Three academics were named winners of the $10,000 Commonfund Prize for their research paper that found no evidence that recommendations by investment consultants to their clients lead to market outperformance.
The prize money will be shared among Tim Jenkinson, professor of finance and head of the finance faculty at Said Business School, University of Oxford, and director of the Oxford Private Equity Institute; Howard Jones, a Said senior research fellow; and Jose Martinez, assistant professor of finance, University of Connecticut School of Business.
Their paper, “Picking Winners? Investment Consultants’ Recommendations of Fund Managers,” used “survey data from investment consultants with a combined share of 90% of the consulting market and focused on the recommendations consultants made for actively managed U.S. equity funds,” said a news release Wednesday from the Commonfund Institute, a research and educational arm of institutional investment manager Commonfund.
The winning paper was selected from 69 papers submitted, said John S. Griswold, executive director, Commonfund Institute. Nominated papers must have been presented at a major academic conference in the preceding 18 months but not yet have been published.
“Picking Winners?” is available without charge at the Social Science Research Network website.
The prize, which recognizes excellence in innovative research in investment management and began in 1996, is awarded by the Commonfund Institute in collaboration with the Newton Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School.
The winning paper was selected by a three-judge panel made up of David Chambers, academic director of the Newton Centre and reader in finance at the Judge school; Elroy Dimson, the center’s chairman and professor of finance at the Judge school; and William Goetzmann, professor of finance and director of the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management.
The prize will be awarded March 24 at the Judge school, Mr. Griswold said, noting the co-winners haven’t indicated yet if they will attend.