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Bio

Dr. Lu Zhang is The John W. Galbreath Chair, Professor of Finance, at Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, as well as Research Associate at National Bureau of Economic Research (Asset Pricing program) and Associate Editor for Journal of Financial Economics and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. He is Founding President of Macro Finance Society, which is an international academic society devoted to advancing and disseminating high-quality research at the intersection of financial economics and macroeconomics. Before joining Ohio State in 2010, he taught at Stephen M. Ross School of Business at University of Michigan and William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at University of Rochester.

Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on asset pricing. His major contribution is ''The investment CAPM,'' which provides a unified conceptual framework for understanding asset pricing anomalies. As its empirical implementation, ''The q-factor model'' is a leading workhorse factor pricing model in both academia and the investment management industry. His recent theoretical work on "Endogenous disasters" shows how labor market frictions give rise endogenously to economic disasters. Dr. Zhang has published extensively at prestigious academic journals. One chapter of his doctoral thesis "The value premium" won the Smith-Breeden Award for Best Paper for 2005 from American Finance Association and Journal of Finance. His article on "Which factors?" (with Hou, Mo, and Xue) won the 2019 Spängler IQAM Best Paper Prize for the best investments paper published in Review of Finance from European Finance Association. His academic research has been frequently featured in prominent media outlets, such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Shanghai Financial News, The Economist, and The Washington Post.

Dr. Zhang has extensive teaching interests and experience at the undergraduate, M.B.A., and Ph.D. levels. He has taught a variety of courses including Investment Management, Derivative Securities, Capital Markets and Investment Strategy, Corporate Finance, Empirical Methodology in Finance, Theory of Finance, and Advanced Asset Pricing. In 2015, he was voted the Outstanding Working Professional MBA Elective Faculty Award recipient at Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University.

Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, B.A. in Economics, 1993. The Graduate School of the People’s Bank of China (renamed PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University), M.S. in Finance, 1996. Washington University in St. Louis, M.A. in Economics, 1997. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, M.A. in Finance, 2000, Ph.D. in Finance, 2002.


Practical Impact

Lu Zhang on the evolution of asset pricing models and his first principles approach to improve them, validea.com, November 22, 2021

Quantitative vs. fundamental analysis: Finance's 60 year schism, Rafael Resendes, The market, August 23, 2021

What happened to price-to-book ratio in value investing? Nir Kaissar, Bloomberg, July 21, 2021

Amazon and other tech giants buck the empire trap, Nir Kaissar, Bloomberg, June 3, 2021

The impact of investor sentiment on equity returns, Larry Swedroe, seekingalpha.com, May 3, 2021

Building a better q-factor asset pricing model, Larry Swedroe, alpha architect blog, April 22, 2021

Rafael Resendes on intrinsic value, economic margin and how some value models have lost their way, Jack Forehand and Justin Carbonneau, blog.validea.com, March 25, 2021

Academic research spotlight: Replicating anomalies by Lu Zhang, Chen Xue, and Kewei Hou (Ep. 73), Jack Forehand and Justin Carbonneau, blog.validea.com, March 1, 2021

Non-technical summary: An augmented q-factor model with expected growth, Review of Finance, February 25, 2021

Replication failures of asset pricing anomalies, Quantitative investing and machine learning, in Chinese, February 3, 2021

Stocks 2020: A stunning crash, then a record-setting boom created centibillionaires, by Jim Zarroli, npr.org, December 31, 2020

Has the size premium disappeared? by Larry Swedroe, advisorperspectives.com, November 30, 2020

Who buys lottery stocks? You'll be surprised, by Larry Swedroe, advisorperspectives.com, October 20, 2020

There's more big tech in your life than you ever know. Check out your stock portfolio, by Jim Zarroli, npr.org, August 20, 2020

Economic intuitions behind the q-factors, by Larry Swedroe, seekingalpha.com, August 15, 2020

Markets are more efficient than you think, by Larry Swedroe, evidenceinvestor.com, August 14, 2020

Does asset growth predict stock returns? by Larry Swedroe, seekingalpha.com, July 17, 2020

Most "smart betas" are not smart, by Zhijian Wu, in Chinese, FTChinese, July 9, 2020

Opinion: Here are your odds the stock market will be higher on Dec. 31, by Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch.com, June 30, 2020

The unequal impact of COVID-19: Why education matters, by Mary C. Daly, Shelby R. Buckman, and Lily M. Seitelman, FRBSF Economic Letters, June 29, 2020

5 surprising things we learned from a factor investing expert, by Wesley Gray, alpha architect blog, June 11, 2020

Few precedents for grim US jobless numbers, by Brooke Fox and Steven Bernard, Financial Times, May 9, 2020 [pdf]

