We develop a new tail risk measure for hedge funds to examine the impact of tail risk on fund performance and to identify the sources of tail risk. We find that tail risk affects the cross-sectional variation in fund returns, and investments in both, tailsensitive stocks as well as options,...

We develop a new systematic tail risk measure for equity-oriented hedge funds to examine the impact of tail risk on fund performance and to identify the sources of tail risk. We find that tail risk affects the cross-sectional variation in fund returns, and investments in both, tail-sensitive...

We examine the relative weights hedge fund investors attach to past information in the fund selection process. The weighting scheme appears inconsistent with econometric forecasting models that predict fund returns, alphas or Sharpe ratios. In particular, investor flows are highly sensitive to...

Hedge Fund returns are often highly serially correlated mainly due to illiquidity exposures given that investments in such securities tend to be inactively traded and associated market prices are not always readily available. Following that, observed returns of such alternative investments tend...

We use proprietary data to examine factors that lead hedge fund managers to offer hurdle rates and investigate relative hedge fund performance based on risk adjusted returns. Using data from 3,571 hedge funds over a 15 year period, we find that funds that do not offer a hurdle rate outperform...

In the paper a multivariate unobserved components model for returns and net inflows into hedge funds is employed to assess whether the flows of funds into the industry are dynamically related to returns. The econometric model is used to estimate expected flows and expected returns as unobserved...

20 years ago, Sharpe (1992) developed the Style Analysis for mutual funds; in this analysis, the weights mutual funds allocate to major asset classes are constrained to sum up to 1. In this paper we develop a Time-Varying Style Analysis (TVSA) in which the weights must sum up to 1 but are...

Utilizing several models and regression analytics I compare factor attribution, strategies, and active management fees for 11,394 U.S. equity mutual funds and a matched sample of hedge funds from 1994 to 2010. There is modest evidence to support alpha delivery by mutual and hedge fund managers...

We establish a link between illiquidity and positive autocorrelation in asset returns among a sample of hedge funds, mutual funds, and various equity portfolios. For hedge funds, this link can be confirmed by comparing the return autocorrelations of funds with shorter vs. longer...

Classifying mandatory 13F stock-holding filings by manager type reveals that hedge fund strategies are mostly contrarian, while mutual fund strategies are largely trend following. The only institutional performers — the 2/3 of hedge fund managers that are contrarian — earn alpha of 2.4% per...