Smart(er) Investing

Elisabetta Basilico is the co-editor of academicinsightsoninvesting.com and has 15 years of experience in international financial settings spanning from academia to institutions (pension funds, foundations, and family offices). Her core skills include turning academic insights into quantitative investment models and ideas with specific expertise in global wealth management, asset allocation, liquid investments, stock picking signals, fund picking, and general statistical analysis. She is a holder of the Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) designation since 2007 and obtained a PhD from the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland. She has taught and conducted quantitative research at various universities and is a co-author of various articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Tommi Johnsen is currently the co-editor of academicinsightsoninvesting.com, is the former Director of the Reiman School of Finance, and an emeritus professor at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. She has worked extensively as a research consultant and investment advisor for institutional investors in the areas of quantitative methods and portfolio construction. She taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels and published research in several areas including: capital markets, portfolio management and performance analysis, financial applications of econometrics, and the analysis of equity securities. These publications have appeared in numerous peer-reviewed journals. She received her PhD from the University of Colorado at Boulder, with a major field of study in Investments and a minor in Econometrics.

1. What Constitutes Good Investment Research?.- 2. A Roadmap to Reading an Academic Article.- 3. Index Investing: It Makes Active Management Better.- 4. Factor Investing: Challenging the Market Index with Smart Beta Products.- 5. Multi-Asset Investing: Challenging the Industry Obsession with Alpha.- 6. Tail Risk Hedging: It is an Asset Allocation Decision.- 7. Responsible Investing: Deep Roots in the Values of Western Society.- 8. Equity and Rewards-Based Crowdfunding: A Potential Disrupter.- 9. Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: A Revolution in Investment Management.- 10. Cryptocurrencies:  A Fledgling Asset Class, but It's Too Early to Tell.- 11. Women in Finance: What Does the Research Show?.

"In Smart(er) Investing: How Academic Insights Propel the Savvy Investor, University of Denver professors Elisabetta Basilico ... and Tommi Johnsen, PhD, (retired) provide a field guide to identifying quality research that enables those outside the ivory tower to incorporate proven ideas into the practice of investment management. ... Smart(er) Investing will improve readers' critical thinking about research and equip them to employ only the best academic insights in their work in the financial markets." (J. Christopher Hughen, Enterprising Investor, July 10, 2020)
"This is an excellent and worthwhile read. ... The work in this book is important as investment management becomes yet another victim of information overload. There is simply too much material for any mere mortal to go through and valuable information can become lost in the shuffle, while misinformation can spread. Accurate summaries from trustworthy sources are a much needed response to the expanse of data, and you can find that conveniently in 'Smart(er) Investing.'" (Zachary Simon, JOIM, Journal of Investment Management, Vol. 18 (2), 2020)
"A new book dives into this research (while being immensely readable): 'Smart(er) Investing: How Academic Insights Propel the Savvy Investor,' by Elisabetta Basilico of Applied Quantitative Analysis and Tommi Johnsen of the University of Denver's Reiman School of Finance ... . The book compiles investment ideas tied to recent studies ... in which the authors use a myriad of studies to reveal the differences between men and women in finance, where women excel in this field, and how firms can correct issues of imbalance." (Ginger Szala, ThinkAdvisor, January 29, 2020)