Capital Ideas Evolving

During the last three decades of the 20th century, a revolution in the theory and practice of investing swept over Wall Street. The bold innovators who carried out this revolution were scholars toiling in the ivory towers, far away from the heart of the financial world in New York City.

Some of them had never even owned a share of stock. Hence, the title of my 1992 book, Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street.

But the products of those improbable origins have been evolving since Capital Ideas appeared 15 years ago. Beginning with the simple notions that risk is at the center of all investment decisions, that diversification is essential to successful investing, and that markets are hard to beat, the products of the ivory towers are now the intellectual core of numerous powerful innovations in active investing and in risk management. ...