We use university endowment funds to study the relationship between asset allocation decisions and performance in multiple asset class portfolios. Although endowments differ substantially in asset class composition, policy portfolio returns and volatilities are remarkably similar across the...

Using data for more than 800 college and university endowment funds over 2003-2011, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the spending policies used in practice as well as how frequently and why those mandates are revised over time. Given the long-term and relatively static nature of the...

We provide a simple argument that suggests that better-informed hedge funds choose to have less exposure to factor risk. Consistent with this argument, we find that hedge funds that exhibit lower R-squareds with respect to systematic factors have higher Sharpe ratios, higher information ratios,...

We develop a parsimonious model in which frictions in the labor market may turn small, continuous labor productivity declines into large drops in employment, endogenously causing disasters. Assuming one state variable and CRRA agents, we solve for prices in closed form, calibrate the model using...

Recent changes in reserves or reserve/production ratios are often cited as evidence of hypothesized economic changes in petroleum markets. However, the technology of petroleum production and the fact that international petroleum markets are not perfectly competitive combine to render incorrect...

Firms often contract to deliver commodities at prices established before production costs are known. If the amount sold is a function of the quoted price, then the expected benefit profit per unit sold is not, in general, the difference between the unit cost estimate and the price quotation, but...