Lars Jaeger

Last updated
Lars Jaeger
Born7 August 1969
Heidelberg, Germany
Died21 June 2024(2024-06-21) (aged 54)
Uitikon, Switzerland
CitizenshipSwiss
Occupation(s)Swiss-German author, entrepreneur, financial theoris

Lars Jaeger (7 August 1969 - 21 June 2024) was a Swiss-German author, entrepreneur, financial theorist, and alternative investment manager. He published on the history and philosophy of science, technology, and has in the past been an author on hedge funds, quantitative investing, and risk management. In his widely read blog as well as other media he frequently wrote on issues concerning scientific developments, new technologies, and their meaning for society. He was the author of many books on various topics. In 2014, Jaeger published a universal history of science (in German), and in September 2016 a book on the interplay of science and spirituality (again in German). His next book "Supermacht Wissenschaften" ("Superpower Science", 2017, again in German) outlines scenarios of mankind's technological future. His 2018 book "The Second Quantum Revolution - From Entanglement to Quantum Computing and Other Super-Technologies" (2018, English as well as German editions) deals with the latest quantum technologies. His 2019 book "Mehr Zukunft wagen" (Daring more future", 2019, in German) is a confrontation with the impending technological upheavals that lead to what Jaeger calls “The Human Crisis”. In 2020 he published "Sternstunden der Wissenschaft. A Success Story of Thinking" (in German) in which he describes the triumph of science on the basis of four essential intellectual virtues. His 2021 book "Ways Out of the Climate Catastrophe - Ingredients for a Sustainable Energy and Climate Policy" provides an outlook on a possible climate-friendly economy of the future. In 2022 Jaeger published two books: 1. "Emmy Noether - Her rocky Path to the topf of Mathematics" (in German) and 2. "The Stumbling Progress of 20th Century Science - How Crises and Great Minds Have Shaped Our Modern World". The first gives a biography - readable also for non-mathematicians - of the greatest female mathematician in history. The second books describes the revolutionary development of ALL sciences from around 1880 to 1950. Two more books are in the process of being published.

Contents

Jaeger has for many years been an influential voice in the hedge fund industry on fostering developments towards more transparency, liquidity, and cost efficiency. He is the founder and CEO of Alternative Beta Partners AG and served GAM as Head of Alternative Risk Premia.

Background

Prior to founding Alternative Beta Partners in early 2010 Jaeger had served Partners Group as a partner for eight years. He is a co-founder of saisGroup, a hedge funds asset management firm, which merged into Partners Group in 2001. Jaeger started his finance career in 1997 at the quantitative research firm Olsen & Associates in Zurich. Before he studied physics and philosophy at the University of Bonn in Germany and École Polytechnique in Paris and holds a doctorate degree in theoretical physics from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, where he also performed post-doctoral studies in the field of non-linear dynamics.

Commentaries on hedge funds

Jaeger frequently comments in print, online, and on television on financial issues, particularly around hedge funds, their return sources and risk management for alternative investment strategies. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

He has been an early public advocate for independent risk management, transparency, and cost reduction for hedge funds [7] [8] [9] [10] having designed and run one of the first managed account platforms for these historically rather opaque investment structures in 2000. In 2003, based on his investment experience as well as his academic research on hedge funds return sources, he (jointly with Bill Fung and David Hsieh) coined the term alternative beta [11] identifying this as the most important component of hedge fund returns (increasingly referred to "alternative risk premia" today). The research by Jaeger [12] initiated an industry wide discussion on the return attributes (and cost features) of hedge funds which starting in 2007 led to the appearance of hedge funds replication products and more recently to the growth of the "alternative risk premia" industry into a major investment topic of the global asset management industry. [13] [14] [15]

Jaeger was the author of several research articles in leading academic journals. He received the Martello award "best paper of the year" by the Journal of Alternative Investment in 2005 for his influential and much cited paper "Factor Modeling and Benchmarking of Hedge Funds: Can passive investments in hedge funds strategies deliver?". [16]

Writing about the history and philosophy of science and technology

In September 2014 Jaeger published "Die Naturwissenschaften – Eine Biographie" with Springer Spektrum, a book which aims at outlining the history of science from its origins to today for a broad range of readers from little scientific background to scientific expertise in a clear and comprehensible way. [17] His second book "Wissenschaft und Spiritualität" was published in September 2016. [18] Here Jaeger discusses the interplay of science and spirituality. In his third book "Superpower Science – Our future between heaven and hell" (2017) Lars Jaeger outlines a journey into our immediate technological future. [19] His 2018 book "The Second Quantum Revolution: From Entanglement to Quantum Computing and Other Super-Technologies" provides insights into developments and possibilities of the latest quantum technologies. [20] His 2019 book "Mehr Zukunft wagen" (Daring more future", 2019, in German) is a confrontation with the impending technological upheavals that lead to what Jaeger calls “The Human Crisis”. [21] His 2020 book "Sternstunden der Wissenschaft. Eine Erfolgsgeschichte des Denkens" (Decisive moments of science - A success story of hums thinking) describes the origin of science on the basis of four essential intellectual virtues that make up our thinking and which must be defended, especially in times of "fake news". [22] His 2021 book "Ways Out of the Climate Catastrophe - Ingredients for a Sustainable Energy and Climate Policy" provides an entertaining presentation of the essential issues of energy policy and their impact. [23] His two 2022 books are: 1. "The Stumbling Progress of 20th Century Science - How Crises and Great Minds Have Shaped Our Modern World" [24] describes the revolutionary development of ALL sciences from around 1880 to 1950, and 2. "Emmy Noether - Her rocky Path to the topf of Mathematics" (in German)". [25] gives a biography - readable also for non-mathematicians - of the greatest female mathematician in history. Summarizing and reflecting the developments in the world of science through the last 60 years, „ Where Is Science Leading Us?: And What Can We Do to Steer It? “, written together with Michel Dacorogna, was published in 2024. Two books, one on nuclear fusion, another on artificial intelligence, are expected to be published in 2024/2025.

