Market structure

Research essay

The Index Is More Active Than It Looks

A single inquiry into what sits beneath an index fund: why investors own equities at all, what the long-run record does and does not prove, how innovation reshapes the market's winners, why broad ownership and diversification answer an unsolvable forecasting problem, how competitive prices become portfolio weights, and where the approach is strongest and weakest — the case for indexing as a powerful default rather than a universal law.

August 4, 2026 · 43 min read