This paper examines the performance of equity factor portfolios during the Quant Crisis of 2018-2020. We find that there was basically only one way to outperform during this period, namely by investing in the largest and most expensive growth stocks. Other factors were only effective to the...

We examine the impact of excluding sin stocks on expected portfolio risk and return. Exclusions involve risk relative to the market and peers. We show how this tracking error can be translated into an equivalent loss in expected return, which is negligible at low tracking error levels, but not...

We examine the performance characteristics of recently introduced thematic indices using standard asset pricing theory. We find that thematic indices generally have strong negative exposures towards the profitability and value factors, indicating that they hold growth stocks that invest now for...