Unemployment worst since Depression era, by Heather Long and Andrew Van Dam, The Washington Post, May 9, 2020

U.S. unemployment rate soars to 14.7 percent, the worst since the Depression era, by Heather Long, The Washington Post, May 8, 2020

New research to identify which stocks will "crash," by Larry Swedroe, Advisor Perspectives, March 16, 2020

Do financially constrained firms generate higher returns? by Filippo Ippolito, LinkedIn, February 7, 2020

The q-factor model for equity returns, by Ralph Sueppel, Systemic Risk and Systematic Value, January 25, 2020

Another take on q-factors and investment CAPM, by Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution, December 14, 2019

q-factors and investment CAPM, by Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution, December 13, 2019

The investment premium: Another factor of expected returns, by Murray Coleman, Index Fund Advisors, December 3, 2019

The investment factor and expected returns, by Larry Swedroe, alpha architect blog, November 14, 2019

Investment, expected investment, and expected stock returns, by Lu Zhang, alpha architect blog, November 12, 2019

Factors war: Prof. Lu Zhang answers 5 questions on the q-factor model, 新全球资产配置, 虎嗅网, in Chinese, September 12, 2019

Lu Zhang, “The investment CAPM: Latest developments," Financial Markets and Corporate Decisions Conference 2019, Swedish House of Finance, YouTube video published on August 28, 2019

From "Factor Zoo" to "Factor War," Where is empirical asset pricing going? 石川, in Chinese July 10, 2019

Does leverage explain the investment premium? by Larry Swedroe, alpha architect blog, June 13, 2019

The mystery of the missing Berkshire Hathaway invite, by Richard Teitelbaum, Institutional Investor, May 7, 2019

Deep dive into the value factor, Larry Swedroe, alpha architect blog, May 2, 2019

3 tips to generate alpha in smaller stocks, Kurtis Hemmerling, Seeking Alpha, April 25, 2019

Five questions: An academic look at factors with Lu Zhang, Validea's Guru Investor Blog, April 21, 2019, ETF trends, Fox Business, April 24, 2019

The devil in the details: Craftsmanship of multifactor strategies, in Chinese, 华尔街见闻, wallstreetcn.com, April 11, 2019

Factor investing from the perspectives of academics, managers, and investors, in Chinese, 知乎, April 4, 2019

Five major issues of multifactor strategies, in Chinese, 华尔街见闻, wallstreetcn.com, February 13, 2019

Understanding the investment factor, ETF.com, by Larry Swedroe, February 6, 2019

Which factors? by Amit Goyal, Review of Finance Managing Editor's Blog, February 5, 2019

Factor investing: Strategies overview and return tests, in Chinese, 搜狐, January 19, 2019

Five questions: Multi-factor investing with Liqian Ren, Validea's Guru Investor Blog, January 14, 2019

Powerful challenge to index investing? Insights&Mandate, in Chinese, January 8, 2019

Powerful challenge to index investing 经济日报, in Chinese, January 6, 2019

Voices: An unflattering truth about index funds, by Nir Kaissar, financial-planning.com, December 26, 2018

Professor has some questions about your index funds, Bloomberg, by Nir Kaissar, December 24, 2018 [pdf]

How to best invest in small stocks, Wall Street Journal, by Wesley Gray, December 19, 2018

These tools for picking stocks sometimes even work, Washington Post, by Nir Kaissar and Noah Smith, December 17, 2018

Ignored risks of factor investing, ETF.com, by Vitali Kalesnik and Juhani Linnainmaa, October 15, 2018

Most reported anomalies fail to hold up, my interview with Robeco Quarterly, September 25, 2018 [pdf]

Value investing vs momentum investing: Watch out for the market's mood swings, MoneyWeek.com, by John Stepek, August 6, 2018

Factor investing insights you won't hear from Fama and French, my interview with Wesley Gray, alpha architect blog, July 25, 2018

Are the U.S. investment rules applicable to China?
in Chinese, Zhijian’s Evidentialist Channel, June 27, 2018

Rediscovering size effect, ETF.com, by Larry Swedroe, June 15, 2018

Stay calm, keep going, 搜狐, PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University, June 14, 2018

Factor investing customized for you, Barron's, by Jack Hough, April 6, 2018

Stock buybacks are bad? What about the alternative - investment, alpha architect blog, by Jack Vogel, March 20, 2018

Replicating anomalies in the Chinese A-share market, in Chinese, 新浪财经, 东北金工研究, March 7, 2018


45-year historical data and 10,000-word essay: How to allocate capital globally, 搜狐, March 7, 2018
 
Dissecting value investing -- what is it? does it work? why does it work? easymoney.com, 东方财富网, in Chinese, February 26, 2018


