Coronabias and the Fat Tail
In judging other people’s reaction to the coronavirus, are we in danger of displaying a new kind of “coronabias”? Philip Maymin explores this and the wider implications for investor behavior in the current crisis.
What We’re Reading – Updated!
We've updated our popular guide to behavioral science literature, The Essentia Reading List. One of our most downloaded white papers, this comprehensive list includes must-read behavioral classics and some exciting new titles.
The Half-Full Glass: Active Managers CAN Outperform Index Funds, Net of Fees
In a supplement to our Alpha Lifecycle research, we find that disciplined active managers who are able to exit positions at or near the peak of their alpha curve can preserve more than 120 bps outperformance (net of fees), per year, vs index funds.
From Texas Hold’em to Performance Coach: An Interview with Poker Pro Chris Sparks
Essentia CEO Clare Flynn Levy talks to former top-20 online poker player (and Behavioral Alpha Poker Night host) Chris Sparks about the lessons investment professionals can learn from elite-level poker.
The Consequences of Normalized Deviance
Ignoring standard procedure can be disastrous in complex, dynamic sectors like aviation and finance. Clare Flynn Levy considers the presence of normalized deviance in asset management and provides a list of steps to identify and overcome the ways it may already be affecting your investment team.
Don’t Ride a Falling Star
How did the Neil Woodford fund saga become so dramatic - and so destructive? Clare Flynn levy looks beyond traditional risk attribution and style-drift warning signals to explore how unchecked biases brought down this star manager.
Our New Analysis Demonstrates Alpha Lifecycle
We have long suspected that alpha, a key measure of an investment manager's added value, has a finite life span and often tends to decay over time. Our new research proves it, bringing new insights into the nature of alpha and how portfolio managers can act to sustain it.
Two Questions for Noted Cognitive Neuroscientist Tali Sharot
Ahead of her keynote presentation at this year's Behavioral Alpha conference in London, we talk to Dr. Tali Sharot, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL and best-selling author, about the factors that can make us change our minds.
Why Investors Tell Themselves Stories
How do investors cut through the huge complexity and uncertainty involved in investment decision-making? Guest blogger Joe Wiggins explores the important role played by story-telling in helping portfolio managers to organise and make sense of the information available.
The right way for investors to use machine learning
Fund managers need to think outside the machine learning "black box" if they want to get the most from this powerful advance in analytical capability. Market data is simply too complex and noisy for the kind of predictive big data being used in other sectors.