On his web page Jaeger published a bi-weekly blog on matters of science, technology, philosophy, and spirituality. He also published regularly on the German platform scilogs.de.

Published Books

Selected other publications

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "Interview Lars Jäger". Schweizer Fernsehen: SF Videoportal (in German). Archived from the original on 2017-02-04.
  2. ↑ "Lars Jäger über die Eigendynamik der CDS - Schweizer Fernsehen: SF Videoportal" (in German)
  3. ↑ "Dr. Lars Jaeger on Hedge Fund Replication and Alternative Beta - Opalesque.TV Part 1"
  4. ↑ "Dr. Lars Jaeger on Hedge Fund Replication and Alternative Beta - Opalesque.TV Part 2"
  5. ↑ "Dr. Lars Jaeger on Hedge Fund Replication and Alternative Beta - Opalesque.TV Part 3"
  6. ↑ "Lars Jaeger on Wiley Finance "
  7. ↑ "Transparency/liquidity needs of alternative invest". IPE (pension fund magazine). November 2001. Archived from the original on 2017-02-04.
  8. ↑ "2000 Article on risk management for hedge fund portfolios" [ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "2002 Interview "
  10. ↑ "2006 Article in Garp Risk Review", GARP Risk Review , Archived 2013-04-15 at archive.today
  11. ↑ "The Risk in Hedge Fund Strategies: Alternative Alphas and Alternative Betas," David Hsieh, Bill Fung, in Lars Jaeger (ed.), The New Generation of Risk Management for Hedge Funds and Private Equity Funds, London: Euromoney Institutional Investors PLC, 2003, 72-87"
  12. ↑ such as "Factor Modeling and Benchmarking of Hedge Funds: Can passive investments in hedge funds strategies deliver?"
  13. ↑ "EDHEC Risk Climate Impact Institute". climateimpact.edhec.edu. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
  14. ↑ Walter Géhin (April 2007). "Hedge Fund Replication and Industry Initiatives: Clones or Hybrid Products?". eurekahedge.com. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  15. ↑ "Portfolio for the Future | CAIA". caia.org. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
  16. ↑ "Factor Modeling and Benchmarking of Hedge Funds: Can passive investments in hedge funds strategies deliver?"
  17. ↑ "Die Naturwissenschaften – Eine Biographie"
  18. ↑ "Wissenschaft und Spiritualität: Universum, Leben, Geist – Zwei Wege zu den großen Geheimnissen"
  19. ↑ "Supermacht Wissenschaft - Unsere Zukunft zwischen Himmel und Hölle"
  20. ↑ "The Second Quantum Revolution - From Entanglement to Quantum Computing and Other Super-Technologies"
  21. ↑ "Mehr Zukunft wagen - Wie wir alle vom Fortschritt profitieren"
  22. ↑ "Sternstunden der Wissenschaft. Eine Erfolgsgeschichte des Denkens"
  23. ↑ "Ways Out of the Climate Catastrophe - Ingredients for a Sustainable Energy and Climate Policy"
  24. ↑ "The Stumbling Progress of 20th Century Science - How Crises and Great Minds Have Shaped Our Modern World"
  25. ↑ "Emmy Noether - Her rocky Path to the topf of Mathematics"
  26. ↑ The Stumbling Progress of 20th Century Science - How Crises and Great Minds Have Shaped Our Modern World
  27. ↑ Emmy Noether. Ihr steiniger Weg an die Weltspitze der Mathematik
  28. ↑ Ways Out of the Climate Catastrophe - Ingredients for a Sustainable Energy and Climate Policy
  29. ↑ "Sternstunden der Wissenschaft. Eine Erfolgsgeschichte des Denkens"
  30. ↑ " Mehr Zukunft wagen! - Wie wir alle vom Fortschritt profitieren"
  31. ↑ " The Second Quantum Revolution - From Entanglement to Quantum Computing and Other Super-Technologies"
  32. ↑ " SUPERMACHT WISSENSCHAFT – Unsere Zukunft zwischen Himmel und Hölle"
  33. ↑ " Wissenschaft und Spiritualität: Universum, Leben, Geist – Zwei Wege zu den großen Geheimnissen"
  34. ↑ " Die Naturwissenschaften – Eine Biographie "
  35. ↑ "Risk Management of Alternative Investment Strategies (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2002)"
  36. ↑ "The New Generation of Risk Management for Hedge Funds and Private Equity (Euromoney, 2003)"
  37. ↑ " Through the Alpha Smokescreen: A guide to hedge fund return sources (Institutional Investors, 2005; second edition 2012)"
  38. ↑ "Alternative Beta Strategies and Hedge Fund Replication (Wiley, 2008)"
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