Half-century historical tests show you how to allocate capital globally, 金融界, Besides index funds, how to allocate capital, 华尔街见闻, 徐杨, in Chinese, February 25, 2018
 
Will a falling stock market take the job market along with it on the way down? by Martha C. White, NBCNews.com, February 9, 2018


'Factor investing' gains popularity, The Economist, February 1, 2018 [pdf]
 
The value effect and macroeconomic risk, alpha architect blog, by Larry Swedroe, January 9, 2018

Intro to fusion trading, by Arun Chopra, SeekingAlpha.com, December 27, 2017

 
Finding the source of value, ETF.com, by Larry Swedroe, November 29, 2017

Podcast interview: The economics of value investing, in Chinese, by Zhijian Wu, CEO, Woodsford Capital Management, Zhijian’s Evidentialist Channel, November 13, 2017 [transcript]
 
A reality check on stock-market ‘anomalies’, by Wesley Gray, The Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2017 [pdf]
 
Asset type matters with factors, ETF.com, by Larry Swedroe, October 30, 2017 
 
Want to learn more about factor investing? Read this, ValueWalk.com, by alpha architect blog, October 26, 2017
 
Factor investing conversation with Lu Zhang, my interview with Wesley Gray, alpha architect blog, October 26, 2017
 
Takeaways from a non-phd who powered through a 144-page factor investing paper, alpha architect blog, by Ryan Kirlin, October 25, 2017
 
Bewildering 447 anomalies, dizzy yet?! In Chinese, Yang Xu, 网易, 理财纪, October 19, 2017
 
Retesting investment anomalies with Dr. Lu Zhang, by Jeremy Schwartz, wisdomtree.com, October 17, 2017
 
Replicating anomalies, ValueWalk.com, by alpha architect blog, October 15, 2017
 
Podcast: Behind the Markets on Wharton Business Radio, hosted by Jeremy Schwartz and Wesley Gray, October 13, 2017
 
Replicating anomalies, alpha architect blog, by Wesley Gray, October 13, 2017
 
A 5 factor evaluation, ETF.com, by Larry Swedroe, September 25, 2017

Value investing: Timeless reading, ValueWalk.com, August 7, 2017

 
Issuing securities hurts returns, ETF.com, by Larry Swedroe, July 31, 2017

Replicating anomalies, hedge.lu.com, July 3, 2017
 
Attention aux fake strategies smart beta, Associés en Finance, by
Bertrand Jacquillat, in French, June 30, 2017
 
Replicating anomalies in financial markets with Hou, Xue, and Zhang, The Economics Detective Radio, June 30, 2017
 
Bursting the big data bubble… with theory, RealClearAgriculture.com, June 23, 2017
 
Replicating scientific research: Ugly truth, True Economics, June 16, 2017
 
Hou, Xue, and Zhang: Replication controversies in finance and accounting, The Replication Network, June 14, 2017
 
Financial anomalies are contingent on being unknown, Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science, by Andrew Gelman, June 10, 2017
 
Are markets efficient if you are a particle physicist? Prof. Jayanth R. Varma’s Financial Markets Blog, June 7, 2017
 
Mast investment letter, Mast Investment Advisors LLC, June 2017
 
My smart beta ETF premised on cats rang up an 849,751% return, Bloomberg, by Dani Burger, June 1, 2017
 
E’ possibile battere il mercato? Finanzaoperativa.com, May 26, 2017
 
One by one, the anti-EMH arguments collapse, TheMoneyIllusion.com, May 25, 2017
 
“What’d You Miss?” (57:29), Bloomberg, May 24, 2017
 
A practical approach to factor-based investing, The Globe and Mail, by John Reese, May 23, 2017
 
Most stock anomalies fake news? CXO Advisory, May 23, 2017
 
All about microcaps, Daily Speculations, May 23, 2017
 

Investing strategies: Boxes outnumbering eggs in index investing, in Chinese, 财经智识, May 19, 2017

Problems with the factor zoo, by Larry Swedroe, ETF.com, May 19, 2017
 
P-hacking versus skin in the game: How can understanding incentive structures help us think about market efficiency? Episodeblog.com, Allocationblog.com, May 16, 2017

The indexing fad: Market indexes now outnumber US stocks, complicating matters for would-be passive investors, fisherinvestments.com, by Elisabeth Dellinger, May 15, 2017
 
Weekly top 5 papers, The SSRN Blog, May 15, 2017
 
P-hacking in anomaly research,
himaginary.hatenablog.com, in Japanese, May 15, 2017
 
Most supposed market anomalies don’t exist, or are too small to matter, FamilyWealth news, May 15, 2017
 
Which anomalies are legit? Portfolio123.com, May 14, 2017
 
Kicking the tires of market anomalies, by James Mackintosh, The Wall Street Journal, Business & Finance B1-B2, May 12, 2017 [pdf]
 
