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The Journal of Alternative Investments

The Journal of Alternative Investments

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The Performance of Exchange-Traded Funds

David Blitz and Milan Vidojevic
The Journal of Alternative Investments Winter 2021, 23 (3) 81-99; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3905/jai.2020.1.116
David Blitz
is the head of quantitative research at Robeco in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
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Milan Vidojevic
is a senior quantitative researcher at Robeco in New York, NY and is affiliated with Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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Abstract

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are commonly regarded as an efficient, low-cost alternative to actively managed mutual funds, yet their perceived superiority is largely anecdotal. This article evaluates the performance of a comprehensive, survivorship-bias-free sample of US equity ETFs following the approach that has been commonly used to evaluate the performance of actively managed mutual funds. The authors find that ETFs have collectively lagged the market by an amount similar to the widely documented underperformance of active mutual funds. They perform textual and regression-based analysis to identify factor ETFs and show that most of these have also failed to beat the market. They conclude that from a pure performance perspective, the allure of ETFs finds little support in the data.

TOPICS: Factor-based models, mutual fund performance, passive strategies, exchange-traded funds and applications

Key Findings

  • ▪ ETFs have collectively lagged the market by about the same amount as active mutual funds.

  • ▪ Most smart beta ETFs have also failed to beat the market.

  • ▪ From a pure performance perspective, the allure of ETFs finds little support in the data.

  • © 2020 Pageant Media Ltd
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The Journal of Alternative Investments: 23 (3)
The Journal of Alternative Investments
Vol. 23, Issue 3
Winter 2021
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The Performance of Exchange-Traded Funds
David Blitz, Milan Vidojevic
The Journal of Alternative Investments Dec 2020, 23 (3) 81-99; DOI: 10.3905/jai.2020.1.116

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The Performance of Exchange-Traded Funds
David Blitz, Milan Vidojevic
The Journal of Alternative Investments Dec 2020, 23 (3) 81-99; DOI: 10.3905/jai.2020.1.116
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • ETF BACKGROUND, DATA, AND CLASSIFICATION
    • THE PERFORMANCE OF ETFs
    • INVESTABLE BENCHMARK MODEL
    • HYPOTHETICAL LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE OF ETFs
    • CONCLUSIONS
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