Cristian Ioan Tiu

We propose a downside risk management method for decentralized investors. There are two novel things about this: one is that we treat return contributions from investment decisions and individual securities, which may be correlated, simultaneously. The other is that we prove a decomposition formula for downside risk and provide an interpretation for it. We then dissect the risk taken by university endowments ... and come up with findings that have something old (U.S. Equity matters), something new (hedge funds reduce the risk in a portfolio) and something borrowed (U.S. Fixed income reduces the risk in a portfolio).

Do Endowment Funds Select the Optimal Mix of Active and Passive Risk? (October 7, 2009)

(with Keith Brown)

Forthcoming at the Journal of Investment Management

Smaller endowments do not fully optimize their security selection abilities and because of internal frictions in the investment process leave money on the table.

Does Asset Allocation Determine Performance?:

Evidence from University Endowment Funds (July 2, 2009)

(with Keith Brown and Lorenzo Garlappi)

Forthcoming at the Journal of Financial Markets

If one wants to study how important asset allocation is in generating performance, university endowments are the ideal candidate, because they are virtually unrestricted and large enough to be diversified across asset classes. We find that the major determinant of performance, however, is the endowments' security selection abilities, and not their asset allocation.

On Level Curves of Value Functions in Optimization Models of Expected Utility

(with Thaleia Zariphopoulou), Mathematical Finance, Vol. 10, Issue 2, April 2000

Working papers

Do the Best Hedge Funds Hedge? (December 17, 2008)

(with Sheridan Titman)

There is a lot of fuss about how hedge funds can be replicated using traditional or exotic 'systematic' risk factors. We find evidence that low R-square funds are better: they have better Sharpe ratios, higher returns and are better liked by their investors - low R-square managers charge higher fees and experience higher inflows.

Asset Pricing with Endogenous Peso Effects (December 17, 2008)

(with Uzi Yoeli)

Peso models can solve a multitude of asset pricing puzzles, but the trick to assume the peso effect. We propose a very simple model where a decline in productivity triggers a peso effect. It's a model without anything fancy -- all the assumptions are borrowed from the literature, but when pieced together they work out just right to produce a peso model.

Teaching

MGF 636/696

The material is posted in UBLearns

Send me ANONYMOUS FEEDBACK

Some of my favorite companies

University at Buffalo Foundation

UTIMCO, my adoptive parents when I was a PhD student

DrudgeReport

ProtegePartners, a fund of funds

Albourne, a hedge fund consultant