@article {Snigaroff136, author = {Robert Snigaroff}, title = {The Myth of the Monkey}, volume = {39}, number = {1}, pages = {136--141}, year = {2012}, doi = {10.3905/jpm.2012.39.1.136}, publisher = {Institutional Investor Journals Umbrella}, abstract = {This article considers whether asset managers provide economic benefit even though their excess returns, on average, at best equal zero. A simple thought experiment demonstrates that they do. Although researchers have studied efficiency via competition across firms, a more general definition of market efficiency is where the industry total product reaches a maximum. Market efficiency has little to do with managers{\textquoteright} average excess returns{\textemdash}that is, whether managers beat an index. This is easy to see when asset management, and financing activities in general, are modeled as a type of production function and exist as a part of the real economy.TOPICS: Exchanges/markets/clearinghouses, portfolio management/multi-asset allocation}, issn = {0095-4918}, URL = {https://jpm.pm-research.com/content/39/1/136}, eprint = {https://jpm.pm-research.com/content/39/1/136.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of Portfolio Management} }