But what’s particularly interesting about this data is the marked increase in redemptions experienced in November by top-rated hedge funds.

You’d provide readers a service if you reported on studies that show how hedge fund clients who have highest returns exhibit exactly that pattern: the most successful endowments are the least likely to go with a manager just because he did well in the past. The least successful hedge fund clients are the most likely to repeat.

As David Swenson has said, there’s a huge gulf in results between investors who understand what they’re buying and those who are just going through the motions. Buying into a fund simply because it had good historical results is what creates bubbles, Ponzi schemes and macro blowups. You might almost think society would be better off by declaring that investing in a fund, and staying with a fund, purely because of past performance, was prima facie evidence of irresponsible behavior.