Kenneth French and co-author Eugene F. Fama are well known for their research into the value effect and the three-factor model. They wrote a series of papers, that cast doubt on the validity of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). The article posits that a stock’s beta alone should explain its average return. These papers describe two factors above and beyond a stock’s market beta which can explain differences in stock returns: market capitalization and “value”. French and Fama also offer evidence that a variety of patterns in average returns. These patterns often labeled as “anomalies” in past work, can be explained with their Fama–French three-factor model.
LAST UPDATED 02/08/2020
Research
Kenneth French’s other work includes articles such as “The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns”. Another popular paper is “Common Risk Factors in the Returns on Stocks and Bonds.” Kenneth French’s recent research focuses on tests of asset pricing. In particular, the research the tradeoff between risk and return in domestic and international financial markets. He further examines the relation between capital structure and firm value.
Kenneth French is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is also an Advisory Editor of the Journal of Financial Economics. Kenneth was a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Finance and the Review of Financial Studies. He is also a former President of the American Finance Association. Additionally, French is a Fellow of the American Finance Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Finally, he is a member of the Smile Train’s Board of Governors and the International Rescue Committee’s Board of Directors.
Kenneth French: Scholarly Papers
- Value Versus Growth: The International Evidence
- The Capital Asset Pricing Model: Theory and Evidence
- Luck Versus Skill in the Cross Section of Mutual Fund Returns
- The Equity Premium
- A Five-Factor Asset Pricing Model
- Size, Value, and Momentum in International Stock Returns
- The Value Premium and the CAPM
- The Cost of Active Investing
Full list of papers: French, Kenneth R.’s Scholarly Papers
Fama/French Forum: Ideas and observations from Fama and French
Kenneth French Articles
- How Not to Police Mutual Funds
- Is There a Case for Actively Managed Funds?
- Clarifying Fama and French
- Fama Weighs In on ETFs
- Fama-French Three Factor Model
- Back to School: Fama, French Discuss Their Work
- Fama And French Three Factor Model
- Eugene F. Fama – Google Scholar Citations
- The Fama-French Three-Factor Model | Portfolio Solutions
- The Capital Asset Pricing Model: Theory and Evidence
- Eugene Fama’s Nobel Prize: Right Person, Wrong Reason
- Straight Talk: Fama And French – Articles | ETF.com
- Nobel Prize Winner: Bubbles Don’t Exist | Casey Research
- Fama French factors and US stock return predictability
- Eugene Fama, King of Predictable Markets – NYTimes.com
- Six Academic Studies Every Commodity Investor Must Read
- Fama, Hansen and Shiller win Nobel Prize for economic
- The Takeaways from the Latest Fama-French Research