Despite ongoing skepticism, two-thirds say they are willing to believe in “hedge fund replication”
Nov 24th, 2008 | Filed under: Alternative Beta & Hedge Fund Replication, Today's Post
Newly-released government UFO files aren’t the only controversies pitting skeptics against “believers” these days…
Hedge fund replication is back in the news today with the publication of the results from a survey on the topic conducted last winter by French research institute Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. While the results are somewhat dated, they are a good recap of the concept as a lead-up to Edhec’s annual alternative investment conference in London in a couple of weeks (Edhec’s “Alternative Investment Days“). The bottom line: polarization between those who believe there may be some value in the exercise and those who ridicule it as a hoax.
Regular readers may recall our own poll on this topic (conducted in partnership with conference producer Terrapinn) conducted around the same time (winter 2008). We were curious to see if our findings lined up with those of Edhec and were encouraged to see that both surveys seemed to have yielded roughly the same results - with a few notable exceptions. Edhec’s sample was about the same size as ours with slightly more asset managers and fewer end investors. While we did not ask about geography, Edhec notes that its sample was predominantly European. As we wrote in the commentary for our recent 130/30 survey, respondents to surveys like this are likely to be skewed toward those with an existing interest in the topic. As a result, caution should be used in extrapolating the results (of both surveys).
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