📅 2023-05-26 — Session: Critique and Analysis of Gabaix’s Volatility Model
🕒 10:25–11:30
🏷️ Labels: Gabaix, Idiosyncratic Volatility, Economic Theory, Hyperbolic Functions, Thesis Review
📂 Project: Business
⭐ Priority: MEDIUM
Session Goal
The session aimed to critically evaluate Xavier Gabaix’s (2011) model on idiosyncratic volatility and its relationship with population size.
Key Activities
- Conducted a critique of Gabaix’s idiosyncratic volatility model, focusing on the missteps in linearization, uniform variance assumptions, and generalizations from the Herfindahl index.
- Proposed methodologies for further investigation into the relationship between idiosyncratic variance and population size.
- Engaged in a critical analysis of Gabaix’s proposition, highlighting potential overgeneralizations and assumptions lacking empirical support.
- Explored the transformation of mathematical expressions using hyperbolic functions and derived specific expressions involving hyperbolic sine.
- Reviewed a thesis section on agent aggregation and log-normal distributions, providing feedback for clarity and accessibility.
- Summarized discussions on economics and statistical theories, covering aggregate volatility, covariance equations, and log-normal distributions.
Achievements
- Identified key areas where Gabaix’s model may lack empirical support and suggested further research methodologies.
- Provided constructive feedback on a thesis section, enhancing its clarity and accessibility.
Pending Tasks
- Further empirical investigation into the relationship between idiosyncratic variance and population size.
- Outreach to research groups focusing on covariance matrices and non-linear transformations for additional insights.