AQR Capital Management LLC's culture is highly academic and research-oriented.
But the results — often in the form of weighty papers published in scholarly journals — might not be understandable to a broad audience.
The firm's portfolio solutions and business development teams hit on the internet's ever-popular podcast format as a way to make investing more understandable.
"With the podcast, our goal is to break down some of the biggest ideas in finance, helping investors to understand and incorporate these ideas into their decision-making," said David G. Kabiller, founding principal and head of business development for the Greenwich, Conn.-based firm.
The Curious Investor series features short podcasts focused on a single concept in order to "break down some of the biggest ideas in finance," Mr. Kabiller said.
For example, in the podcast "Silly Things investors Do," Richard Thaler — Nobel laureate, professor at the University of Chicago and a behavioral finance specialist — explains the most common biases that affect investment decisions in an interview with AQR podcast co-hosts Daniel Villalon, managing director and co-head of the North American portfolio solutions group, and Gabriel Feghali, vice president, business development.
In the "Fundamental … or Quant?" podcast, Clifford S. Asness, AQR's managing and founding principal, discusses the differences between AQR's quantitative investment style and bottom-up, fundamental investing with Lee S. Ainslie III, founder, managing partner and CEO of hedge fund Maverick Capital Ltd.
Other podcast guests include Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard Group Inc., and Fiona Reynolds, managing director, Principles for Responsible Investment.
Among other podcast titles are "ESG: the Good, the Bad and the Fuzzy" and "Hot Hands and Cold Feet."
