By John Brynjolfsson A CPI critic recently suggested that Ben Bernanke thought CPI homeowner equivalent rent is a “made up” figure. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the years I’ve been impressed with the rigor of CPI, unimpressed with its critics, and unable to find a better measure of the cost of living. Outside the [...]

The sixty largest US college endowments (those with over $1 billion in assets) once again have chart-topping performance. After suffering drawdowns and liquidity issues in 2008 and2009, these large endowments earned average returns of 12.2% in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, the latest period available, which beat the returns of smaller college endowments [...]

Fiduciaries think of a client's needs before their own - sacrificing the latter if required. But does the requirement for a hedge fund manager to put their client's interests before their own help or hinder the search for alpha? It depends on who you ask.

The global real estate downturn is presenting some fantastic opportunities in the debt markets - for those who don't mind jumping into the growing funding gap between borrowers and lenders, and for those who think the worst in terms of asset market bubbles and busts is over.

Quarterly government filings allow "copy-cats" to mimic hedge fund portfolios. But in an ironic twist, hedge funds themselves may actually have the last laugh.

For many institutional investors, investing in the environment is now all about alpha, not social change.

A new book out this week chronicles the colourful personalities that helped to build the hedge fund industry we know today.

To celebrate the World Cup, our resident “sports reporter” (yes, apparently we now have a sports beat) draws on the Beautiful Game to make a point about CAPM… By: Miran Ahmad, AllAboutAlpha.com Editorial Board With the World Cup upon us and all eyes turned to South Africa, I could not help but think of how the [...]

An asset management firm that is ubiquitous in the fixed income and pension fund world, BlackRock is a world-leading alternative asset management franchise.

How can you tell if a pension fund is "sophisticated"? Apparently, it may not be that tough...

By: Alexander Ineichen. Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a bear named Winnie-the-Bear who lived in the Trillion Acre Wood. On some level, he was a silly old bear. Nevertheless, he was wondering what the fuss about hedge funds was all about. He invited his two best friends, George Jones, the famous [...]

This month, we bring you Act II of Alexander Ineichen’s “Ineichen Dialogues” (Act I here)  In it, his three characters Winnie-the -Bear, George Jones and Ben Put discuss recent developments in the financial world with the kind of clarity your children will surely appreciate (pdf version). By: Alexander Ineichen, CFA, CAIA Once upon a time, not so [...]

Regular readers will recognize the name Alexander Ineichen from his book Asymmetric Returns (see related post) and from his several popular monographs on the “Search for Alpha”.  CAIA charter holders may also recognize his name from the bottom of their charter – he is a board member of the CAIA Association. If you’ve read any of [...]

What do you get when you mix a former president of Pakistan, the world's leading expert on marine ecosystems, various central bankers, several trillion dollars of hedge fund assets and some Nobel laureates?

A unique event in Boston this week takes a fresh look at the financial ecosystem.

Man Investments' John Rowsell sits down with AllAboutAlpha.com Editorial Board member Andrew Saunders and discusses managed accounts, the shifting regulatory landscape and the investment opportunities facing Man over the next year.

Today, we bring you the final installment of our “Summer of 1,000 Posts” (more…) This week we’ll be looking at alternative investments in the mainstream by pulling from our archives of posts on media coverage of hedge funds and hedge fund investing for retail investors.  Enjoy. Report shows that some wounds recently suffered by wealth managers may [...]

Today, we bring you another installment of our “Summer of 1,000 posts” (more…) This week’s sampling from our archives covers the topic of Institutional Investing… Shipping as an alternative investment Thought shipping was just a global growth play?  Apparently, it depends on how you measure it. BCG Forecast: Institutions to seek “innovative products” such as HF and PE A new [...]

Today, we bring you another installment of our “Summer of 1,000 Posts” (more…) This week’s sampling from our archives covers the topic of Hedge Fund Regulation… Hedge Fund Standards Board issues rules on how to exit crowded theatres when someone yells “Fire!” Here’s a set of safety instructions every movie usher needs to have. “Libertarian Paternalism”: A happy medium [...]

