[cepth]

I’ll grant you that AQR’s actual performance is middling. This is doubly true next to the consistency of Renaissance.

However, I’d stand by the academic research they put out. Especially because Renaissance famously eschews finance PhDs, preferring pure math and physics, AQR is still an industry leader in terms of the empirical studies they do.

The original comment in this thread asked about the EMH, I don’t think Asness’s returns as an investor should necessarily reflect on the academic research he’s done.

[mjfl]

perhaps the ratio of their returns to their academic output explains why Renaissance doesn't hire Finance PhDs.