The Unintended Impact of Academic Research on Asset Returns : The CAPM Alpha

This paper explores a channel whereby asset-pricing anomalies can appear as investors alter portfolios according to findings in academic research. In particular, I find that assets with low realized CAPM Alphas outperform those with high ones, but this finding only appears after the CAPM's publication in the 1960s. I find evidence consistent with the widespread application of the CAPM model generating incentives to tilt portfolios systematically away from low CAPM Alpha assets, causing such assets to be undervalued