive Risk Factors and Empirical Content of the Arbitrage Pricing Theory in Pakistan

Abstract

The Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) of Ross [1976] is one of the most important building blocks of modern asset pricing theory, and the prime alternative to the celebrated Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) of Sharpe [1964], Lintner [1965], and others. This paper briefly reviews the theoretical underpinnings underlying the APT and highlights the econometric techniques used to test the APT with pre-specified macroeconomic factors. Besides this, the prime objective of this study is to perform an empirical test of the APT in the Pakistani stock market by using pre-specified macroeconomic factors and employing Iterative Non-Linear Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (ITNLSUR). These empirical results will be, hopefully, helpful for corporate managers undertaking cost of capital calculations, for domestic and international fund managers making investment decisions and, amongst others, for individual investors who wish to assess the performance of managed funds.