We develop a new approach for evaluating performance across hedge funds. Our approach allows for performance comparisons between models that are misspecified – a common feature given the numerous factors that drive hedge fund returns. The empirical results show that the standard models used in...

In a calibrated consumption-portfolio model with stock, housing, and labor income predictability, we disentangle the welfare effects of skill and luck. Skilled investors are able to take advantage of all sources of predictability, whereas unskilled investors ignore predictability. Lucky...

Most papers in the portfolio choice literature have examined linear predictability frameworks based on the idea that simple but flexible Vector Autoregressive (VAR) models can be expanded to produce portfolio allocations that hedge against the bull and bear dynamics typical of financial markets...

We apply a two-step strategy to forecast the dynamics of the volatility surface implicit in option prices to all American-style options written on the stocks that have entered the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index between 2004 and 2016. We explore whether the implied volatilities extracted...

Value-at-Risk (VaR) forecasting generally relies on a parametric density function of portfolio returns that ignores higher moments or assumes them constant. In this paper, we propose a new simple approach to estimation of a portfolio VaR. We employ the Gram-Charlier expansion (GCE) augmenting...

We examine whether simple VARs can produce empirical portfolio rules similar to those obtained under a range of multivariate Markov switching models, by studying the effects of expanding both the order of the VAR and the number/selection of predictor variables included. In a typical stock bond...

We examine whether simple VARs can produce empirical portfolio rules similar to those obtained under a range of multivariate Markov switching models, by studying the effects of expanding both the order of the VAR and the number/selection of predictor variables included. In a typical stock-bond...

The size premium has been challenged along many fronts: it has a weak historical record, varies significantly over time, in particular weakening after its discovery in the early 1980s, is concentrated among microcap stocks, predominantly resides in January, is not present for measures of size...

We develop a novel approach to jointly examine skill, scale, and value added across individual funds. We find that the value added is (i) positive for the vast majority of funds, and (ii) close to its optimal level after an adjustment period possibly due to investors' learning. We also show that...