Today, we bring you another installment of our “Summer of 1,000 posts” (more…) This week we’ll be looking back through our archives to cull posts on the topic of CAPM/Alpha Theory… How Hollywood, lotteries and mutual funds show that all risk is relative Since the birth of the CAPM, empirical evidence has been uncooperative – showing that high [...]

Today, we bring you another installment of our “Summer of 1,000 posts” (more…) This week’s sampling from our archives covers the topic of Investment Management Fees… What really drives the closed-end HF discount? Do premia and discounts on closed end hedge funds actually reflect anything about the funds themselves or do they just a response to exogenous factors? Study [...]

We had our official archivist pour over the first 1,000 posts to be published at AllAboutAlpha.com in order to bring you a selection of posts on the topic of Portable Alpha and Alpha/Beta Separation.

Today, we bring you another installment of our “Summer of 1,000 posts” (more…) This week’s sampling from our archives covers the topic of Performance, Analytics & Metrics… Debate over value of Sharpe Ratio in HF analysis continues in new academic study A 2007 academic study rained on the alternative hedge fund metrics parade and claimed that the [...]

Roger Ibbotson speaks candidly about hedge fund regulation, quant strategies and updates to the "ABCs of hedge funds."

We had our official archivist pour over the first 1,000 posts to be published at AllAboutAlpha.com in order to bring you a selection of posts on the topic of Alternative Beta and Hedge Fund Replication.

We had our official archivist pour over the first 1,000 posts to be published at AllAboutAlpha.com in order to bring you a selection of posts on the topic of Hedge Fund Industry Trends.

We had our official archivist pour over the first 1,000 posts to be published at AllAboutAlpha.com in order to bring you a selection of posts on the topic of the CAPM and the theory behind our favorite Greek variable.

Earlier this week a widely-read columnist provided a wonderful example of the challenges faced by those who wish to ban hedge funds - a lack of hard data.

Here's to hoping recent global economic shifts can do something to add some alpha to emerging markets "hedge" funds.

Anyone who has ever taken a finance course is likely familiar with the name Harry Markowitz.  The Nobel Prize winner is widely credited with developing the framework upon which much of modern portfolio theory is based. What you may not know is that Markowitz is still very active in the finance profession both as an academic [...]

AllAboutAlpha.com gets hitched.

The FSA found last week that hedge fund leverage has dwindled to nearly zero over the past year. But as you can see in these charts, it was never as high as commonly assumed in the first place.

Asian hedge funds have taken it on the chin recently. But then again, so has the Asian financial sector in general. And this has some hedge fund managers now thinking that the glass may be half-full, not half-empty.

An annual survey of institutional investment consultants confirms hedge funds' fears - that investors have put them on "hold" and gone out for lunch.

Morningstar data published on Wednesday shows that cash-hungry hedge fund investors started bailing out of even the best-rated hedge funds in November.

The envelope please...

This article in the January 1970 edition of FORTUNE magazine just might change your entire perspective on the hedge fund industry.

Some of the world's most prominent hedge fund managers and academics testified in front of a US Congressional committee today. Among them was an AllAboutAlpha.com reader with a strong opinion about the role of hedge funds in the financial crisis. In this exclusive interview, we ask him to elaborate on his testimony.

With acrimony over hedge funds reaching a feverish pitch, AIMA has just released a major report that tries to take a step back from the brink to revisit the very rationale for alternative investments.

A little over a year ago, AllAboutAlpha and media partner Terrapinn conducted a landmark survey of institutional investors, asset managers and service providers on what was then one of the most anticipated developments in the asset management industry: 130/30 investing. A lot has changed over the past year.  As anticipated by respondents last year, many new [...]

Alpha Magazine is releasing the winners of its 2008 Alpha Awards this week.  The four categories judged by a survey of hedge fund manager in the spring and summer are: law firms, prime brokerages, accounting firms and administrators.  Results are being released at Alpha’s website all this week. Shartsis Friese and Walkers scored top spots for [...]

Duke professor and Journal of Finance Editor Campbell Harvey warns that we need to "get in front" of the storm clouds gathering over the banking system.

Remember back when hedge funds were the ones who caused nightmares on Wall Street...

AllAboutAlpha.com has undergone a major overhaul to keep up with the times.

A new book brings together the various dimensions of alpha-centric investing into one place. Here's a taste of what's inside.