Elroy Dimson

There is a profound linkage between the quality of a university and its financial resources. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge rank among the world's finest educational institutions, and are able to draw on invested assets that are large by any standards. Endowment Asset Management explores how the colleges that comprise these two great universities make their investment decisions. Oxford and Cambridge are collegiate institutions, each consisting of a federal university and over 30 constituent colleges. While the colleges may have ostensibly similar missions, they are governed independently. Since they interpret their investment objectives differently, this gives rise to some remarkably dissimilar approaches to investment, which the authors explore in detail. The first study of its kind, Endowment Asset Management analyses the objectives, investment philosophy, asset management and governance of over 60 college and university endowment funds. Drawing on exhaustive research and detailed discussions with Oxford and Cambridge investment bursars, the authors investigate issues such as asset allocation and spending policy, which have a major influence on the institutions' financial health. This study reveals the colleges' individualism and diversity, and carefully analyses their strategies, which range from the traditional to cutting edge. The authors' findings are thought provoking for anyone concerned with the assets of foundations, endowments, charities, family offices, or trusts. All investors with a long-term investment horizon will find it extremely engaging.

Investors have too often extrapolated from recent experience. In the 1950s, who but the most rampant optimist would have dreamt that over the next fifty years the real return on equities would be 9% per year? Yet this is what happened in the U.S. stock market. The optimists triumphed. However, as Don Marquis observed, an optimist is someone who never had much experience. The authors of this book extend our experience across regions and across time. They present a comprehensive and consistent analysis of investment returns for equities, bonds, bills, currencies and inflation, spanning sixteen countries, from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first. This is achieved in a clear and simple way, with over 130 color diagrams that make comparison easy. Crucially, the authors analyze total returns, including reinvested income. They show that some historical indexes overstate long-term performance because they are contaminated by survivorship bias and that long-term stock returns are in most countries seriously overestimated, due to a focus on periods that with hindsight are known to have been successful. The book also provides the first comprehensive evidence on the long-term equity risk premium--the reward for bearing the risk of common stocks. The authors reveal whether the United States and United Kingdom have had unusually high stock market returns compared to other countries. The book covers the U.S., the U.K., Japan, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, and South Africa. Triumph of the Optimists is required reading for investment professionals, financial economists, and investors. It will be the definitive reference in the field and consulted for years to come.