TIPS-based Equity Risk Premium Estimate

How can investors account for inflation expectations in estimating attractiveness of equities? In their March 2020 article entitled “The Equity Risk Premium: A Novel Perspective on the Past Fifty Years”, James White and Victor Haghani offer a perspective on stock market long-term (10-year) attractiveness based on Equity Risk Premium (ERP) calculated as the difference between:

1. Cyclically adjusted earnings yield as the real expected long-term stock market return. This measure is the inverse of cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio (CAPE, or P/E10); and,
2. The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) as the long-term risk-free return.

Using monthly values of P/E10 since 1970, modeled yield of 10-year TIPS until their initial issue in 1999 and actual yield of 10-year TIPS as issued thereafter, all through March 18, 2020, they find that: (more…)