The methodology of Bai and Ng (2002, 2003) for decomposing large panel data into systematic and idiosyncratic components is applied to both returns and turnover. Combining this with a GLS-based principal components approach, we demonstrate that their procedure works well for both returns and...

We analyze the three components of active management (asset allocation, market timing and security selection) in the net performance of U.S. pension funds and relate these to fund size and the liquidity of the investments. On average, the funds in our sample have an annual net alpha of 89 basis...

Standard Fama-French and Carhart models produce economically and statistically significant nonzero alphas, even for passive benchmark indices such as the S&P 500 and Russell 2000. We find that these alphas arise primarily from the disproportionate weight the Fama-French factors place on small...

Publicly‐traded emerging market affiliates of large multinational corporations (headquartered and mostly also listed in developed markets) have shown remarkably good performance over the last 14 years. These affiliates combined high performance with lower volatility, outperforming both their...

This paper examines how the extent of short-term trading relates to the efficiency of stock prices. We employ a new duration measure based on quarterly institutional investors' portfolio holdings, next to existing proxies such as trading volume, the percentage of transient institutions, and fund...

We examine the pricing of both aggregate jump and volatility risk in the cross-section of stock returns by constructing investable option trading strategies that load on one factor but are orthogonal to the other. Both aggregate jump and volatility risk help explain variation in expected...

This paper considers the performance of direct investments in three real asset classes: natural resources (namely timberland and farmland), energy infrastructure and commercial real estate. Using publicly available data for a period starting in 1978 (for real estate) or 1996 (for infrastructure)...