Alpha, or outperformance of a benchmark, can be generated in many ways within a portfolio. It can be created by picking the top hedge fund managers, or by capturing the illiquidity premium via alternative assets. Venture capital is a major source of alpha for long-term investors. Alpha can also...

The aim of this study is to examine whether investment risk is related to the managerial factors characterising portfolio managers. The study employs four risk measures and a set of individual manager characteristics, including socio-demographic variables determining a manager profile. The...

Investment risk is addressed from the perspective of long-term investors, with key concepts being discussed and methods outlined for evaluating risk over long horizons. The main themes include: the need to focus on shortfall versus objectives and sources of sustained loss, rather than return...

The low variance (LV) strategy always bets against the volatile leg of common factor-portfolios. The risk of the strategy, measured by factor exposures, is thus perfectly predictable based on the status of factor portfolio variances during the formation period. I find that the strategy earns...

I study the history and performance of commercial real estate (CRE) in the pension fund portfolio, showing how many plan sponsors fundamentally changed their approach to CRE investment once underfunding gaps began to emerge in the early and middle 2000s. Several new empirical facts are...

Analysis of required expected return disclosures by public pension funds in individual asset classes reveals a reliance on past performance in setting return expectations. These extrapolative expectations operate through the expected risk premium and occur across all risky asset classes. Pension...

The stock market collapse led to political tensions between generations due to the fuzzy definition of the property rights over the pension funds’ wealth. The problem is best resolved by the introduction of generational accounts. Modern consumption and portfolio theory shows that the younger...

We model the asset allocation decision of a stylized corporate defined benefit pension fund. Besides including an allowance for uncertainty both of the future value of assets (because of uncertain investment returns) and liabilities (because of uncertainty in future longevity and in future...

This study investigates the relationship between governance, investment performance and asset allocation of pension funds in Switzerland. Our sample includes survey data from 139 Swiss occupational pension plans for which we develop a governance metric comprising attributes of organisational...