Handbook of Portfolio Construction - Contemporary Applications of Markowitz Techniques

Portfolio construction is fundamental to the investment management process. In the 1950s, Harry Markowitz demonstrated the benefits of efficient diversification by formulating a mathematical program for generating the "efficient frontier" to summarize optimal trade-offs between expected return and risk. The Markowitz framework continues to be used as a basis for both practical portfolio construction and emerging research in financial economics. Such concepts as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), for example, provide the foundation for setting benchmarks, for predicting returns and risk, and for performance measurement. This volume showcases original essays by some of today's most prominent academics and practitioners in the field on the contemporary application of Markowitz techniques. Covering a wide spectrum of topics, including portfolio selection, data mining tests, and multi-factor risk models, the book presents a comprehensive approach to portfolio construction tools, models, frameworks, and analyses, with both practical and theoretical implications.

List of contents

Markowitz for the Masses: Portfolio Construction Techniques.- Markowitz for the Masses: The Risk and Return of Equity and Portfolio Construction Techniques.- Markowitz and the Expanding Definition of Risk: Applications of Multi-factor Risk Models.- Markowitz Applications in the 1990s and the New Century: Data Mining Corrections and the 130/30.- Markowitz's Mean-Variance Rule and the Talmudic Diversification Recommendation.- On the Himalayan Shoulders of Harry Markowitz.- Models for Portfolio Revision with Transaction Costs in the Mean-Variance Framework.- Principles for Lifetime Portfolio Selection: Lessons from Portfolio Theory.- Harry Markowitz and the Early History of Quadratic Programming.- Ideas in Asset and Asset-Liability Management in the Tradition of H.M. Markowitz.- Methodologies for Isolating and Assessing the Portfolio Performance Potential of Stock Return Forecast Models with an Illustration.- Robust Portfolio Construction.- Owitz and the Expanding Definition of Risk: Applications of Multi-Factor Risk Models.- Applying Markowitz's Critical Line Algorithm.- Factor Models in Portfolio and Asset Pricing Theory.- Applications of Markowitz Portfolio Theory To Pension Fund Design.- Global Equity Risk Modeling.- What Matters Most in Portfolio Construction?.- Risk Management and Portfolio Optimization for Volatile Markets.- Applications of Portfolio Construction, Performance Measurement, and Markowitz Data Mining Corrections Tests.- Linking Momentum Strategies with Single-Period Portfolio Models.- Reflections on Portfolio Insurance, Portfolio Theory, and Market Simulation with Harry Markowitz.- Evaluating Hedge Fund Performance: A Stochastic Dominance Approach.- Multiportfolio Optimization: A Natural Next Step.- Alternative Model to Evaluate Selectivityand Timing Performance of Mutual Fund Managers: Theory and Evidence.- Case Closed.- Stock-Selection Modeling and Data Mining Corrections: Long-Only Versus 130/30 Models.- Distortion Risk Measures in Portfolio Optimization.- A Benefit from the Modern Portfolio Theory for Japanese Pension Investment.- Private Valuation of Contingent Claims in a Discrete Time/State Model.- Volatility Timing and Portfolio Construction Using Realized Volatility for the S&P500 Futures Index.- The Application of Modern Portfolio Theory to Real Estate: A Brief Survey.- Erratum.

About the author

John B. Guerard, Jr., Ph.D., is Director of Quantitative Research at McKinley Capital Management, in Anchorage, Alaska. He earned his AB in Economics from Duke University, MA in Economics from the University of Virginia, MSIM from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Texas, Austin. John taught at the McIntire School of Commerce, the University of Virginia, Lehigh University, and Rutgers University. John taught as an adjunct faculty member at the International University of Monaco and the University of Pennsylvania. He worked with the DAIS Group at Drexel, Burnham, Lambert, Daiwa Securities Trust Company, Vantage Global Advisors, and served on the Virtual Research team at GlobeFlex Capital. John co-managed a Japanese equity portfolio with Harry Markowitz at Daiwa Securities Trust Company. While serving as Director of Quantitative Research at Vantage Global Advisors (formerly MPT Associates), Mr. Guerard was awarded the first Moskowitz Prize for research in socially responsible investing. Mr. Guerard has published several monographs, including The Handbook of Financial Modeling (Probus, 1989, with H.T. Vaught), Corporate Financial Policy and R&D Management (Wiley, 2006, second edition), and Quantitative Corporate Finance (Springer, 2007, with Eli Schwartz). John serves an Associate Editor of the Journal of Investing and The International Journal of Forecasting. Mr. Guerard has published research in The International Journal of Forecasting, Management Science, the Journal of Forecasting, Journal of Investing, Research in Finance, Research Policy, and the Journal of the Operational Research Society.

Summary

Portfolio construction is fundamental to the investment management process. In the 1950s, Harry Markowitz demonstrated the benefits of efficient diversification by formulating a mathematical program for generating the "efficient frontier" to summarize optimal trade-offs between expected return and risk. The Markowitz framework continues to be used as a basis for both practical portfolio construction and emerging research in financial economics. Such concepts as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), for example, provide the foundation for setting benchmarks, for predicting returns and risk, and for performance measurement. This volume showcases original essays by some of today’s most prominent academics and practitioners in the field on the contemporary application of Markowitz techniques. Covering a wide spectrum of topics, including portfolio selection, data mining tests, and multi-factor risk models, the book presents a comprehensive approach to portfolio construction tools, models, frameworks, and analyses, with both practical and theoretical implications.

Additional text

From the reviews:
“The handbook is a peer-reviewed collection of papers on research and practical advances of portfolio construction management and measurement analysis that followed the first rigorous method for selecting optimal portfolios presented by Harry Markowitz more than half of a century ago. … The handbook provides a valuable coverage of the rich developments in the field of portfolio construction management, that every professional investment manager may find useful and applicable to his/her particular interests.” (Christina Diakaki, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1192, 2010)

Report

From the reviews:
"The handbook is a peer-reviewed collection of papers on research and practical advances of portfolio construction management and measurement analysis that followed the first rigorous method for selecting optimal portfolios presented by Harry Markowitz more than half of a century ago. ... The handbook provides a valuable coverage of the rich developments in the field of portfolio construction management, that every professional investment manager may find useful and applicable to his/her particular interests." (Christina Diakaki, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1192, 2010)

Product details

• Assisted by: Joh B Guerard Jr (Editor), John B Guerard Jr (Editor), John Guerard (Editor), John B. Guerard (Editor), John Jr. Guerard (Editor), Jr. Guerard (Editor), John B. Guerard Jr (Editor), John B. Guerard Jr. (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 14.01.2010
• EAN: 9780387774381
• ISBN: 978-0-387-77438-1
• No. of pages: 794
• Dimensions: 169 mm x 47 mm x 242 mm
• Weight: 1288 g
• Illustrations: XVI, 794 p.
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Business > Economics; A, Finance, macroeconomics, Finance, general, Economics and Finance, Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics, Macroeconomics/Monetary Economics//Financial Economics, Finance & accounting, Financial Economics, Monetary Economics, Economics, Mathematical, Quantitative Finance, Mathematics in Business, Economics and Finance