Empirical assessment of an intertemporal option pricing model with latent variables

This paper assesses the empirical performance of an intertemporal option pricing model with latent variables which generalizes the Black–Scholes and the stochastic volatility formulas. We derive a closed-form formula for an equilibrium model with recursive preferences where the fundamentals follow a Markov switching process. In a simulation experiment based on the model, we show that option prices are more informative about preference parameters than stock returns. When we estimate the preference parameters implicit in S&P 500 call option prices given our model, we find quite reasonable values for the coefficient of relative risk aversion and the intertemporal elasticity of substitution.