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Wage formation

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This paper reviews the literature on idiosyncratic equity volatility since the publication of "Have Individual Stocks Become More Volatile? An Empirical Exploration of Idiosyncratic Risk" in 2001. We respond to replication studies by Chiah, Gharghori, and Zhong and by Leippold and Svaton, and we present volatility estimates through the end of 2021, significantly extending the period covered in our original paper as well as the two replication studies. After spiking in the 1999- 2000 period, idiosyncratic volatility declined thereafter; but sharp increases in market, industry, and idiosyncratic volatility occurred during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021. We argue that market microstructure effects are not of first-order importance for volatility measurement, and we discuss the roles of fundamental factors and investor sentiment in driving the observed fluctuations in volatility.

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This paper uses a disaggregated approach to study the volatility of common stocks at the market, industry, and firm levels. Over the period 1962-97 there has been a noticeable increase in firm-level volatility relative to market volatility. Accordingly correlations among individual stocks and the explanatory power of the market model for a typical stock have declined, while the number of stocks needed to achieve a given level of diversification has increased. All the volatility measures move together countercyclically and help to predict GDP growth. Market volatility tends to lead the other volatility series. Factors that may be responsible for these findings are suggested.