The question of whether empirical models are able to forecast the equity premium more accurately than the simple historical mean is intensively debated in the financial literature. The low prediction power is disappointing, even when using nonparametric models that make use of typical predictor...

Among many developments in statistical modelling in recent years, non- and semiparametric methods have proved to be a particularly powerful data-analytic tool. Nevertheless, there still exist justified doubts regarding there forecasting performance, for example in the context of financial time...