Toby Moskowitz
Encyclopedia
Tobias Jacob "Toby" Moskowitz (born February 3, 1971) is an American
financial economist
and a professor
at the University of Chicago
Booth School of Business. He was the winner of the 2007 American Finance Association
(AFA) Fischer Black Prize
, awarded to a leading finance
scholar under the age of 40.
, where his father was a professor of management at Purdue University
. Moskowitz graduated from West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School in 1989, and then attended Purdue where he earned a B.S.
in industrial management and industrial engineering (with distinction) in 1993, and a M.S.
in management in 1994. He received a Ph.D.
in finance from the University of California, Los Angeles
Anderson School of Management in 1998.
several award winning research
papers and was promoted to full professor in 2005. He is currently the Professor of Finance and Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow at the Graduate School of Business. In 2007, he was the second winner of the Fischer Black prize.
In the words of the AFA, Moskowitz was honored for "ingenious and careful use of newly available data to address fundamental questions in finance." In Moskowitz' own words, "I try to measure things that are not easy to measure." Moskowitz was praised by the AFA as follows: "Professor Moskowitz accomplishes the difficult task of testing the theory
while having access to much less information than is available to market participants." According to the University of Chicago press release, "Moskowitz has explored topics as diverse as momentum
in stock returns
, local bias in investment portfolio choice
, and the social effects of bank mergers. He also looked at the return to private business ownership
, the trading and financing of commercial real estate
, and the political economy
of financial regulation
."
Moskowitz won the 2000 Smith-Breeden Prize for his paper "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios" (with Joshua Coval), published in the Journal of Finance
and the 2005 Brattle Prize
second place for "Testing Agency Theory with Entrepreneur Effort and Wealth" (with Marianne P. Bitler and Annette Vissing-Jørgensen), published in the Journal of Finance
. He also won 2004 and 2005 Michael Brennan Award
prizes for papers published in the Review of Financial Studies
. His 2004 paper, "Informal Financial Networks: Theory and Evidence" (with Mark Garmaise), placed first, and his 2005 paper, "Confronting Information Asymmetries: Evidence from Real Estate Markets" (with Garmaise), was runner-up.
In addition to his academic work, Moskowitz has served as a consultant to AQR Capital Management.
In 2011, Moskowitz and co-author L. Jon Wertheim
published Scorecasting, a book that uses statistical and other empirical research results to analyze conventional sports wisdom.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
financial economist
Financial economics
Financial Economics is the branch of economics concerned with "the allocation and deployment of economic resources, both spatially and across time, in an uncertain environment"....
and a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Booth School of Business. He was the winner of the 2007 American Finance Association
American Finance Association
The American Finance Association is an academic organization whose focus is the study and promotion of knowledge of financial economics. It was formed in 1939...
(AFA) Fischer Black Prize
Fischer Black Prize
Fischer Black Prize is a memorial prize awarded in honor of Fischer Black that rewards individual financial research. The prize was established in 2002 and first awarded in 2003. It is awarded to a financial scientist for a body of work that demonstrates significant original research that is...
, awarded to a leading finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
scholar under the age of 40.
Background
Moskowitz was born in 1971 to a Jewish family in West Lafayette, IndianaWest Lafayette, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 29,596 people, 12,591 households, and 3,588 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,381.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 74.3% White, 17.3% Asian, 2.7% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.03% Pacific...
, where his father was a professor of management at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
. Moskowitz graduated from West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School in 1989, and then attended Purdue where he earned a B.S.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in industrial management and industrial engineering (with distinction) in 1993, and a M.S.
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
in management in 1994. He received a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in finance from the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
Anderson School of Management in 1998.
Professional career
Moskowitz has been a faculty member at Booth since 1998. Moskowitz has publishedAcademic publishing
Academic publishing describes the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in journal article, book or thesis form. The part of academic written output that is not formally published but merely printed up or posted is often called...
several award winning research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
papers and was promoted to full professor in 2005. He is currently the Professor of Finance and Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow at the Graduate School of Business. In 2007, he was the second winner of the Fischer Black prize.
