Diverse Hedge Funds

Abstract

Hedge fund teams with heterogeneous educational backgrounds, academic specializations, work experiences, genders, and races, outperform homogeneous teams after adjusting for risk and fund characteristics. An event study of manager team transitions, instrumental variable regressions, and an analysis of managers that simultaneously operate solo- and team-managed funds address endogeneity concerns. Diverse teams deliver superior returns by arbitraging more stock anomalies, avoiding behavioral biases, and minimizing downside risks. Moreover, diversity allows hedge funds to circumvent capacity constraints and generate persistent performance. Our results suggest that diversity adds value in asset management.

Keywords: Diversity, Homophily, Experience, Education, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Behavioral biases, Capacity constraints, Performance persistence, Operational risk

JEL Classification: G20, G23, I20, J15, J16, J24, M14