Financial market history.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, there has been a resurgence of interest in economic and financial history among investment professionals. In July 2015 the Centre for Endowment Asset Management hosted a workshop at Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge to discuss what practitioners need to know about financial history. 

It brought together many of world’s leading academics in the area of financial market history, as well as some 30 senior investment professionals. This workshop was supported by the CFA Research Institute Foundation as well as Carn Marco Advisors, CFA Society United Kingdom, Credit Suisse, Fidelity International, J.P. Morgan, Newton Investment Management and Sandaire. The book, edited by Dr David Chambers and Professor Elroy Dimson, was published by the CFA Research Institute Foundation end of 2016. It consists of a series of chapters first presented as this workshop, together with several other important contributions.

What do investment practitioners need to know about financial history?

Financial Market History: Reflections on the Past for Investors Today – is a new book which investigates the answers to this question in detail.

Edited by David Chambers and Professor Elroy Dimson from the Centre for Endowment Asset Management at the University of Cambridge, the book brings together contributions from 22 globally leading financial historians. Subjects and themes include; the risk and return of asset classes over the long run, historical development of stock markets, stock market bubbles and the role of innovation in financial markets.

Financial Market History: Reflections on the past for investors today establishes why the study of financial history has such important practical significance for the current economic environment. It explains how the financial crises and turbulence of the last decade will be a predictive driver for future finance research. It highlights what we can learn about the risk trade-off on the historical returns of assets classes, and explores the historical evolution of how financial claims are traded.

Read more and download a copy of Financial Market History: Reflections on the Past for Investors Today

Read more about the workshop

Harold James

Harold James talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about his chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


Janette Rutterford

Janette Rutterford, Professor of Financial Management, The Open University Business School, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about her chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


Elroy Dimson

Professor Elroy Dimson, Director at the Centre for Endowment Asset Management, University of Cambridge Judge Business School, talks about the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


Antti Ilmanen

Antti Ilmanen, Principal, AQR Capital Management, LLC, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about his chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


David Chambers

David Chambers, Academic Director, Centre for Endowment Asset Management, University of Cambridge Judge Business School, and Co-editor of the Financial Market History book, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about his chapter in the book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


Christophe Spaenjers

Christophe Spaenjers, Associate Professor, HEC Paristalks, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about his chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


Jan Annaert

Jan Annaert, Professor of Finance, University of Antwerp, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about his chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


Caroline Fohlin

Caroline Fohlin, Professor of Economics, Emory University, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about her chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


Larry Neal

Larry Neal, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about his chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


D'Maris Coffman

D’Maris Coffman Senior Lecturer, University College London, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about her chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


K Geert Rouwenhorst

K Geert Rouwenhorst, Professor of Corporate Finance, Yale School of Management, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about his chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.


Charles (Charley) D Ellis

Charles (Charley) D Ellis, Author and Founder of Greenwich Associates, talks to the CFA Institute Research Foundation about his chapter in the Financial Market History book. Copyright 2015, CFA Institute Research Foundation. All rights reserved.

From 18th century ‘structured finance’ and currency speculation in the Middle Ages, to stock market performance in the 20th and 21st centuries. A new book edited by two University of Cambridge academics chronicles the historical development of asset returns, stock exchanges, financial bubbles and innovation. Blamed by many for the 2008 financial crisis, structured finance is often thought of as a latter-day invention. In fact, these securities in "elemental form" first appeared more than 200 years ago in the Netherlands, according to a new book on financial market history edited by two academics at Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. The book, Financial Market History: Reflections on the Past for Investors Today, contains many lessons for modern investors from the history of financial markets – ranging from stock market bubbles linked to speculative German mining shares in the 15th century, to currency speculation from the Middle Ages onwards. Published by CFA Institute Research Foundation in conjunction with Cambridge Judge Business School, the book is edited by Dr David Chambers and Professor Elroy Dimson of the Newton Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge Business School. "Since the 2008 financial crisis, there has been a resurgence of interest in…

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