When they want to see how complex systems work, scientists often turn to asynchronous-time simulation, which allows processes to change sporadically over time, typically at irregular intervals. While rarely used in finance today, such models may turn out to be valuable tools for understanding...

Investors who have the flexibility to invest both long and short can benefit from both “winners” and “losers.” This will be especially advantageous if the latter — the short-sale candidates — are less efficiently priced than the winners — the purchase candidates. This is likely to...