Option Pricing with State-dependent Pricing Kernel

We introduce a new volatility model for option pricing that combines Markov switching with the realized generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) framework. This leads to a novel pricing kernel with a state-dependent variance risk premium and a pricing formula for European options, which is derived with an analytical approximation method. We apply the Markov-switching Realized GARCH model to Standard and Poor's 500 index options from 1990 to 2019 and find that investors' aversion to volatility-specific risk is time-varying. The proposed framework outperforms competing models and reduces (in-sample and out-of-sample) option-pricing errors by 15% or more.