When researchers and investors walk into a bar, the investors get hammered, by Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2017 [pdf]
 
Active manager lags despite research, by Larry Swedroe, ETF.com, May 12, 2017
 
WSJ: Most market anomalies academics have identified don’t exist, Bogleheads.org, May 11, 2017
 
An algorithm, an ETF and an academic study walk into a bar, by James Mackintosh, The Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2017 [pdf]
 
Ivory tower wonks help traders make a quick buck, by Noah Smith, Bloomberg, May 11, 2017 [pdf]
 
Cleaning out the factor zoo, by James Picerno, The Capital Spectator, May 11, 2017, Investing.com, May 11, 2017, Seeking Alpha, May 12, 2017
 
Half anomalies are fantasy of the discoverers, IEXProfs, in Dutch, May 11, 2017
 
Financial research, data mining, and star wars, in Chinese, 辍耕录, May 10, 2017
 

Do you think behavioral anomalies will persist? Bogleheads.org, May 10, 2017
 
Do trading costs destroy factor investing? ValueWalk.com, by alpha architect blog, May 10, 2017
 
How to make trouble, Anti-Dismal.com, May 9, 2017
 

Anomalies, pitches, and promises, by Matt Levine, Bloomberg, May 9, 2017 [pdf]
 
Research paper says most market anomalies are imaginary, by Eric Weiner, The Globe and Mail, May 9, 2017 
 
Forget factors, paper says most market anomalies are imaginary, by Eric Weiner, Bloomberg, May 9, 2017 [pdf]
 
A new paper just took a huge shot at some of the world’s hottest investments, by Eric Weiner, Bloomberg, May 8, 2017 [pdf]
 
Market anomalies fail to replicate, MarginalRevolution.com, May 8, 2017
 
Replicating anomalies, No Hesitations, by Francis Diebold, May 8, 2017

European Financial Management 2017 Symposium on "Finance and Real Economy" Successfully Organized in Xiamen Economics, in Chinese, The Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics, Xiamen University, April 17, 2017

A new asset pricing benchmark--Prof. Lu Zhang's keynote at the EFM symposium on "Finance and Real Economy", in Chinese, 慢钱头条, Xiamen Finance, April 14, 2017

Prof. Lu Zhang visits Xiamen Economics, discussing latest asset pricing research, The Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics, Xiamen University, April 8, 2017


The investment CAPM, himaginary.hatenablog.com, in Japanese, March 16, 2017
 
Jim Cramer factor investing: An illustration, valuewalk.com, by Wesley Gray, alpha architect blog, February 3, 2017 


Factor investing is more art, and less science, by Wesley Gray, alpha architect blog, February 3, 2017 
 
A new four-factor investing model, by Larry Swedroe, BAM Intelligence, June 22, 2016 
 
Applications of quantitative investment models in asset management, in Chinese, 陆想汇, 雪球, June 17, 2016


Lu Zhang: The q-factor model can be used in quantitative investment management, in Chinese, Shanghai Financial News, June 17, 2016 
 
The academic finance papers that changed my mind, by Wesley Gray, alpha architect blog, May 5, 2016


The value of value, advisorperspectives.com, Brandon Thomas, March 24, 2016

Smart beta: Strategies and implementation, PNC.com, January 2016
 

Battle of new factor models, by Larry Swedroe, ETF.com, August 7, 2015
 
Is outperforming the market alpha or beta? by Larry Swedroe and Andrew Berkin, The AAII Journal, American Association of Individual Investors, June 2015 

The lighter side of the profitability factor, ETF.com, by Wesley Gray, June 16, 2015
 
Using profitability as a factor? Perhaps you should think twice…, by Wesley Gray, alpha architect blog, June 10, 2015  
 
Passive investing’s foundations, by Larry Swedroe, ETF.com, December 8, 2014 
 
A new benchmark model for estimating expected stock returns, Oxford University Press, by Kewei Hou, Chen Xue, and Lu Zhang, November 12, 2014 
 
Understanding the value premium, by Larry Swedroe, ETF.com, November 12, 2014 
 
Stock anomaly smorgasbord -- Wow! by Wesley Gray, alpha architect blog, November 7, 2014 
 
Improving on Fama-French, by Larry Swedroe, ETF.com, March 21, 2014 

The value premium: Risk or mispricing?, by Larry Swedroe, Seeking Alpha, December 5, 2013
 
Challenge to the Fama French three factor model, Bogleheads.org, October 6, 2012
 
The countercyclical value premium?
cxoadvisory.com, October 6, 2008
 

Explaining the value premium, ifa.com, Index Fund Advisors, by Larry Swedroe, February 11, 2002
 
 









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