In this article we formulate and solve the optimal design problem of a defined contribution public pension fund, in a highly stylized but still rather general non stationary framework. We adopt the viewpoint of a benevolent social planner who aims at treating in a fair manner the successive...

It is widely believed that stocks with high idiosyncratic risk exhibit stronger anomalies because arbitrageurs avoid holding these stocks due to diversification concerns, allowing deviations of prices from fundamental values. In this paper we test this proposition using hedge fund holding data....

In recent years both equity and bond markets have been afflicted by high volatility. In order to build up a conservative portfolio several models may be used, such as minimum variance portfolio or equally weighted portfolio. In 2008/09 another way to deal with diversification came up, that is...

Faber's 'A Quantitative Approach to Tactical Asset Allocation' (2009) proposes the use of a very simple trading rule to improve the risk-adjusted returns across various asset classes. The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative and simple quantitative risk based portfolio management...

Inflation risk is greatest in times of national or global stress; inflation risk is a form of a “tail risk.” A traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds is exposed to inflation risk. The specific nature of an investor's liabilities and spending determines inflation sensitivity beyond that of...

This paper studies the role of investors' optimism about future economic growth in their investment decisions. Based on simple intuition, we argue that investors base their future investment decisions not only on asset-specific information, but also on their expectations about future economic...

It is well established that international portfolios are far substantially under-diversified, contrary to predictions of traditional finance theory. Even after controlling for market segmentation and “investability” of foreign markets, portfolio under-diversification remains a puzzle. I...

Hedge fund managers are subject to several non-linear incentives: (a) performance fee options (call); (b) equity investor's redemption options (put); (c) prime broker contracts allowing for forced deleverage (put). The interaction of these option-like incentives affects optimal leverage ex-ante,...

Using data from surveys as well as as real transactions we analyze which and why investors choose funds with performance fees even though these funds may be more expensive. According to agency theory, performance fees could incentivize managers to achieve better returns, but they could also...

This paper describes the application of two different techniques for measuring sustainable withdrawal rates during retirement and the associated risks in running out of funds in the retirement savings pool. The first is a bootstrap simulation approach using recent Australian equity and bond...