@article {Blitz71, author = {David Blitz and Matthias X. Hanauer and Milan Vidojevic and Pim van Vliet}, title = {Five Concerns with the Five-Factor Model}, volume = {44}, number = {4}, pages = {71--78}, year = {2018}, doi = {10.3905/jpm.2018.44.4.071}, publisher = {Institutional Investor Journals Umbrella}, abstract = {The new Fama{\textendash}French five-factor model is likely to become the new benchmark for asset pricing studies. Although the five-factor model exhibits significantly improved explanatory power compared to its predecessor, the classic three-factor model, the authors identify five concerns with regard to the new model. First, it maintains the capital asset pricing model{\textquoteright}s relation between market beta and return, despite mounting evidence that the empirical relation is flat, or even negative. Second, it continues to ignore the, by now widely accepted, momentum effect. Third, there are a number of robustness concerns with regard to the two new factors, profitability and investment. Fourth, whereas risk-based explanations were key for justifying the factors in the three-factor model, the economic rationale for the two new factors is much less clear. Fifth and finally, it does not seem likely that the five-factor model is going to settle the main asset pricing debates or lead to consensus.TOPIC: Factor-based models}, issn = {0095-4918}, URL = {https://jpm.pm-research.com/content/44/4/71}, eprint = {https://jpm.pm-research.com/content/44/4/71.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of Portfolio Management} }