In the words of the AFA, Moskowitz was honored for "ingenious and careful use of newly available data to address fundamental questions in finance." In Moskowitz' own words, "I try to measure things that are not easy to measure." Moskowitz was praised by the AFA as follows: "Professor Moskowitz accomplishes the difficult task of testing the theory
Statistical hypothesis testing
A statistical hypothesis test is a method of making decisions using data, whether from a controlled experiment or an observational study . In statistics, a result is called statistically significant if it is unlikely to have occurred by chance alone, according to a pre-determined threshold...
while having access to much less information than is available to market participants." According to the University of Chicago press release, "Moskowitz has explored topics as diverse as momentum
Momentum (finance)
In finance, momentum is the empirically observed tendency for rising asset prices to rise further, and falling prices to keep falling. For instance, it was shown that stocks with strong past performance continue to outperform stocks with poor past performance in the next period with an average...
in stock returns
Rate of return
In finance, rate of return , also known as return on investment , rate of profit or sometimes just return, is the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. The amount of money gained or lost may be referred to as interest, profit/loss, gain/loss, or...
, local bias in investment portfolio choice
Asset allocation
Asset allocation is an investment strategy that attempts to balance risk versus reward by adjusting the percentage of each asset in an investment portfolio according to the investors risk tolerance, goals and investment time frame.-Description:...
, and the social effects of bank mergers. He also looked at the return to private business ownership
Privately held company
A privately held company or close corporation is a business company owned either by non-governmental organizations or by a relatively small number of shareholders or company members which does not offer or trade its company stock to the general public on the stock market exchanges, but rather the...
, the trading and financing of commercial real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
, and the political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
of financial regulation
Financial regulation
Financial regulation is a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the integrity of the financial system...
."
Moskowitz won the 2000 Smith-Breeden Prize for his paper "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios" (with Joshua Coval), published in the Journal of Finance
Journal of Finance
The Journal of Finance is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Finance Association. It was established in 1946. Its current editors are Campbell R. Harvey and John R. Graham...
and the 2005 Brattle Prize
Brattle Prize
The Brattle Prize is an annual prize given to authors with the best corporate finance research papers published in the Journal of Finance.-Details:Each year the associate editors of the Journal of Finance award five papers for excellence...
second place for "Testing Agency Theory with Entrepreneur Effort and Wealth" (with Marianne P. Bitler and Annette Vissing-Jørgensen), published in the Journal of Finance
Journal of Finance
The Journal of Finance is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Finance Association. It was established in 1946. Its current editors are Campbell R. Harvey and John R. Graham...
. He also won 2004 and 2005 Michael Brennan Award
Michael Brennan Award
The BlackRock Michael Brennan Award is an annual prize given to authors in recognition of important finance research papers published in the Review of Financial Studies . It is given annually to the best paper published in The Review of Financial Studies...
prizes for papers published in the Review of Financial Studies
Review of Financial Studies
The Review of Financial Studies is an academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Financial Studies. It was established following discussions at the 1986 Western Finance Association meetings, and the first issue was published in 1988...
. His 2004 paper, "Informal Financial Networks: Theory and Evidence" (with Mark Garmaise), placed first, and his 2005 paper, "Confronting Information Asymmetries: Evidence from Real Estate Markets" (with Garmaise), was runner-up.
In addition to his academic work, Moskowitz has served as a consultant to AQR Capital Management.
In 2011, Moskowitz and co-author L. Jon Wertheim
L. Jon Wertheim
L. Jon Wertheim is a sports journalist and author. He has been a full-time staff member for Sports Illustrated since 1997 and has covered tennis, the NBA, sports business and mixed martial arts...
published Scorecasting, a book that uses statistical and other empirical research results to analyze conventional sports wisdom.