Editor’s Letter

This issue of The Journal of Investing is dedicated to Dr. Christopher B. Barry, who recently retired after serving as Associate Editor since 1994. Dr. Barry was the Robert and Maria Lowdon Professor of Finance at the M.J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University from 1988 until his recent retirement. He is a recognized scholar, having published numerous articles in leading academic journals. A highly accomplished teacher, he received many outstanding teacher awards during his career. With this dedication, the Journal thanks Dr. Barry for his many years of outstanding service and wishes him well in retirement.

We lead off our Fall issue with Conover, Jensen, Johnson, and Mercer’s discussion of the benefits of adding commodity investments to an allocation regardless of the investor’s equity style. Then, Thiagarajan and Li examine the question of how idiosyncratic volatility affects stock selection and asset allocation signals. Johnson reviews the market crash of 2007–2008 to determine whether the margin rules and financial development affected returns and volatility during that period. Next follows a discussion of style indexes by Surz, who demonstrates that they do behave differently because of the factors used to classify stocks.

McQuarrie examines small-stock outperformance and determines that historical evidence is far more ambiguous than typically reported. Redhead and Shutes examine option theory and its support of time diversification. Hsu, Li, and Kalesnik report that using a valuation-indifferent indexing strategy can improve the performance of passive real estate investing. ap Gwilym, Clare, Seaton, and Thomas investigate the performance of momentum and timing approaches for global equity investing.

Our longtime readers will notice that with this issue of The Journal of Investing we have a dedicated topical section in each issue. Following the success of our many Institutional Investor Guides, we believe that there are smaller topics that deserve closer examination. You might consider these sections mini-guides. In this issue, we cover the topic of socially responsible investing. A recent study by Robeco Investment Management and the management consulting firm Booz & Company estimates that the “responsible investment” market will become “mainstream” within asset management by 2015, reaching 15%-20% of total assets under management. With this steady growth, we thought the topic was both relevant and of interest.

We hope this new focus will continue to provide you with the most usable and cutting-edge institutional investment articles available.

As always, we welcome your submissions and value your comments and suggestions, so please email us at journals{at}investmentresearch.org.

TOPICS: Volatility measures, mutual fund performance, passive strategies

Brian Bruce

Editor-in-Chief

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