We document persistence in the performance of emerging market equity funds and find several notable differences compared to US equity funds. First, the contribution of winner funds to the return spread between winner and losers is substantially larger for emerging market funds. Second, only a...

The mean-semivariance CAPM strongly outperforms the traditional mean-variance CAPM in terms of its ability to explain the cross-section of US stock returns. If regular beta is replaced by downside beta, the traditional risk-return relationship is restored. The downside betas of low-beta stocks...

We develop and implement linear formulations of general N-th order Stochastic Dominance criteria for discrete probability distributions. Our approach is based on a piece-wise polynomial representation of utility and its derivatives and can be implemented by solving a relatively small system of...

We develop and implement a portfolio optimization method for building investment portfolios that dominate a given benchmark index in terms of third-degree stochastic dominance. Our approach relies on the properties of the semi-variance function, a refinement of an existing 'super-convex'...

This study formulates portfolio analysis in terms of Stochastic Dominance, Relative Entropy and Empirical Likelihood. We define a portfolio inefficiency measure based on the divergence between given probabilities and the nearest probabilities that rationalize a given portfolio for some...

We develop and implement linear formulations of convex stochastic dominance relations based on decreasing absolute risk aversion for discrete and polyhedral choice sets. Our approach is based on a piecewise-exponential representation of utility and a local linear approximation to the...

This study analyzes various measures of the downside beta of stocks. Downside beta is sometimes defined and estimated in different ways. Theoretically, an approach based on the mean-semi-variance equilibrium model appears superior. Two known alternative approaches are not consistent with the...

This study investigates reference-dependent choice with a stochastic, state-dependent reference point. The optimal reference-dependent solution equals the optimal consumption solution (no loss aversion) if the reference point is selected fully endogenously. Given that loss aversion is...