This paper is the first to draw a global picture of worldwide microfinance equity by taking full advantage of daily quoted prices. We revisit previous findings showing that investors should consider microfinance as a self-standing sector. Our results are threefold. First, microfinance has become...

This paper compares and contrasts factor investing and sector investing, and then seeks a compromise by optimally exploiting the advantages of both styles. Our results show that sector investing is effective for reducing risk through diversification while factor investing is better for capturing...

We examine the profitability of multifactor portfolios on the U.S. stock market. Using passive sector investing as the benchmark, we assess the performances of factor-based asset management strategies in good and bad times. When short selling is unrestricted, factor investing outperforms sector...

Using large-cap exchange-traded funds (ETFs), this paper provides guidance on enhancing the performance of long-only factor portfolios through sector-based blending. The blending method builds ETF portfolios that optimize the factor exposure of sectors. We use the original factors of Fama and...

This paper employs administrative data from one of the largest plan providers in France to investigate the role of plan and default characteristics in affecting whether employees participate in the plan and whether they accept its default investment option. The dataset includes information on...

This paper is the first to draw a global picture of worldwide microfinance equity by taking full advantage of daily quoted prices. We revisit previous findings showing that investors should consider microfinance as a self-standing sector. Our results are threefold. First, microfinance has become...

This paper draws a global picture of worldwide microfinance equity. Taking full advantage of daily quoted prices of microfinance stocks from their issuance, we construct microfinance country equity indices and an international global microfinance index. We analyze changes in these indices,...

The market portfolio efficiency remains controversial. This paper develops a new test of portfolio mean-variance efficiency relying on the realistic assumption that all assets are risky. The test is based on the vertical distance of a portfolio from the efficient frontier. Monte Carlo...

A summary of this paper, by Jason X. Lan, has been published in CFA Digest, May 2009, 24-25