A Critique of Size Related Anomalies

Author(s)

·  Jonathan Berk

Reference

·  Review of Financial Studies, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 275-286. (Summer, 1995)

Abstract

This paper argues that the size related regularities in asset prices should not be regarded as anomalies. Indeed, the opposite result is demonstrated. Namely, a truly anomalous regularity would be if an inverse relation between size and return was not observed. We show theoretically (1) that the size related regularities should be observed in the economy and (2) why size will in general explain the part of the cross-section of expected returns left unexplained by an incorrectly specified asset pricing model. In light of these results we argue that size related measures should be used in cross-sectional tests to detect model misspecifications.
 

Article

The full text of this article is available from RFS by clicking on the reference link and also online at JSTOR