efficient market hypothesis

E96714

The efficient market hypothesis is a financial theory asserting that asset prices fully and immediately reflect all available information, making it impossible to consistently achieve returns above the market average through information-based trading.


Statements (49)
Predicate Object
instanceOf economic theory
financial theory
hypothesis in finance
associatedWith Chicago School of Economics NERFINISHED
assumes competition among investors drives prices to equilibrium
information is freely and quickly available to market participants
many rational profit‑maximizing investors
contrastsWith behavioral asset pricing
value investing philosophies that assume mispricing
coreClaim asset prices fully reflect all available information
it is impossible to consistently achieve abnormal risk‑adjusted returns using available information
criticizedBy behavioral finance
criticizedFor assumption of fully rational investors
difficulty reconciling with market anomalies
inability to fully explain asset price bubbles
field asset pricing
economics
financial economics
formulatedIn 1960s
hasForm semi‑strong form efficiency
strong form efficiency
weak form efficiency
hasInfluenceOn corporate finance decisions
regulation of financial disclosure
securities regulation debates
implies active portfolio management cannot systematically beat passive strategies after costs
fundamental analysis cannot consistently outperform the market on a risk‑adjusted basis
no free lunch in financial markets
prices follow a martingale or random walk process under certain conditions
technical analysis cannot consistently outperform the market
inAcademicLiterature Journal of Finance
Journal of Financial Economics
influenced development of exchange‑traded funds
development of index mutual funds
predicts abnormal returns are random and not persistent
no predictable excess returns from public information
proposedBy Eugene F. Fama
relatedConcept capital asset pricing model
modern portfolio theory
no‑arbitrage principle
random walk theory
semiStrongFormDefinition all publicly available information is fully reflected in current prices
strongFormDefinition all information, public and private, is fully reflected in current prices
testedBy anomaly research
event studies
return predictability studies
usedIn design of index funds
passive investment strategies
weakFormDefinition all information contained in past prices is fully reflected in current prices

Referenced by (4)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Eugene Fama ("efficient-market hypothesis")
fieldOfWork
Eugene Fama ("efficient-market hypothesis")
knownFor
Chicago School economics
notableConcept
Eugene Fama ("“Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work”")
notableWork

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