L-performance with an application to hedge funds

Serge Darolles, Christian Gourieroux and Joann Jasiak

Journal of Empirical Finance, 2009, vol. 16, issue 4, pages 671-685

Abstract: This paper introduces a new parametric fund performance measure, called the L-performance. The L-performance is an alternative to the Sharpe performance, which is commonly used in practice despite its inability to account for skewness and heavy tails of unconditional return distributions. The L-performance improves upon the Sharpe measure in this respect. Technically, it resembles the Sharpe measure in that it is defined as a ratio of the first- and second-order moments, which are the trimmed L-moments instead of the conventional (power) moments. The trimming parameters allow for focusing the L-performance on specific risk levels of interest, according to financial risk criteria. For illustration, a set of L-performances is computed for a variety of hedge funds. The empirical study shows the use of L-performance for fund ranking and return smoothing (manipulation) control.

Keywords: Hedge; fund; Sharpe; performance; L-moment; Distortion; risk; Measure; Ranking; Bias; ratio; Manipulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:empfin:v:16:y:2009:i:4:p:671-685

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