Dimensional Fund Advisors
1. What are the primary academic finds that DFA are trying to exploit in their funds?
Dimensional Fund Advisors Investment (DFA) uses two primary academic strategies. The first is Size Effects based on the finding of Rolf Banz. Banz’ research found that small stocks consistently outperformed large stocks over the entire history of the stock market from 1926 through the late 1970s. The second academic strategy DFA used was the Book to-Market effect based on the finds of Fama/French1992 paper titled “The Cross-Section of the Expected Stock Returns”. In 1993 Fama/French expanded the research in the a titled “Common Factors in the Expected Returns of Stocks and Bonds” that is known as the “Fama-French Three-Factor Model”

Studying the company’s size or the book-to-market ratio may shed light on exposure to sources of systemic risk not captured by the CAPM beta, Fama and French developed the Three Factor Model believing that small stocks may be more sensitive to changes in business conditions and that these variables may capture sensitivity to macroeconomic risk factors. Also, using international data collected by Morgan Stanley Capital International, Fama and French found that high book-to-market stocks outperformed low in almost every country studied. Fama and French also found that in certain years value portfolios were outperformed by growth portfolios across a wide array of countries. Investor cannot expect to lower their risk by diversifying their investments in different countries, which also confirms the belief that value stock is risky. Based on the high level of correlation between value-growth portfolios, DFA introduced international value funds.

2. What do these findings imply for CAPM and EMH?
The finds of Fama and French imply that CAPM measure of risk, “beta”, was inaccurate. CAPM was based on the idea that investors