In the presence of nonnormally distributed asset returns, optimal portfolio selection techniques require estimates for variance-covariance parameters, along with estimates for higher-order moments and comoments of the return distribution. This is a formidable challenge that severely exacerbates...

"Following a growing concern among investors about the quality of hedge fund index return data, this paper addresses the question of whether designing hedge fund indices that fulfil the usual requirements (in particular representative and investable) is or not a feasible task, given a variety of...

We derive a closed-form solution for the optimal portfolio of a nonmyopic utility maximizer who has incomplete information about the alphas or abnormal returns of risky securities. We show that the hedging component induced by learning about the expected return can be a substantial part of the...

In this paper, we formally show that the cross-sectional variance of stock returns is a consistent and asymptotically efficient estimator for aggregate idiosyncratic volatility. This measure has two key advantages: it is model-free and observable at any frequency. Previous approaches have used...

La gestion alternative connaît actuellement un engouement certain, tant de la part des investisseurs que des gérants qui y voient une parade efficace à la volatilité des marchés financiers. Cet intérêt ne saurait cependant occulter les risques auxquels sont exposés les hedge funds. Cet...

Given the increasing importance of funds of hedge funds in the development of the hedge fund industry and the cost-intensive nature of multi-manager structures, investors are questioning whether FoHF add value to an extent that justifies the extra layer of fees induced by their activity. To...

Many investors do not know with certainty when their portfolio will be liquidated. Should their portfolio selection be influenced by the uncertainty of exit time? In order to answer this question, we consider a suitable extension of the familiar optimal investment problem of Merton [Merton,...

Despite repeated evidence that asset allocation accounts for a very large fraction of a portfolio return, the industry has never stopped favouring stock picking as the preferred form of active investment strategy. In this paper, we attempt to rehabilitate the importance of active asset...

Executive compensation packages are often valued in an inconsistent manner: while employee stock options (ESOs) are typically valued ex‐ante, i.e., before uncertain ties are resolved, cash bonuses are valued ex‐post, i.e., by discounting the realized cash grants. Such a lack of consistency...