Monday, September 9, 2013

In praise of simplicity in financial modeling

Someone recently asked me about the complexity of the models I use to forecast returns. I think he was looking for some secret answer or complex set of equations. Experience has taught me to keep it simple. It is easier to understand and to fix if something goes wrong. More importantly, it fits within a tradition of science and philosophy.

Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity - Occam Razor
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We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient -Issac Newton  First rule of reasoning in philosophy


The grand aim of all science .. is to uncover the greatest possible number of empirical facts by logical deductions from the smallest possible number of hypotheses or axioms. - Albert Einstein

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