David Chambers

Invesco Professor of Financial History

Founder and Co-Director of the Centre for Endowment Asset Management (CEAM)

Fellow of Clare College

BA (University of Oxford), MSc (London Business School), MSc and PhD (London School of Economics)

My research interests include financial history and asset management, in particular, long horizon investing. I have published in the top journals in finance and economic history and my research has been widely covered by the media. I am particularly known for my research on the investing of John Maynard Keynes.

I am a member of the Finance subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, which focuses on the investment and financial decisions of firms and financial institutions, and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

My details

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Contact details

+44 (0)1223 330759

+44 (0)7733 134529

[email protected]

Academic area

Finance

Professional experience

Professor Chambers is Founder and Co-Director of the Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge Business School, and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. He is a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge and of the Royal Historical Society. He previously sat on the Editorial Board of the Financial Analysts Journal. Prior to returning to full-time education in 2001, Professor Chambers worked for 20 years in investment banking and asset management in Europe, Japan and the United States.

Previous appointments

Professor Chambers was a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Economics, University of Oxford, from 2005 to 2008, and taught on the Masters in Financial Economics and the MBA programmes at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Publications

Chambers, D., Spaenjers, C. and Steiner, E. (2021) “The rate of return on real estate: long-run micro-level evidence.” Review of Financial Studies, 34(8): 3572-3607 (DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhab028)
Chambers, D., Dimson, E. and Spaenjers, C. (2020) “Art as an asset: evidence from Keynes the collector.” Review of Asset Pricing Studies, 10(3): 490–520 (DOI: 10.1093/rapstu/raaa001)
Accominotti, O., Cen, J., Chambers, D. and Marsh, I.W. (2019) “Currency regimes and the carry trade.” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 54(5): 2233-2260 (DOI: 10.1017/S002210901900019X)
Chambers, D., Schill, M. and Sarkissian, S. (2018) “Market and regional segmentation and risk premia in the first era of financial globalization.” Review of Financial Studies, 31(10): 4063-4098 (DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhx143) (also available online via the SSRN)
Chambers, D., Dimson, E. and Foo, J. (2015) “Keynes the stock market investor: a quantitative analysis.” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 50(4): 843-868 (DOI: 10.1017/S0022109015000186) (available online via the SSRN)
Chambers, D. and Dimson, E. (2009) “IPO underpricing over the very long-run.” Journal of Finance, 64(3): 1407-1443 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.2009.01468.x)

Journal articles

Atta-Darkua, V., Chambers, D., Dimson, E., Ran, Z. and Yu, T. (2021) “Practical applications of strategies for responsible investing: emerging academic evidence.” Practical Applications, 8(4): 1-8 (DOI: 10.3905/pa.8.4.421)
Chambers, D., Dimson, E. and Ilmanen, A. (2021) “The Norway model in perspective.” Journal of Portfolio Management, 47(5): 178-187 (DOI: 10.3905/jpm.2021.1.230)
Chambers, D., Spaenjers, C. and Steiner, E. (2021) “The rate of return on real estate: long-run micro-level evidence.” Review of Financial Studies (DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhab028) (published online Mar 2021) (available online via the SSRN)
Atta-Darkua, V., Chambers, D., Dimson, E., Ran, Z. and Yu, T. (2020) “Strategies for responsible investing: emerging academic evidence.” Journal of Portfolio Management, 46(3): 26-35 (DOI: 10.3905/jpm.2020.46.3.026)
Chambers, D., Dimson, E. and Kaffe, C. (2020) “Seventy-five years of investing for future generations.” Financial Analysts Journal, 76(4): 5-21 (DOI: 10.1080/0015198X.2020.1802984)
Chambers, D., Dimson, E. and Quigley, E. (2020) “To divest or to engage? A case study of investor responses to climate activism.” The Journal of Investing, 29(2): 10-20 (DOI: 10.3905/joi.2020.1.114)
Chambers, D., Dimson, E. and Spaenjers, C. (2020) “Art as an asset: evidence from Keynes the collector.” Review of Asset Pricing Studies, 10(3): 490–520 (DOI: 10.1093/rapstu/raaa001)
Chambers, D. and Saleuddin, R. (2020) “Commodity option pricing efficiency before Black, Scholes, and Merton.” Economic History Review, 73(2): 540-564 (DOI: 10.1111/ehr.12935)
Accominotti, O., Cen, J., Chambers, D. and Marsh, I.W. (2019) “Currency regimes and the carry trade.” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 54(5): 2233-2260 (DOI: 10.1017/S002210901900019X)
Chambers, D., Schill, M. and Sarkissian, S. (2018) “Market and regional segmentation and risk premia in the first era of financial globalization.” Review of Financial Studies, 31(10): 4063-4098 (DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhx143) (also available online via the SSRN)

