In this paper we show that hedge fund returns may suffer from excess smoothness, positive kurtosis and negative skewness. We argue that these distribution properties cause standard mean-variance statistics to underestimate the true variability and beta, and overrate the true performance. We...

Using an international Thomson Reuters Datastream database where size coverage is unusually wide and data errors have been reduced to a low level, we show that some specification decisions, and especially those related to size, may have a significant impact on asset pricing test results. We also...

This paper examines the reporting practices of Belgian listed firms, in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Four research questions are addressed: (1) What CSR areas are disclosed in the annual report? (2) What is the extent of the CSR reporting for the different areas? (3) How is...

Via kwalitatief onderzoek van vier verschillende aanbieders van ethische producten in België, KBC, Fortis, Dexia en Triodos Bank, vergelijken we de toegepaste methodologieën met elkaar op gebied van strengheid en transparantie. Ook de totstandkoming van de criteria wordt besproken. Zo kan de...

The Heston-Rouwenhorst (HR) estimates of country and industry factors have been criticised for assuming that each stock has unit exposures to its own country and industry factor. We address this issue analytically and empirically. Our position is that HR are not modeling and estimating a return...

Using a carefully screened and ltered international data base with a wide coverage across countries and size classes, this paper identies and documents a post-1980s size effect which is persistent, not picked up by a Fama-French-style SMB, and largely due to the smallest-decile stocks. We test...

Using an international Thompson Datastream database and standard asset pricing models we encounter pricing errors for the ten percent smallest stocks. We generalize the standard 4-factor model by adding two additional risk factors (one size- and one book-tomarket factor). This generalized...

We analyse the risk-return profile of Belgian SRI funds versus conventional investment funds. We apply a four-factor conditional Carhart model to establish whether there are significant differences in risk-return profile between an SRI portfolio and a conventional portfolio and test for learning...

In the debate whether country factors are typically more variable than sector factors, sparked off by e.g. Roll (1991) and Heston and Rouwenhorst (1994), one of the few uncontested facts is that the addition of emerging markets (EMs) does boost the ratio of country-factor variance relative to...

In dit artikel stellen we een innovatieve methode voor om de maatschappelijke opinie over duurzaam en maatschappelijk verantwoord beleggen gestructureerd vast te leggen in een bruikbaar referentiekader. We illustreren de methode met behulp van één expertopinie en passen het resulterende...