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Investment beliefs of endowments

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  • Andrew Ang
  • Andrés Ayala
  • William N. Goetzmann

Abstract

United States university and college endowments now hold close to one†third of their portfolios in private equity and hedge funds. We estimate the implied beliefs of endowments on these alternative assets’ returns relative to equities and bonds. At the end of 2012, the typical endowment believes that its private equity investments will outperform a portfolio of conventional assets by 3.9% per year, and hedge funds will outperform by 0.7% per year. Taking into account the implied equity exposures in alternative asset positions, the effective equity holding of endowments is approximately 60%.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Ang & Andrés Ayala & William N. Goetzmann, 2018. "Investment beliefs of endowments," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(1), pages 3-33, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:eufman:v:24:y:2018:i:1:p:3-33
    DOI: 10.1111/eufm.12149
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    Cited by:

    1. Lieven Baele & Geert Bekaert & Koen Inghelbrecht & Min Wei, 2020. "Flights to Safety," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 689-746.
    2. Joseph Gerakos & Juhani T. Linnainmaa & Adair Morse, 2021. "Asset Managers: Institutional Performance and Factor Exposures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(4), pages 2035-2075, August.
    3. Christopher Avery & Ronald Ehrenberg & Catharine Hill & Douglas A. Webber, 2024. "Endowment Spending Rules," NBER Chapters, in: Financing Institutions of Higher Education, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Stephen G. Dimmock & Neng Wang & Jinqiang Yang, 2019. "The Endowment Model and Modern Portfolio Theory," NBER Working Papers 25559, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Cejnek, Georg & Franz, Richard & Stoughton, Neal M., 2023. "Portfolio Choice with Endogenous Donations - Modeling University Endowments," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 125.
    6. Aleksandar Andonov & Joshua D Rauh, 2022. "The Return Expectations of Public Pension Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(8), pages 3777-3822.
    7. Matteo Binfarè & Gregory Brown & Robert Harris & Christian Lundblad, 2023. "How Does Human Capital Affect Investing? Evidence from University Endowments," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(1), pages 143-188.

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