Accominotti, O. and Chambers, D. (2016) “If you’re so smart: John Maynard Keynes and currency speculation in the interwar years.” Journal of Economic History, 76 (2): 342-386 (DOI: 10.1017/S0022050716000589)
Chambers, D. and Dimson, E. (2016) “The master’s choice.” London Business School Review, 27(2): 38-39 (DOI: 10.1111/2057-1615.12117)
Chambers, D. and Kabiri, A. (2016) “Keynes and Wall Street.” Business History Review, 90(4): 301-328 (DOI: 10.1017/S0007680516000362)
Chambers, D. and Dimson, E. (2015) “The British origins of the US endowment model.” Financial Analysts Journal, 71(2): 10-14 (DOI: 10.2469/faj.v71.n2.7) (available online via the SSRN)
Chambers, D., Dimson, E. and Foo, J. (2015) “Keynes the stock market investor: a quantitative analysis.” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 50(4): 843-868 (DOI: 10.1017/S0022109015000186) (available online via the SSRN)
Burhop, C., Chambers, D. and Cheffins, B.R. (2014) “Regulating IPOs: evidence from going public in London, 1900-1913.” Explorations in Economic History, 51: 60-76 (DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2013.07.003)
Chambers, D. and Esteves, R. (2014) “The first global emerging markets investor: Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust 1880-1913.” Explorations in Economic History, 52: 1-21 (DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2013.08.004)
Chambers D. and Dimson E. (2013) “Retrospectives: John Maynard Keynes, investment innovator.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27(3): 213-228 (available online via the SSRN)
Cheffins, B.R, Koustas D.K. and Chambers, D. (2013) “Ownership dispersion and the London Stock Exchange’s ‘two-thirds rule’: an empirical test.” Business History, 55(4): 667-690 (DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2012.741969) (available online via the SSRN)
Chambers, D., Dimson, E. and Ilmanen, A. (2012) “The Norway model.” Journal of Portfolio Management, 38(2): 67-81 (DOI: 10.3905/jpm.2012.38.2.067)
Mitchell, B., Chambers, D. and Crafts, N. (2011) “How good was the profitability of British railways, 1870-1912?” Economic History Review, 64(3): 798-831 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2010.00550.x)
Chambers, D. (2010) “Going public in interwar Britain.” Financial History Review, 17(1): 51-71 (DOI: 10.1017/S0968565009990163)
Chambers, D. (2009) “Gentlemanly capitalism revisited: a case study of the underpricing of initial public offerings on the London Stock Exchange, 1946-86.” Economic History Review, 62(1): 31-56
Chambers, D. and Dimson, E. (2009) “IPO underpricing over the very long-run.” Journal of Finance, 64(3): 1407-1443 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.2009.01468.x)

Book chapters

Chambers, D., Dimson, E. and Foo, J. (2015) “Keynes, King’s and endowment asset management.” In: Brown, J.R. and Hoxby, C.M. (eds.) How the financial crisis and great recession affected higher education: National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp.127-150

Working papers

Accominotti, O. and Chambers, D. (2014) “Out-of-sample evidence on the returns to currency trading.” Centre for Economic Policy Research Discussion Papers, No.DP9852. London: Centre for Economic Policy Research. (Also available online via the SSRN)
Chambers, D., Sarkissian, S. and Schill, M.J. (2012) “Market and regional segmentation and risk premia in the first era of financial globalization.” Social Science Research Network Working Paper.

