Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the ability of hedge funds and funds of hedge funds to generate absolute returns using fund level data. Design/methodology/approach - The absolute return profiles are identified using properties of the empirical distributions of fund returns. The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the ability of hedge funds and funds of hedge funds to generate absolute returns using fund level data. Design/methodology/approach – The absolute return profiles are identified using properties of the empirical distributions of fund returns....

In an augmented [Treynor and Mazuy, 1966] model, we find that realized volatility of emerging market financial indices generally have a negative impact on the performance of hedge funds operating in these markets. Our hypothesis is that daily trading activities related to overconfidence and...