Steamrollers, Geniuses and Market Crashes

by Christopher Faille, AllAboutAlpha, November 28, 2018: This review of Bruce Jacobs’s new book, Too Smart for Our Own Good: Ingenious Investment Strategies, Illusions of Safety, and Market Crashes, notes that “Jacobs’ book is a thoughtful review of the incidents it covers, making vivid some matters which have faded a bit in history, and giving context to matters that remain all too vivid.”

Professors Get Nobel Award for Climate Change Analysis in Economics

by James Comtois, Pensions & Investments, October 8, 2018: In regard to the works of William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer, the 2018 Nobel laureates, Bruce Jacobs notes that: “Investors obviously have an interest in sustainable economic growth, as it underpins the robustness of the stock market. Romer’s work may enable them to discern the effects of policy choices on idea innovation, which can provide an edge in investment decision-making, while Nordhaus’ work holds obvious appeal for socially responsible investors.”

What Causes Financial Crises?

Knowledge@Wharton, September 25, 2018: A panel at the Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research Annual Conference, held in New York City in September, discussed the credit crisis of 2007-2008 and precursors. In a discussion titled “Financial Markets, Volatility, and Crises: A Decade Later,” Bruce Jacobs, a panelist, noted that... one common characteristic of recent crises was the presence of “strategies that promise to make investing safer.” Jacobs warned that products that offer a high reward and the expectation of lower risk, which he referred to as the “illusion of safety,” often result in crowded trades that can disrupt markets.