Awards and honours

Best Paper in Asset Pricing and Investments Award (for “Currency regimes and the carry trade” with Olivier Accominotti, Jason Cen and Ian Marsh), FMA European Conference, 2018
Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2017
Financial Analysts Journal Graham & Dodd Best Perspectives Award (for the paper “The British origins of the endowment model, with Elroy Dimson), 2015
Keynes Fellowship, University of Cambridge, 2013
“The Norway Model” voted ‘Outstanding Article’ by the readers of the Journal of Portfolio Management (with Elroy Dimson and Antti Ilmanen), 2013
Thomas K. McCraw Fellow, Harvard Business School, Fall 2012
Ashton Prize for the best article in the last two years by an early career researcher published in The Economic History Review (for “Gentlemanly capitalism revisited”), 2011
Coller Institute of Private Equity Research Award, 2007
Economic History Society New Researcher Prize, 2005

News and insights

Not as rosy

Study of four Cambridge and Oxford Colleges co-authored at Cambridge Judge Business School shows that long-term property investment is less profitable than previously thought.

Over the horizon

University endowments use their long-term perspective to invest countercyclically at times of stock-market crisis, says new study at the Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge Business School.

Divest or engage?

There is 'disquieting' evidence that environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics differ considerably among rating firms, says new paper led by the Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge Business School. There is "disquieting" evidence that metrics to inform investors on environmental and other issues differ considerably across ratings services, concludes a paper led by the Centre for Endowment Asset Management (CEAM) at Cambridge Judge Business School. The paper just published in the February 2020 edition of the Journal of Portfolio Management draws on a recent "Divest or Engage?" conference organised by CEAM, which considered both published and unpublished papers on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues. "The authors caution that investors need to be aware of the disquieting evidence that ESG metrics differ considerably across ratings services, and the choice of data provider can have a fundamental impact on the ESG credentials of institutional portfolios," the paper says. "The choice of an ESG data provider may have more far-reaching consequences than many investors are aware of." Papers presented at the October 2019 conference, organised by CEAM in collaboration with the European Corporate Governance Institute, included a detailed study of ESG rating discrepancies by Professor Rajna Gibson of…

Media coverage

Live Wire | 21 July 2021

Keynes as investor-speculator

A study on John Maynard Keynes’ investment returns co-authored by Dr David Chambers, Reader in Finance and Academic Director of the Centre for Endowment Asset Management (CEAM) at Cambridge Judge Business School, and Professor Elroy Dimson, Chairman of the CEAM, is quoted in the article. The study found that “Keynes’s returns were extraordinary.”

Financial Times | 5 May 2021

Lessons in investing from John Maynard Keynes

A study on John Maynard Keynes as stock market investor co-authored by Professor Elroy Dimson, Dr David Chambers and Justin Foo is featured in the Financial Times. The study looked at Keynes’ stock and provides “a unique record of realized performance and sheds light on how equity focussed investing developed historically.”

Bloomberg | 17 March 2021

Keynes was right. About buying property, at least

Real estate investment is riskier than it looks, says the latest research co-authored by Dr David Chambers, Invesco Reader in Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School. The study of 4 Cambridge and Oxford Colleges shows that long-term property investment is less profitable than previously thought.

Business Insider, 16 February 2021
Seven stocks to buy to get the most out of more stimulus

Quartz, 23 January 2021
What Dr. Martens’ IPO journey says about London’s financial future

The Economist, 22 January 2021
Property investment: some hard truths

MarketWatch, 13 October 2020
Opinion: Ivy League colleges shun Warren Buffett’s advice

WE Wealth, 2 October 2020
Famous collections: Keynes and the art of investing

The Economist,
Lessons from the endowment model

Bloomberg, 28 September 2020
Endowments’ hedge fund bet has long-term advantage

The Telegraph, 22 July 2020
How to invest like… John Maynard Keynes

Cambridge Independent, 28 February 2020
From Hollywood ‘logic’ to ‘highly institutionalised myths’ of the workplace

Bloomberg, 6 February 2020
Invest in art or stocks? Keynes has an answer (well, sort of)

The Times, 31 January 2020
John Maynard Keynes’s art collection yields a stunning return

Bloomberg, 7 August 2019
Carry on like nothing really matters. Until it does