Volatility And The Cross Section Of Equity Returns

A number of papers document a strong negative relation between idiosyncratic volatility and risk-adjusted stock returns. Using IHS Markit data on indicative borrowing fees, we show that stocks with high idiosyncratic volatility are far more likely to be hard-to-borrow than stocks with low idiosyncratic volatility. When hard-to-borrow stocks are excluded, the relation between idiosyncratic volatility and stock returns disappears. The relation between idiosyncratic volatility and stocks returns is more accurately described as a relation between being hard-to-borrow and stock returns.