1. Introduction In an influential piece, Sharpe (1991)Sharpe, W.F. 1991. The arithmetic of active management. Financial Analysts Journal, 47(1), pp.7-9.9 put forward the proposition that active investing must be a losing pursuit in aggregate, [...]
The crowning achievement for investors is the ability to identify which of the few active mutual funds will outperform in the future. Despite an overwhelming body of academic research which has demonstrated that past performance [...]
Factor Investing from Concept to Implementation Eduard van Gelderen, Joop Huij, and Georgi KyosevWorking paperA version of this paper can be found herehat tip to Art Johnson for mentioning this paper! What are the research [...]
The Best of Strategies for the Worst of Times: Can Portfolios Be Crisis Proofed? Campbell R. Harvey, Edward Hoyle, Sandy Rattray, Matthew Sargaison, Dan Taylor, and Otto Van HemertThe Journal of Portfolio ManagementA version of [...]
One of the big problems for the first formal asset pricing model developed by financial economists, the CAPM, was that it predicts a positive relation between risk and return. But empirical studies have found the [...]
One of the most well known and most beloved forms of literature is the fairy tale. Although most fairy tales are not about fairies, they are fictitious and highly fanciful tales of legendary deeds and [...]
The Best of Strategies for the Worst of Times: Can Portfolios Be Crisis Proofed? Campbell R. Harvey, Edward Hoyle, Sandy Rattray, Matthew Sargaison, Dan Taylor, and Otto Van HemertThe Journal of Portfolio ManagementA version of [...]
Is High Active Share Always Good? Giuliano De Rossi and Gurvinder BrarThe Journal of Asset ManagementA version of this paper can be found hereWant to read our summaries of academic finance papers? Check out our Academic [...]
According to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate or cup with miraculous powers that were used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Legend has it that the Grail was sent to Great [...]
One of the big problems for the first formal asset pricing model developed by financial economists, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), was that it predicts a positive relationship between risk and return. However, the [...]
The superior performance of low-beta and low-volatility stocks was documented in the literature back in the 1970s — by Fischer Black (in 1972) among others — even before the size and value premiums were “discovered.” [...]
For many investors, the superiority of passive investing over active investing is axiomatic (Earth to passive investors; Lunch is never free!) And why not? Study after study has demonstrated that only a small portion of [...]
One of the big problems for the first formal asset pricing model developed by financial economists, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), was that it predicts a positive relationship between risk and return. However, the [...]
The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) indicates returns should go up linearly as beta increases (in other words, risk and return are positively related). However, as I’ve previously discussed, the historical evidence demonstrates that, while [...]
High net worth individuals, university endowments, and public pension funds have heavily invested in long/short equity hedge funds. But is the long/short equity asset class benefiting investors? The pitfalls of expensive financial products are well [...]
On October 1st, 1908 Henry Ford introduced the Model T to the world. The power of the Model T was that it democratized the automobile so the average working-class person could afford a car for [...]
The market has recently experienced record low levels of realized volatility and the VIX™ (volatility index) has fallen to historic lows. Moreover, the incredibly popular FAAMG stocksFAAMG is an abbreviation referring to the stocks of [...]
The Holy Grail for mutual fund investors is the ability to identify in advance, which of the active mutual funds (or ETFs nowadays) will outperform in the future. The evidence suggests this task is almost [...]
Purely passive investing is theoretically plausible, but practically impossible. That said, the practical implementations can often be "good enough." As a theoretical index investor, you deploy capital, take a long snooze, and wake up some day [...]
Nobody can predict the future, but there is a chance the blind purchase of broad-index portfolios will come to an abrupt and potentially chaotic end when the music finally stops. This argument is the thesis of this blog post. [...]
