Author : Sun-Joong Yoon(Dongguk Univ.)

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This paper examines the economic factors that are related to the dynamics of the variance risk premium, and specially, which economic factors are related to the forecasting power of the variance premium regarding future index returns. Eleven general economic variables, eight interest rate variables, and eleven sentiment-associated variables are used to figure out the relevant economic variables that affect the variance risk premium. According to our empirical results, the won-dollar exchange rates, foreign reserves, the historical/implied volatility, and interest rate variables all have significant coefficients. The highest adjusted R-squared is more than 65 percent, indicating their significant explanatory power of the variance risk premium. Next, to verify the economic variables associated with the predictability of the variance risk premium, we conduct forecasting regressions to predict future stock returns and volatilities for one to six months. Our empirical analysis shows that only the won-dollar exchange rate, among the many variables associated with the dynamics of the variance risk premium, has a significant forecasting ability regarding future index returns. These results are consistent with results found in previous studies, including Londono (2012) and Bollerslev et al.(2014), which show that the variance risk premium is related to global risk factors.