This paper analyzes how individuals value the two main payout options of retirement wealth accrued in a pension plan: a lifelong income stream offered via an annuity or as a lumpsum. A better knowledge of the drivers behind the financial valuation of pension options contributes to the...

The aim of this study is to examine whether securitized real estate returns reflect direct real estate returns or general stock market returns using international data for the U.S., U.K., and Australia. In contrast to previous research, which has generally relied on overall real estate market...

We show analytically under quite general conditions that implied rates of return based on analysts' earnings forecasts are only a downward biased estimator for future expected one-period returns and therefore not suited for computing market risk premia. The extent of this bias is substantial as...

The strategy of buying and holding “net nets” has been advocated by deep value investors for decades, but systematic studies of the returns to such a strategy are few. We detail the returns generated from a net nets strategy implemented from 1984 - 2008, and then attempt to explain the...

In this paper, we revisit the myths regarding the superior performance of market timing strategies based on moving average and time-series momentum rules. These active timing strategies are very appealing to investors because of their extraordinary simplicity and because they promise substantial...

A diverse set of measures allows investors to evaluate hedge fund portfolio managers' performance across different dimensions. The various measures quantify the effectiveness of security selection, account for investor flows, operating risk, and worst-case investment scenarios, net out benchmark...

In this paper, we forecast industry returns out-of-sample using the cross-section of book-to-market ratios and investigate whether investors can exploit this predictability in portfolio allocation. Cash-flow and return forecasting regressions show that cross-industry book-to-market ratios...

There is no overall consensus about which measure is the most suitable for evaluating portfolios' performance. Despite being affected by some of the statistical characteristics of returns, Sharpe ratio is the most widely used measure for portfolio performance evaluation. Thus, the other measures...

We compare the stock return forecasting performance of alternative payout yields. The net payout yield produces more accurate forecasts relative to alternatives, including the traditional dividend yield. This remains true even after excluding several years during the Great Depression when...

We survey articles on hedge funds' performance persistence and fundamental factors from the mid-1990s to the present. For performance persistence, we present some pioneering studies that contradict previous findings that hedge funds' performance is a short term matter. We discuss recent...