This paper compares several investment strategies designed to exploit the low-beta anomaly. Although the notion of buying low-beta stocks and selling high-beta stocks is natural, a choice is necessary with respect to the relative weighting of high-beta stocks and low-beta stocks in the...

Using high-frequency data, we decompose the time-varying beta for stocks into beta for continuous systematic risk and beta for discontinuous systematic risk. Estimated discontinuous betas for S&P500 constituents between 2003 and 2011 generally exceed the corresponding continuous betas. We...

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of alternatively weighted (“alternative beta”) indices, such as fundamentally weighted indices, equal-weighted indices and low-volatility indices. We have surveyed a broad range of alternative beta strategies that have gained significant...

This research presents evidence for the existence of differences in asset beta risk in the liquidity cross-section of assets due to correlated trading. It is argued that due to differences in liquidity or cost, most trading activity is concentrated on the subset of liquid assets. In the presence...

Market capitalization weighted indices have historically been the most widely used strategies to achieve a passive exposure to equities markets, or capture equities beta. However, we have seen a surge of strategies called alternative betas (or sometimes “smart betas”) that, using different...

The traditional active vs passive debate has been shaken up by the emergence of “smart beta” strategies. As the population of these products has exploded, the quest to differentiate among them has focused on portfolio construction techniques rather than what actually matters, namely...

Real estate is an important asset class, but what specifically does real estate contribute to improve diversified stock–bond portfolios? The author decomposes real estate investment trust returns into their factor betas to show that real estate is a hybrid asset class, with returns explained...

Using several multi-factor models, I find strong "betting against beta'' effects - flat relations between betas and expected returns - for most non-market factors in US and international stock markets. "Arbitrage portfolios'' designed to profit from these effects earn average returns similar to...

The beta space is a powerful way to map the investment strategies of semi-diversified investors. Three metrics define the beta space: regular or exogenous betas (x-βs), linked to macroeconomic cycles; endogenous betas (n-βs), related to innovation hazards; and a combination of the two — the...