Finding useful quant finance research papers

While a lot of the academic research effort around mathematical finance does not add much value toward actual trading, the few enlightening literature are definitely worth digging for. So here are some means to finding great research papers. 

Google filetype:pdf

Quality research documents usually come in PDF format, so putting this in the search term filters out a whole lot of trivial, inadequate writings. By the way, I find Foxit PDF reader much more efficient compared to the Adobe version.

Good schools

Some schools whose research papers I’ve found very interesting and practical include:

• The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
• New York University
• University of St. Gallen - Swiss Institute of Banking and Finance

Specific researchers

It is unfortunate that some PhD researchers have absolutely no clue of how the real world operates; I have met a few of these guys throughout the years and have become increasingly conscious of the research qualities with respect to the writers. Here is a couple of researchers I constantly look up:

• Emanuel Derman
• Espen Gaarder Haug

Concise math

It is a usual tendency for some academics to make their papers as complex as humanly possible to hopefully imply rigorousness and aptitude. It does not always work. From my experience so far, if the paper is filled with incredibly arcane formulas that cannot be verified easily, the content is usually not worth the time for the market practitioner.

Brute force volume

When it comes down to it, volume is still required to find the gems out of an ocean of quantitative finance grads looking to impress somebody. I currently spend at least an hour each day going over any research material around traded products. This is what it takes.