Though I graduated from a premier academic institution, I think most finance professors are pretty clueless about actual mechanics and working of markets. As evident below, many even own a single stock. And trade so infrequenly. That below sums up why all they can do is teach efficient market hypothesis and write academic papers. ======================== http://www.smartmoney.com/theproshop/index.cfm?story=20071025&afl=yahoo&pgnum=1 "SM: Exactly how active are these investors? CW: They're not as active as you might think. Considering what our responsibilities are, we thought maybe there's more practical experience in the sample. The median finance professor has bought a stock 10 to 19 times in their lifetimes, and 14.5% have never purchased a stock in their lives, which is also surprising. "
Finance professors are nothing more than analysts and bookworms. They enjoy reading about what goes on behind the scenes over actually making money. It really suprises me how they think about investing in general. A few of my old profs would talk about how they "should have" gotten in on this movement or that movement but it was too risky. I think this is what pushes most of them away, their whole life has revolved around the idea of risk versus return. They can't live with losing money.
During Bernanke's confirmation, they had to look at his finances. I heard he has only one stock. "MO" If true, interesting choice. Big dividend. Legal dealer in addictive substances. Stock is very close to its all time high.
I am a full-time tenured university professor (full professor) who also happens to trade futures full time (yes, I am a machine ). I have traded the ES since 2003. I do not teach finance and do not even teach in the School of Business. The faculty who teach finance do not trade at all; I know several faculty in business, and they don't trade either. They have worked with prominent companies, and some have even started their own companies. I am not critical of their lack of interest in trading, as they sometimes give me free desk copies of textbooks for which they have no use, including some high-priced texts on derivatives. They have no idea that I trade myself, and I'd like to keep it that way. Neither does the dean, and I also like to keep it that way!