by Cliff Asness
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Suggested foundations for asset pricing and factor research and financial time series. Specialist prerequisites vary by paper.
Read the fitted relationship and its residuals.
Work with returns and recognise their empirical limitations.
Check whether a relationship can be estimated consistently over time.
Connect factor definitions to portfolio construction.
Distinguish exposure estimation from tests of expected returns.
Study long-run relationships without confusing them with correlation.
Connect diversification, common risk factors, investor views, and the properties of a risk measure.
Choose a reproducible strategy, specify the trading rule, and test what remains after costs and estimation uncertainty.