Prof. David Chen

David Chen has spent his career studying how financial markets work — and why individual investors so consistently underperform them. His research sits at the intersection of asset pricing, behavioral economics, and the long-run evidence on investment returns. His conclusion, repeated across decades of data, is consistent: for most investors, most of the time, index funds beat active management.

At Wharton and Columbia, he teaches investment theory to MBAs who arrive convinced they can beat the market, and leaves them with a much more humble — and accurate — view of what is actually achievable. His classes are known for their rigorous use of data and their willingness to challenge financial industry orthodoxy.

When not teaching or researching, David writes about investing for a general audience. He believes that the gap between what financial economics knows and what ordinary investors do is one of the most costly information failures in modern society.